TV Show Review: Knight Rider 2008 Series

Stars: 3 out of 5
Pros: Fun gadgets and car, decent characters

Cons: Poor acting from the lead, no coherent focus for the stories

The Bottom Line:

Never could focus

So hard to get into it

Good from week to week

Enjoyable at Times, but Never Truly Focused

Since I didn't grow up watching much TV, most knowledge of shows from before the mid 90's comes through reruns.  As a result, I came into the recent remake of Knight Rider with pretty much a blank slate.  I've probably seen one or two episodes over the years, but I don't remember them.  I'm sure the producers were going for something edgy and action packed.  Instead, what they got was mindless entertainment.  It wasn't bad, but it wasn't that great either.

The series follows Michael Traceur (Justin Bruening), son of Michael Knight from the original.  He's a vet who has come back to find his life at loose ends.  That is until he joins up with a secret project of the US government.  Now he's working once again with former girlfriend Sarah Graiman (Deanna Russo) and her father Charles (Bruce Davidson).  The two are extreme smart scientists who have created KITT (it's been up to Knight Industries Three Thousand this time around and is voiced by Val Kilmer), a car with super powers.  Okay, maybe not, but it does have a weapons arsenal, artificial intelligence, and computer hacking abilities.

The trio are working with others from the FBI to take down criminals and terrorists where they can find them.  The missions leave them poisoned, loaded with explosives, under cover as surfer, and fighting a computer virus.  Meanwhile, Mike is trying to remember some missing time from his life.  Can he piece it together?

There was quite a bit going on in the first few episodes.  There was Mike's back story, the plot of the weak, and the stuff going on back at central.  In fact, the cast was very large with 8 main characters.  And yes, they tried to work them into every episode.  Frankly, with as little time as some of them had, it was hard to really figure them out or feel sympathy for them.

The producers started trying to tweak the formula a little, but then the network stepped in.  NBC wanted a cheaper show and had some specific ideas on how to do that.  Honestly, the writers did as good a job as they could, but they didn't have a lot to work with.  Well, there was one plot point that got very crazy, but that was part of one episode.  Ironically enough, NBC canceled the show before the changes even aired.  It was probably a good idea with the show was loosing viewers each week.

Of course, viewers were claiming the show was cheesy.  And I really can't argue with that.  But I like a certain dosage of cheese in my TV diet, so I didn't mind that at all.

Instead, I got caught up in the cool car and gadgets and stories.  I'm not a car person, but I loved watching the Mustang cruise down the street each week.  The special effects on this thing were impressive.  For a show supposedly set in the real world, there were quite a few of them each week, and they looked great.

The acting, on the other hand, wasn't nearly as impressive.  Most of the time, it was adequate.  Justin Bruening was actually pretty weak as the lead, especially if he had to show an emotion.  Others in the cast seemed to never have emotions at all, however, that was due to the writing as much as the acting.  In my mind, the best of the cast were Paul Campbell and Smith Cho as two computer wizards who were usually at home base.  Their banter and relationship was absolutely worth turning in each week.

The set includes all 17 regular season episodes plus the two hour movie that relaunched the franchise in spring 2008.  Everything is presented on four discs in full surround and wide screen picture.  In addition to the episodes, you get several behind the scenes featurettes and a commentary on the movie.

Most of the people who watched an episode or two hated it.  I, on the other hand, was ambivalent.  I kept watching Knight Rider, but it wasn't must see TV.  If you are curious and can get your hands on this cheaply, check it out.  But it isn't worth spending a lot of time or money to track down.