I remember, when I was a child, flopping down in front of the television, flicking over the channel and settling in to watch Michael Knight and his super cool car Kit battle the bad guys for another week.
Michael was gorgeous, the mechanic was a woman and Kit was black and shiny. There was sooo much goodness in that series I could have eaten it. Without the cherries on top.
So, when Sci-Fi announced the UK premiere of a Knight Rider revival, I was as excited as Punch when Judy hands him a bat.
Unfortunately, I’ve been left with a handful of sawdust and wishing I had a big shiny bat! The new Knight Rider is cheesy (and not in a good way) with unconvincing characters, bad plot and terrible dialogue. The new Michael has some nice moves, and his lines aren’t as disastrous as some, but his interactions with the others detracts from his character, turning quiet broodiness into a childish kind of sulk.
The new Kit is cocky, self-assured and with a smooth voice that sounds far older than his predecessor. But the dialogue for the car comes off far better than for his human counterparts.
The genius behind the car was okay if not as eccentric as purported; the FBI agent more likely to be a surprise party stripper than an actual officer, the brief flash of gay doing nothing to give her added depth; the genius’ daughter started well and went downhill as soon as she started discussing her feelings with the hero and Michael’s geeky sidekick, whilst brave in his puny way, became inexplicably involved with the so-called top-secret project by the end.
All of which gave the entire team a Brady Bunch feel, especially when the car dropped onto the highway from the back of a speeding plane and they all waved goodbye to the hero of the hour before he sped off into the sunset.
Frankly, only two things saved this episode and that was (1) the appearance of the original Michael, played by the ever-incorrigible David Hasselhoff, which proved to all eye-witnesses my sharp nose for cheesy American television; and (2) the gun-wielding ex-lover of the old Michael and mother to the new.
Considering that Hasselhoff is likely to be a cameo and the gun-wielding momma (the prettiest girl at the party even though she was the oldest) is now dead, I doubt I’ll be catching up with Knight Rider The New Cock-Up anytime soon.
