To The Writers, Production Team, Creative Artist, and Executives in charge of the new Knight Rider Series:
Just to give you some background, I am writing this letter after seeing this trailer of the new show on YouTube:
The only words that I feel that are appropriate for this collage of technological and automotive putrefaction are "Are you really going to run with this S__T ".
I'll admit I was one of those kids who had the 1:18 scale model of K.I.T.T. playing around with it in the back yard jumping small hills I created and wondered how fun it would be driving a car like that. Bulletproof, super fast, and had a mind of its own to help out in tight spot, that w as awesome to watch. But all of that was based around a reality that was in the not too distance future and was centered around the idea of the show that, at that time, was "One man can make a difference". Which he did, going around saving people, K.I.T.T. getting him out of jams and just plan having fun. It was a fun show to watch. I had fun watching it. No underlying overtones, no over the top theatrical performances (David Hasselhoff excluded), no flashy visual display of technological exploitation other than a explosion, miniaturization or a laser beam that fit with the scene. A simple formula for a engaging audience to escape into.
Fast forward almost 25 years. Someone, somewhere gets a wild hair up their ass and figure they can revive the Knight Rider franchise. This is a quote from Gary Scott Thompson speaking to Sci Fi Wire:
"I think the biggest thing was embracing technology and owning it and making it our own....[At the Knight Rider Comic-Con panel,] we were in the room when the car transformed, and the kids went crazy.
So let me get this straight, you have a transforming car that is as aerodynamic as a cinder block (kids cheering at transforming cars at Comic-Com is not surprising), a glorified laser light show, unrealistic special effects, and a script that rival Battlefield Earth meets Speed Racer and this is the best you can come up with. This has to be a joke. This has to be a bait and switch. You have to have something better than this to present to the audience. This is a show with no floor, ceiling or walls to confine the gelatinous mass of free floating regurgitation that has the same feel of your last debacle that was "Bionic Woman". I tried watching "Bionic Woman". I truly tried. But nothing was there. Nothing to grasp onto as far a plot. No emotional attachment to any of the characters. Nothing. Zip. Nada. And just like every beautiful woman in the world, at some point you are going to have to talk to them. And the nonsense that came from this shows mouth was mind-numbing. Enough so that I and half of the initial audience turn it off. Enough so, even today, there is one person on the bit torrent network that that is seeding it because he forgot it was on his drive.
I actually cried a little inside. Cried because this show is dead on arrival. The franchise is dead. The show has jumped the shark by doing thing for the sake of doing things. What the hell are lambo doors doing on an American muscle car? Who extends the bounds of reality for a present day, all be it fictional, TV show? Who throws everything but the kitchen sink towards an idea and hope something sticks? This is not the formula for a TV show. This is a formula for a waste of 3 things:
- Mine and everyone else's time.
- Advertisers money.
- NBC's money.
The best thing that could happen at this point is to release straight to DVD to recoup the money lost from the production of this epic waste of time. Please do not expose your audience to this video debauchery. Do not waste your airtime and your advertiser's money on a show that will showcase the level of energy put into the production of this train wreck.
But in the event that you still want same rehashed "War on Terror" angle that every other TV show is running, here's a plot line for you and this is free:
David Hasselhoff and the original K.I.T.T. are stolen/kidnapped and the new K.I.T.T and the new Michael Knight have to find him before either one of them are cracked/break about some super secret project. That way you can have David Hasselhoff make guess appearances every once in a while, you can bring back William Daniels out of retirement to reprise his role for the diehards, you bridge the gap between the old and new and its more believable.
Run with that and see how it works.
Thanks.
Njection.com