Knight Rider (2008)

Knight Rider (2008) Information

Knight Rider was a 2008 series that follows the 1982 TV series of the same title and the 2008 television movie. The series stars Justin Bruening as Mike Traceur, the estranged son of Michael Knight. The series also stars Deanna Russo as Sarah Graiman, Traceur's former girlfriend and love interest. Sarah is the daughter of Charles Graiman. Graiman is played by Bruce Davison, the creator of a new generation of KITT (Knight Industries Three Thousand), voiced by Val Kilmer. The series was in production for just one season.

Plot

The story takes place twenty five years after the original Knight Rider series. Mike Traceur (who later changes his name to Michael Knight), son of the original Michael Knight, has become the driver of the next generation KITT (Knight Industries Three Thousand), now a Ford Shelby GT500KR Mustang. Along with a former fiancée Sarah Graiman, the daughter of the scientist Charles Graiman who designed both KITTs, Mike becomes the new champion of Knight Industries, a high tech government and law enforcement contractor.

In the episode "Day Turns Into Knight", Dr. Graiman dies due to an apparent explosion on a damaged aircraft, and Agent Rivai is seriously injured and forced to resign as the team's FBI agent. During the episode "Knight to King's Pawn", the NSA shuts down the KITT Project due to Dr. Graiman's death, and Agent Torres deactivates KITT in order to reactivate KARR. Torres believed that KITT's programming would be able to override KARR's inherent self-preservation protocols to save human lives instead of harming them. In holographic messages to Mike and Sarah, Dr. Graiman reveals this had always been Agent Torres's plan for KITT and that he had opposed him. Mike is told that he was KARR's original driver and that his mind was wiped in the wake of the project's failure. The team find KITT's AI stored online and attempt to rebuild it. Mike then infiltrates Area 51 to install the new KITT AI chip into his confiscated Mustang shell.

As Mike and KITT flee, KARR discovers that KITT has been reactivated and overcomes KITT's protocols, taking Torres as a hostage/driver. KITT is able to destroy KARR but Agent Torres dies shortly thereafter. Sarah discovers that her father had left all of the Knight Industries' funding in her name. Sarah, Mike, Zoe, and Billy use that funding to restart the Foundation for Law and Government (FLAG) and continue on its original mission.

Production

In the spring of 2007, NBC-Universal chief executive Jeff Zucker hired Ben Silverman as chief NBC programmer, and asked him to help bring NBC out of last place in network ratings. One of Silverman's early moves was to try to revive old franchises like Knight Rider and American Gladiators. Silverman, in a deal endorsed by Ford Motor Company, the car supplier, approved production. In advance of its anticipated weekly run, the new Knight Rider series was introduced with a television movie on February 17, 2008. The new series premiered on NBC on September 24, 2008 and lead the network's Wednesday evening lineup, along with Deal or No Deal and Lipstick Jungle. On October 21, 2008, NBC gave the show a full season order of 22 episodes. All of the episodes that aired on TV are also available on the PlayStation Network Video Store, Xbox Live Marketplace and iTunes Store. The episodes are available in HD format and SD format.

On November 10, 2008, NBC reformatted the show in an effort to more closely resemble the storyline of its predecessor. Yancey Arias, Bruce Davison, and Sydney Tamiia Poitier's characters were removed from the series after the end of their original thirteen episode commitment starting with a two part episode scheduled to air in January 2009. The show continued with a more character-driven focus on Michael and KITT.

On December 3, 2008, NBC reduced its season order to seventeen episodes. The series finale aired on March 4, 2009. When NBC's 2009-2010 schedule was announced on May 19, 2009, it did not include Knight Rider, effectively signaling the cancellation of the series. Following the announcement, NBC was criticised and petitions to continue the series were made, but they failed.

