NBC's Goal: Ruin My Childhood Memories

While checking out the days headlines this morning, I came across this little gem of a headline: "DETAILS: New 'KNIGHT RIDER' Driver a 'Jaded' Iraq War Vet..."

Full story here: http://www.tvweek.com/blogs/james-hibberd/2007/12/knight_rider_premiere_set_arne.php

This, of course, caused a roller coaster of emotion in a very short time. Elation that Knight Rider is making a come back; confusion as to why a 'jaded' vet is in the story line; and, then, after going to the link and reading the story, complete and utter fury that the new KITT (that's the car for you non-Knight Rider watching degenerates) is a Ford Mustang. Again, for the degenerates, the original KITT was a Pontiac Trans Am - not too different from Dwight's spectacular 80's mobile.

One could make the argument that since the Trans-Am is no longer in production, a Mustang is a suitable replacement. I call shenanigans on that. Transformers was able to get a concept Camaro, and as any self-respecting American knows, the Trans-Am and Camaro are essentially the same car with a couple different plastic pieces on the front end. NBC needs to pony up and get a concept Trans-Am. Hell, they could even work it into a storyline on The Office (when the strike ends) - maybe Dwight wins a contest for a new car. The possibilities are endless.

Next, what's up with this whole 'jaded' Iraq vet thing? Is that really necessary? In the original, Michael Knight is a man with a shady past. Why couldn't we keep that theme going? Maybe the new driver could be a recovering alcoholic NASCAR driver. That would work - he got kicked of NASCAR for liking the sauce, spent a few years selling hot dogs at a dirt track in BFE, and now is looking to redeem himself by fighting crime in a state of the art TRANS-AM (not Mustang).

Pretty much the only thing this new Knight Rider has going for it is the voice of KITT is slated to be Will Arnett (Gob from Arrested Development). That should be entertaining. Oh yeah, and the Hoff will be making a cameo. Let's hope he's not singing.

So, NBC, if you don't mind, please revamp your upcoming two-hour television event and make it less offensive to the true Knight Rider fans out there. Let's not turn this into another Bionic Woman.