Development In the spring of 2007,
NBCUniversal chief executive
Jeff Zucker hired
Ben Silverman as chief
NBC programmer. He asked Silverman to help bring NBC out of last place in network ratings. One of Silverman's early moves was to try to revive old franchises like
Knight Rider and
American Gladiators. Silverman, in a deal endorsed by
Ford Motor Company, the car supplier, approved production. In advance of its anticipated weekly run, the new
Knight Rider series was introduced with a
television movie on February 17, 2008. The new series premiered on NBC on September 24, 2008 and led the network's Wednesday evening lineup, along with
Deal or No Deal and
Lipstick Jungle. On October 21, 2008, NBC gave the show a full season order of 22 episodes, where all of the episodes that aired on TV are also available on NBC, the
PlayStation Network Video Store,
Xbox Live Marketplace,
Hulu Plus (available only for computer streaming, not TV or mobile streaming), and
iTunes Store. The episodes are available in high-definition and standard-definition formats.
Retooling On November 10, 2008, NBC reformatted the show in an effort to more closely resemble the storyline of its predecessor. Starting with a two-part episode airing in January 2009, Yancey Arias, Bruce Davison, and Sydney Tamiia Poitier's characters were removed from the series after the end of the actors' original thirteen episode commitment. The show continued with a more character-driven focus on Michael and KITT.
Cancellation On December 3, 2008,
NBC reduced its season order from 22 to 17 episodes. The series finale aired on March 4, 2009. On May 19, 2009, NBC canceled the series after one season.
Vehicle For the series premiere, many new features in KITT were introduced in addition to those seen on the
pilot movie. As an homage to the original KITT's Super Pursuit Mode, the new KITT transforms into Attack Mode – a significantly more aggressive version than the Attack Mode depicted in the pilot movie, which consisted primarily of an extended rear
spoiler. KITT also transforms into a
Ford F-150 FX4 pickup truck for off-road purposes, a
Ford E-150 van,
Ford Flex,
Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, and a
1969 Mach 1 Mustang for disguise purposes. The series also demonstrated capabilities such as KITT's Turbo Boost, allowing KITT to briefly become airborne, and submergibility, maintaining system integrity and life support for occupants while underwater. Also installed in KITT are a grappling hook, a laser that originates from his scanner bar, double mini-guns, defensive flares, offensive missiles, parachute, a dart gun, a sonic inhibitor and an
EMP weapon. The interior of the vehicle has been reworked, with the single display screen on the
center console replaced by
touch-enabled head-up displays spanning the entire interior surface of the windshield. The removal of the center console screen has also seen KITT's "presence" indicator, reminiscent of the original series KITT's voice modulator, appearing in a pulsing orb mounted high in the middle of the dashboard with a dot in the middle that shifts over to "look" at whoever he's talking to. Other interior changes include a more conventional
steering wheel, replacing the previously seen 3/4 steering wheel, blue lighting in the dashboard over the driver's-side instrumentation and the passenger-side console that becomes red whenever KITT is in Attack Mode, and a standard Mustang rear seat instead of the
super-computer laden rear seat of the movie KITT. The interior of 4x4 Mode uses the same customized Mustang dashboard, but the F-150's passenger and driver's seats. KITT also carries a backup mainframe that he can reboot to in the event his primary is damaged. KITT's mechanics are high-tech industrial robots named Katie, Lisa, and Hank. They scan KITT for damages and interact with the human actors. KITT's technology includes a surface screen program, enabling the hood to operate as a touchscreen display, similar to the internal head-up displays, a printer in the passenger-side console, and a 3D Object Generator in the rear passenger compartment, as well as a self-destruct program. == Episodes ==