Though NBC kept touting that the revival of Knight Rider was a success, the ratings have told a different story. Just about everyone in the industry was shocked when the network gave the Justin Bruening series an order for the back nine episodes. Now, to little surprise, NBC is pulling the plug.
Knight Rider debuted on September 24th, as a follow-up to the TV movie that aired last February. The new TV show takes place 25 years after the original exploits of Michael Knight (David Hasselhoff) and his high-tech, four-wheeled partner KITT (voiced by William Daniels). Mike Traceur (Bruening) is the son of Knight and the driver of the newest KITT (voiced by Val Kilmer). The car was built by Charles Graiman (Bruce Davison), the father of Mike’s former girlfriend, Sarah (Deanna Russo). As in the original series, Mike and KITT work together to thwart evil and save the innocent. The rest of the cast includes Paul Campbell, Yancey Arias, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, and Smith Cho.
A few revivals of Rider have been attempted over the years but none have been a success. The newest version is, unfortunately, no exception. The premiere episode debuted to just 7.35 million viewers and a 2.5/7 rating/share in the 18-49 demographic. The audience for Rider’s second episode grew to 7.77 million while the demo remained essentially flat at 2.4/7. The following three episodes averaged about 7.2 million but the demo began slowly dropping with each new installment.
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Likely due to the state of the rest of NBC’s sagging schedule, the network decided to stick with Rider and gave the series a greenlight for nine more episodes. This would bring the order to a full 22 installments for the season. Soonafter, the ratings took a serious hit in the November sweeps period.
After a week off, Rider’s audience sank to just 5.12 million and a terrible 1.6/4 in the demographic. The ratings weren’t much better for the rest of the month.
A few days after the first November ratings dip, showrunner Gary Scott Thompson announced that the show was going through a retooling. He told The Hollywood Reporter, “We’re moving away from the terrorist-of-the-week formula and closer to the original, making it a show about a man and his car going out and helping more regular people, everymen.”
As a part of this effort, three castmembers were let go — Poitier, Arias and Davison. Thompson maintained that this move had nothing to do with their performances. The decision likely had more to do with an effort to cut costs and make the bottom line more attractive to the network.
It seems the network hasn’t been sufficiently impressed by what they’ve seen and execs have cut the episode order back to 17 installments. The cast and crew are currently working on their 17th episode, written and directed by Thompson. They’re expected to wrap some time next week.
That episode, now the Rider season finale, is scheduled to air on February 25, 2009. The five remaining scripts will be utilized on the off chance that the series is renewed for a second season. Unless the ratings seriously improve, there’s no way that that will happen. Not even Mike and KITT will be able to save the day. Stay tuned! 
Image courtesy NBC.
Keep the new Knight Rider going!!!!!!!!!! I Love this show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
well they at least gave it a chance and its getting cancelled for lack of ratings not like stargate atlantis did! they got cancelled because tptb wants to play with there new baby sgu.
by the way i liked the original series of KR.
plisss…….
keep this serial……
i’m very exited with new kitt……..
This serial is cool and interesting! Closing the serials will be a big mistake, and I too will be very upset because of this.
For those of you complaining about the show…get over it. It is a TV show. It’s not meant to be some serious documentary about terrorism and the government. I started watching it…and from the beginning, the toughest thing for me to get over was that it was a Ford instead of a Pontiac…but I’m over that now. It’s a show that is really fun to watch (if you don’t take it too seriously)…similar to the original series (I was 6-9 yrs old at that time). I it will be a real DISAPPOINTMENT if they cancel this show!!
When I saw the original backdoor pilot movie, I was interested. Sure, it was a bit dry, but it looked like they were taking the concept into a more credible form, along the lines of 24 or the Jason Bourne films. Imagine my shock and dismay when I saw the premiere episode this past fall. What had started off as an intelligent spy drama became a laughable farce without the laughs. When I head they were retooling the show, I again let my hopes rise. However, after reading this article on just what that retooling is, I was even more… Read more »
Personally I think it’s a real shame if this is being cancelled. Justin took some getting used to. Either the actor or the character didn’t seem to fill the shoes – but the Hoff did. Yeah sure he could fight, but seemed to lack something else which the Hoff possessed from the start. I’m not criticising Justin himself though. To me it seemed far more realistic to have this larger cast (compared with the original series). Every cast member had their own background of expertise. The show isn’t perfect – but it was finding its feet. Surely people will agree… Read more »
THIS SHOW SUCKED!!!!! Nothing else to say.
I don’t understand the networks I swear! I got invested in this show! I loved the Huff but this show is so much better this time around. The car is wonderful and Justin as Mike is brilliant. This show better not be canceled. I already am losing the only other reason I watch NBC (ER). If they cancel this show they lose me as a viewer altogether
A pathetic show. Almost as cheesy as the original. what were they thinking when they invested millions to create this? Watched it a few times and couldn’t believe how low TV had gone (not much of a TV guy). RIP, knight rider. Nobody will remember this show in a few months.
“Give the show a chance” – rubbish – that’s just amateurs trying this and that because they have no clue what they are doing. Define a competent show and get it out the door from episode one, not all this commercial crap zig zag. And as for this show it seems aimed at 12 year olds, its stupid braindead, with out dated pathetic scripts from the dark age. Hell we could have guess that even before it was on with stupid names like “Traceur” (that guy is totally miscast anyway) It would require a retooling they don’t have the talent… Read more »
I watched this show a few times out of sheer boredom and desperation to pass the time, so I have given it a chance. That said, it is horrible.
The statist plot and the regular, weekly ‘anybody who doesn’t submit blind obedience to the government is a terrorist and must be killed or detained’ got old really quick. Give me a break! As soon as they classified ‘Constitutionalists’ as terrorists, I decided rolling around in vomit would be preferable to watching this garbage.
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I blame the people who trolled the boards screaming, “I hate this” and “I hate that” and not even giving the show a chance to get its feet under it. Many new series are shaky in their first seasons, but are given a chance to get the bugs out. KR08 was never given the chance, but was attacked mercilessly from the get-go by entitlement minded Millennials.
The best way to save the show is to get back to basics. Don’t ignore but rather embrace the original show. Get Hasselhoff and the original Kitt in there from time to time, drop all the government involvement and make the “Knight Foundation” and independent, outside the government organization. One thing they are doing right, reduce the cast! It’s too big.