![]() ![]() But, because of its dark origin story, and the raw charisma of Hasselhoff, it’s actually more re-watchable than something like The A-Team. Essentially, Knight Rider was just another police procedural, with a mild sci-fi twist. ![]() it’s really tough to say.)Īnd yet, the TV action genre is tricky to pull off week after week. (Though, because he was a co-creator on Mangum, P.I. Larson’s most successful TV series, even if it is the least sophisticated. While BSG ran for one season and Buck Rogers ran for two, Knight Rider was on for four seasons. While Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, and Gil Gerard all have their strengths in Battlestar and Buck Rogers, respectively, it’s amazing how perfect Hasselhoff is in Knight Rider. What Knight Rider has that Battlestar and Buck Rogers didn’t is a leading actor that actually sells the goofy premise. Again, the glowing back-and-forth red light on the front of KITT (voiced by William Daniels) is straight from the Cylons in Battlestar, and even the turbo-boost sound effects for the car come from Battlestar’s Viper boosts.ĭavid Hasselhoff wasn’t kitschy cool. ![]() Larson’s inspiration for KITT - Knight Industries Two Thousand - can probably be traced to the Battlestar episode “The Long Patrol,” in which Starbuck (Dirk Benedict) has his Viper starfighter outfitted with an onboard AI called CORA. 1983’s Knight Rider is a comparatively low-budget Larson series, focused on creating a kind of American version of James Bond - with a cool car that, frankly, is probably better than most Bond cars anyway. Larson, the same producer who tried to ride on the coattails of Star Wars fever in 1978 with Battlestar Galactica, and then again, in 1979, with Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. This means there’s been at least one commercial break before we even see Hasselhoff in Knight Rider.īy subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy Subscribe to our newsletter >Īnd what about the car? Well, Knight Rider was created by Glen A. He later emerges from reconstructive surgery all Hasslehoffed-up at the 11:57-minute mark. Michael Long, we’re told, has a metal plate in his head - “probably from military surgery” - and this metal plate deflected the bullet away from his brain and into his face. Of note, he crumples, seemingly dying, on the hood of his iconic 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, which doesn’t yet have any droid consciousness installed. After he gets double-crossed during an industrial espionage case in Vegas, Michael Long is then shot in the face at the 8:30 minute mark. To be clear, he doesn’t even appear in the first episode until roughly four minutes in. Michael Long - who we can think of as The Real (Fake) Michael Knight - is a special agent for the LAPD. That’s it, isn’t it? Well yes, the David Hasselhoff-led series can breezily be described that way, but that synopsis also leaves out the part where Knight Rider began with a ghoulish plot that focused on the fact that Hasselhoff’s face isn’t his real face and that the character’s name wasn’t Michael Knight, but instead “Michael Arthur Long,” played by everyday joe-schmo actor Larry Anderson. The premise of Knight Rider is simple, right? A slick vigilante solves mysteries with the aid of a semi-sentient AI that is installed in a 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. ![]()
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