OMG. Could NBC really be bringing Knight Rider back to the small screen... with a K.I.T.T. that transforms?Yes, true believers. It's true. NBC has hired Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) to produce an update of Knight Rider, the 1980s action/adventure drama about a secret agent and his sentient car, voiced by that old guy from Boy Meets World.
According to Variety, the project is said to be "Transformers-inspired" and NBC has already ordered a two-hour backdoor pilot for the series, which it plans to air at some point later this season. If the pilot takes, a series could be on the schedule by next fall.
Limon is open to directing (can't wait to see the budget overruns on that front), should his feature schedule allow him to take the gig. Dave Andron, who wrote Raines for NBC, has been hired to update the series and will serve as supervising producer on the project.
One caveat: that Transformers tag. Ben Silverman was apparently so taken with the recent Michael Bay bombastic opus that he is pushing for K.I.T.T. and the other sentient cars (apparently evil ones, too) to, er, shapeshift into new and interesting shapes and models. Otherwise, the story--about a man who fights crime with the aid of his bitchin' vehicle--will remain pretty much the same. But, man, that transforming car suggestion worries me quite a bit.
The announcement comes as NBC launches another series remake in the form of Bionic Woman; Silverman has also ordered an update of classic series American Gladiators, making this jaded TV writer feel a slight tingle of deja vu.
Comments
I loved KR as a kid, and even saw Hasselhoff in Jekyll & Hyde on Broadway just because he had been in it (I also waited after the show to get his autograph, but that's a different story that now looks sad in retrospect)
But Transforming cars? As Gob would say "COME ON!"
Drop the Transforming cars, bring back Mr. Feeny as the voice, and I'm in!