Cast

Justin Bruening as Mike Knight (originally known as Mike Traceur): son of the original Michael Knight, driver of the first KITT.
Deanna Russo as Dr. Sarah Graiman: Daughter of Charles Graiman, Owner of KITT and romantic interest of Michael Knight.
Val Kilmer as the Voice of KITT: The artificially intelligent automobile. Sarah car and Mike partner.
Paul Campbell as Billy Morgan
Smith Cho as Zoe Chae (Episodes 13-17, Guest Star in Episodes 1-12)
Bruce Davison as Dr. Charles Graiman: KITT's creator. (Episodes 1-12)
Sydney Tamiia Poitier as FBI Agent Carrie Rivai (Episodes 1-11)
Yancey Arias as NSA Agent Alex Torres (Episodes 1-12)

KITT

See KITT for more information

For the series premiere, many new features in KITT were introduced in addition to those seen on the pilot movie. As an homage to the original KITT's Super Pursuit Mode, the new KITT transforms into Attack Mode - a significantly more aggressive version than the Attack Mode depicted in the pilot movie, which consisted primarily of an extended rear spoiler. KITT also transforms into a Ford F-150 FX4 pickup truck for off-road purposes, a Ford E-150 van, Ford Flex, Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, and a 1969 Mach 1 Mustang for disguise purposes. The series also demonstrated capabilities such as KITT's Turbo Boost, allowing KITT to briefly become airborne, and submergibility, maintaining system integrity and life support for occupants while underwater. Also installed in KITT are a grappling hook, a laser that originates from his scanner bar, double mini-guns, defensive flares, offensive missiles, parachute, a dart gun, a sonic inhibitor and an EMP weapon.

The interior of the vehicle has been reworked, with the single display screen on the center console replaced by touch-enabled head-up displays spanning the entire interior surface of the windshield. The removal of the center console screen has also seen KITT's "presence" indicator, reminiscent of the original series KITT's voice modulator, appearing in a pulsing orb mounted high in the middle of the dashboard with a dot in the middle that shifts over to "look" at whoever he's talking to. Other interior changes include a more conventional steering wheel, replacing the previously seen 3/4 steering wheel, blue lighting in the dashboard over the driver's-side instrumentation and the passenger-side console that becomes red whenever KITT is in Attack Mode, and a standard Mustang rear seat instead of the super-computer laden rear seat of the movie KITT. The interior of 4x4 Mode uses the same customized Mustang dashboard, but the F-150's passenger and driver's seats. KITT also carries a backup mainframe that he can reboot to in the event his primary is damaged. KITT's mechanics are high-tech industrial robots named Katie, Lisa, and Hank. They scan KITT for damages and interact with the human actors.

KITT's technology includes a surface screen program, enabling the hood to operate as a touchscreen display, similar to the internal head-up displays, a printer in the passenger-side console, and a 3D Object Generator in the rear passenger compartment, as well as a self-destruct program.

