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.
yall lost yall damn mind canceling knight rider
bring it back
The hell with nbc i love the new knight rider its just as good as the old one
even better so pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease bring season 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I LOVE KNIGHT RIDER!!!
iam a big fan in the uk n i know that im behind seeing how im in the uk bt i was dissapointed that i wen i heard tht there wasnt goin to be a second season i realy think they should make another 17 episodes make it even better than the 1st series
i love the new knight rider pls pls pls give knight rider a season two
Please don’t cancel the movie.
It’s the only TV series that I want to watch right now cause it has all of the elements I like.The seriousness,The comedy,and the Drama.
It’s too good to be cancelled
I can not beleive that the show was cancelled. It is the only show that I watch on NBC, and with the creation of sites like HULU I spend more time now watching shows off the net instead of just on TV, BUT this was one show that I actually would make sure I was home on time for, would have friends over, and we would all sit around and watch it togetrher. We were crushed when it suddenly stopped without any notice. This is one show I would stand behind. Can someone help to bring this back??
this is bull crap you finally put somthing good on you take it away thanks
STOP WITH THE CANCELLATION!!! you can’t possibly do this!! i was on Hulu.com and episodes of the new KR are dissapearing! I hate what u people are doing!! stop imediately! there’s people out there that wish to see more of Mike, KITT and the rest of the crew on season two! and i speak for all of them! Please, keep going with Knight Rider. I couldn’t bear to have it cancelled. I don’t usually watch TV, but this has gotten me more interested in it. Please do something! Anybody!
My family and I are really sad about Knight Rider being cancelled. We really loved the show and hate this. The only other show on NBC worth watching is The Biggest Loser. Other than The Biggest Loser we will not be watching anything else on NBC. That station really sucks. We Knight Rider fans can hope and pray that another station picks the show up.
good CANCEL KNIGHT RIDER it wasnt the org.
corney as hell and the car looked like a brick on four wheels.
morf into a truck give me a brake
this sucks i love this show and anyone who doesnt is crazy i would love to have a car like KITT
That thing is the knight rider ha ha ha ha, no wonder the ratings are down **** FORD
all i could say is that this show always had me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happened on the next episodes
I am very disappointed that they have cancelled this show. Yeah it was kind of cheesy, but thats the same with most TV shows. It was great entertainment and I didn’t miss an episode. Now I will miss them even more. Not your most intelligent move NBC!!