Knight Rider first episode review

Knight Rider


high-tech car driven by spies



Type of First Episode: Sci-Fi; Action


Similar Shows: Knight Rider I (a man and a talking car solve crimes), Bionic Woman (dreadful remake of a show that lots of people love)


The Inner Light: It takes a man, a woman, a genius, two nerds, an FBI chick, a foreign agent and a lab full of faceless techs to replace David Hasselhoff! Sigh. Bring back The Hoff!


Strengths: None.


Weaknesses: Too many to mention. The big ones are: talentless leading man and leading woman, the car doing stupid things that defy logic or common sense, lots of scenes that are supposed to be funny, lots of scenes that are supposed to have romantic tension, lots of scenes that are supposed to be exciting, and so forth. While I am not a fan of the original series, I can understand it's appeal: lone hero, cool car. But what the heck is the appeal of this show meant to be? This guy is not out on his own saving the world, he's got his frakkin' girlfriend in the passenger seat and he needs a lab full of faceless techs to help him (and KITT) do stuff. How naff is this KITT, anyway? The old one did lots of cool stuff and needed no team to watch him 24/7. This one is rubbish. Plus, he/it does things that defy logic/physics. Even if you could forgive that, this new KITT is on screen very little. Most of the show is devoted to the denizens of this underground lair. So, again, I ask: what is the appeal of this show?


Impressive Actors: None. Well, Bruce Davison is an impressive actor. Just not in this.


Impressive Characters: None.


Less-Than-Impressive Actors: Deanna Russo is really bad, but her cleavage is distracting in several scenes (and the show wastes no time in stripping her down to her undies). Justin Bruening seems much worse than her but that could be because he doesn't have cleavage to distract me. Everyone else is rubbish, too, but the fake chemistry between Paul Campbell and Smith Cho is particularly hard to watch.


Less-Than-Impressive Characters: All of them. Bland hero with a mysterious past that he can't remember, pretty side-kick with, um, cleavage, two computer techs with 'hilarious' bickering chemistry (oh, gosh, my sides are sore from laughing), tough FBI chick with a gun and a plan, foreign guy with ties to foreign government and a genius with long white hair. All of them are rubbish.


Continuity: ugh, I hope I never find out...


Rewatchability: Hell, this mess doesn't even have watchability!


Other Info: It's a big pile of crap. So was the pilot movie that aired last Spring. Different crap, but still crap.

Three Things I Really Don't Like About This First Episode:

Deanna Russo

Justin Bruening

KITT doing stuff that blatently defies physics.

Miscellaneous Comments:


Worse than Bionic Woman. For that alone, it deserves a footnote in television history. I never thought NBC would surpass that pile of manure...

GRADE: C