Series overview

Episodes

#	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	U.S. viewers (million)
Aux4=7.349	ShortSummary=Mike goes after a woman from his past who abducts a man whose DNA contains a key to an unbreakable code.	LineColor=6666FF }}	Aux4=7.766	ShortSummary=Mike seeks the help of a former military buddy in a mission to infiltrate a drag race smuggling ring, but the friend may have smuggling ties of his own.	LineColor=6666FF }}	Aux4=6.856	ShortSummary=Mike and Zoe (Smith Cho) pose as a couple to infiltrate a terrorist group in Baja California, suspected of stealing a powerful missile designed by Knight Research.	LineColor=6666FF }}	Aux4=7.470	ShortSummary=Mike is injected with a neural poison and has less than three hours to live unless he assassinates a billionaire tech mogul in order to procure the antidote.	LineColor=6666FF }}	Aux4=7.226	ShortSummary=KITT disguises as a 4x4 for an off-road mission as Mike infiltrates a right-wing militia group that is plotting to blow up a dam. Along the way he encounters a British secret agent posing as one of them.	LineColor=6666FF }}	Aux4=5.124	ShortSummary=A murderous hacker infiltrates the Knight headquarters and activates a self-destruct program hidden inside KITT. Meanwhile, Mike and Sarah have 30 minutes to relay KITT's software to the back-up system while the others rush to find a killer among them. Note: This episode reveals schematics of a re-imagined KARR as a returning nemesis.	LineColor=6666FF }}	Aux4=5.342	ShortSummary=Mike and KITT are assigned on a mission to catch a criminal couple who has been blowing up buildings. The mission gets more complicated when the couple kidnaps Agent Rivai and steals the classified personnel files of everyone at the SSC and threaten to upload them to the Internet.	LineColor=6666FF }}	Aux4=5.205	ShortSummary=Mike goes undercover in Las Vegas to bust a money laundering operation. Billy (Paul Campbell) joins the mission only to spark a romantic adventure of his own. Meanwhile, Dr. Graiman locks horns with an old rival and former flame who comes to assess how "green" the SSC is.	LineColor=6666FF }}	Aux4=4.540	ShortSummary=Mike must stop the spread of a computer nanovirus that destroys electronics and threatens a global meltdown. The job gets more complicated when KITT is infected and suffers a series of malfunctions. Meanwhile, Mike's jealousy begins to show when Sarah reconnects with a former boyfriend (guest star Jeffrey Pierce), one of the developers of the virus and the only one who knows how to stop it.	LineColor=6666FF }}	Aux4=5.736	ShortSummary=Mike tries to save a kidnapped foreign ambassador (guest star Vanessa A. Williams) from a terrorist who sends Mike on a series of missions to acquire parts for a hafnium nuclear bomb. Meanwhile, Dr. Graiman tries to fix a temperamental robot named HANK. Agent Rivai eventually tracks down the terrorist's hide out but is caught in an explosion when a time bomb goes off.	LineColor=6666FF }}	Aux4=5.378	ShortSummary=While Rivai clings to life, Mike and KITT transport the terrorist's nuclear bomb, but to keep it from detonating they must maintain a speed over 100 MPH. The bomb is transferred, without stopping, to a C-130 transport plane and harmlessly detonated at high-altitude. Afterward, Mike learns of a second bomb located at a chemical plant in Phoenix, Arizona and he and Sarah rush to intercept it. At the end, Sarah learns her father was killed when the damaged C-130 explodes during an emergency landing. Note: This was the last appearance of Dr. Graiman (Bruce Davison) and Agent Rivai (Sydney Tamiia Poitier).	LineColor=6666FF }}	Aux4=4.928	ShortSummary=While Sarah grieves over the loss of her father, Agent Torres (Yancey Arias) and the NSA dismantle the SSC and KITT's AI chip is removed to be installed in his evil predecessor KARR, (voiced by Peter Cullen), who is being kept at Area 51. To save himself, KITT secretly uploads his files to the internet and Billy and Zoe try to piece him back together. Meanwhile, Sarah uncovers a windfall of funds secretly left by her father to restart The Foundation for Law and Government at the SSC, and Mike learns that he was the original operator of KARR but his memories of the events were erased. Mike infiltrates Area 51, installs KITT's reconstructed AI into KITT's body and the two have a final confrontation with KARR who seizes Torres as his new operator. Note: This was the last appearance of Agent Torres (Yancey Arias). Dr. Graiman (Bruce Davison) appears in recorded messages to Mike and Sarah.	LineColor=6666FF }}	Aux4=6.229	ShortSummary=Mike tries to stop a bank heist, but is taken hostage and loses contact with KITT. While inside the vault, Mike learns the thieves didn't come for the money, but what is inside a mob lawyer's safety deposit box - the account numbers and access codes to his clients' off-shore bank accounts. As a SWAT team closes in, KITT tries to warn them of bombs planted in the building and Mike tries to foil the robbers' escape plans.	LineColor=6666FF }}	Aux4=4.996	ShortSummary=Mike goes to Colorado to help an Army friend investigate the murder of her former drill sergeant (guest star Tiki Barber), and follows leads that the soldier may have been involved in an underground fight club that exploits military veterans.	LineColor=6666FF }}	Aux4=5.482	ShortSummary=Mike tries to rescue a kidnapped boy-genius who knows the location of a hidden stash of drugs stolen from a drug dealer. The boy leaves behind puzzling clues that Mike and KITT must solve in order to find him. Complicating things is the DEA agent assigned to the case who has Mike arrested for interfering.	LineColor=6666FF }}	Aux4=5.317	ShortSummary=Mike suspects foul play when the owner of his favorite hangout, "Sonny's Bar", is killed in a suspicious accident and the place is taken over by an unsavory crowd.	LineColor=6666FF }}	Aux4=5.679	ShortSummary=Mike and KITT try to procure a stolen high-tech serum called HXP that enhances physical abilities before the thieves can sell it to North Korean buyers. When Mike corners Galt, the main suspect, he finds Galt has overdosed on the serum and possesses super-human strength.	LineColor=6666FF }}

On December 3, 2008, NBC reduced its season order to seventeen episodes. The series finale aired on March 4, 2009. On May 19, 2009, NBC announced that they would not renew Knight Rider for a second season.

DVD release

Knight Rider: The Complete Series DVD was released on July 28, 2009 on a four disc set with bonus material.