Terminator Salvation came to theaters on May 21st.  It sparked an idea in my head about technology in our society and if it’s really possible get to the point of what the Terminator franchise projects for our future.

When I presented the idea to a co-worker, he dissed it immediately. When a scientist or engineer starts to immediately diss the possibility of an idea, it’s a good clue that it might be a good idea for us to wrap our imaginations around. Hence, the birth of this article.

This was going to be a short piece… but unfortunately, like the technology in Terminator, the more I looked into the subject matter, the more the article grew on me. It got bigger than the original idea. It took me over and I found myself inexorably abducted into having to write it.

It became just a wee bit more than it’s original design.  Huh?  Where have we heard that before?

Technology In Science Fiction

When we watch our favorite Sci-Fi or fantasy movies, we love the idea of what could be compared to what is.  Despite the science community who nit-picks the details of science fiction in movies, we’re starting to see more and more real technology or science premises coming out of our beloved movies.  Odd isn’t it?

It’s not that odd.  Writers are sparked by imagination and are not limited by budgets, funding sources or the hassle of having to actually discover the math that underlies the technologies or premises they pitch.

Generally speaking, the first sci-fi film that predicted something “impossible” was from the French visionary Georges Melies and his milestone 1902 silent sci-fi film, A Trip To The Moon (Le Voyage dans la lune). The general consensus was that it was silly. Well, as we know, it wasn’t, but he was daring enough to envision it and create it.

A popular theme we continue to see is humanity fighting against the odds and fighting against out of control computer programs.  We love seeing our heroes prevailing over these obstacles to survive.  It also helps that we have super cool stars and awesome music and futuristic ideas that are easily digestible to help us devour the magic of these movies.

And yet science fiction or the imagination of science fiction writers and movie makers seem to pre-echo our real technological achievements or nightmares. But really, give me a break. Perfectly animated humanoid robots standing up against humanity?

Hardware And Software Conjoined To Make Trouble

There are two components to this nightmare: Machines and the software that operates them.  Software isn’t that hard to construct.  It’s a collection of logic that when run, appears autonomous. Or as I see it, can be instilled pre-learned behavior.

Walk. See Wall, turn. If wall on right, turn left. Else, turn right.

That’s a silly and rudimentary example of software code for a walking robot. I could spend hours writing out all the different options and opportunities just for walking. Or better yet, I could just create logic that would ask the robot to write its own software. It isn’t hard. It’s just a bookkeeping nightmare to create and sort out conflicting code.

In Fritz Lang’s 1930’s science fiction film Metropolis we see one of the earliest imaginations of robots.  We’ve seen the autonomous and independent Robby the Robot in one of my all time faves, Forbidden Planet.  There was the incredible tale of robot self awareness and growth in I, Robot.  On May 21st we saw the ultimate nightmare in Terminator Salvation, where they take 1983’s War Games just a step further with Skynet making it’s tools – machines in the form of different types of robots to kick our own butts.

But really, it’s pretty fantastic.  Right?

• ‘Titanic’ And ‘T2′ In 3D? (Plus New Avatar Pic)
• J.J. Abrams To Deliver The World’s Biggest Heist
• Channing Tatum Talks ‘G.I. Joe’ Roles & Tons Of CGI
• Will James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ Rock Our World?
• More Tron 2 Details Revealed
• Steven Spielberg Unveils Microsoft’s Project Natal

This week’s weekly TV report from April 30th, 2009 chats a little about Chuck’s sandwich run, the probable return of Fringe, a new character for Burn Notice and how Harper’s Island is not only sinking, but moving – much like the island on Lost!  We’ve also got some syndication news on My Own Worst Enemy, Knight Rider and Dollhouse.  Yep, syndication news on Dollhouse.  That can’t be good.  Read on folks!

Chuck Takes Fans To Subway

Though they feel they’re currently on the good side of the ratings / cancel bubble, the cast of Chuck are still trying to take care of their sponsors.

While the cast was attending a Starfury convention T1 event in Birmingham, U.K., a fan suggested they try to help the show by supporting a sponsor, in this case, Subway. Zachary Levi and Adam Baldwin (who else would have done this?) then asked those in attendance if they’d follow them to a local Subway. Sure enough, they ended up leading about 400 convention attendees to the poor beleaguered sandwich shop. That would have sucked to be the guy behind the counter when this unruly gang showed up!

Zachary even got behind the counter and helped out until the very last customer was taken care of. Some headlines said they treated the fans, but I think they meant treated fans to their company.  Not treated as in buying them sandwiches.

Now we wait and see if Chuck gets renewed. But we need to keep something in mind: because NBC is cutting hours out of the prime-time schedule to make room for Jay Leno’s show, it’s hard to say what show is safe and not safe.  We can only hope for Chuck to make the grade.

Source: End Of Show

Fringe Will Probably Be Back

If J.J. Abrams has anything to say about it, Fringe will be back for a second season. In fact he said so! No, there’s no official word, but he’s talking as if he knows something, so there’s that. As it stands, he says they have some pretty dynamic stuff in store for a second season.

On an interesting note, Abrams admitted that he has very little to do ABC’s Lost at this point in time and that it’s all Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and Jack Bender who are doing a spectacular job.

Sidenote: Though Fox will air 22 episodes of Fringe, they’ve shot 23, because Fox originally bought 23 episodes. We can expect the see the 23rd episode next season.  Does this almost sound familiar or what (the mysterious Dollhouse 13th episode)?

Fringe season 1 finale is on May 12th.

Source: Sci Fi WIre

Dollhouse, Knight Rider and My Own Worst Enemy to Sci-Fi

It’s being reported that Dollhouse, Knight Rider and My Own Worst Enemy are all headed to syndication mode over on the Sci-Fi Channel.  But before anyone gets their hopes up, it’s the Sci-Fi in the UK, so UK readers rejoice.

To be honest, when Sci-Fi picks up another network show, that is because it has usually gone into repeat mode and it won’t have any new episodes.

I wonder if Fox letting Sci-Fi get the rights for UK distribution of Dollhouse is some kind of death knell for the Joss Whedon project?  Typical… welcome to Friday, say goodnight Gracie.

Source:  Digital Spy, Digital Spy,

Burn Notice Gets A New Character

The cast of Burn Notice got a new character whose name is Tom Strickler. He’s a smooth talking freelance spy broker who says he has the ability to cancel Michael’s burn notice.

Strickler will be played by Ben Shenkman and is slated for at least 4 episodes and he will show up in mid-season.

Burn Notice is slated to return for its 3rd season in mid-June.

PS: Don’t forget, not only are we getting a 3rd season, but USA Network (NBC Owned) had renewed the show for 2 seasons, so we have a 4th season coming next year!

Source: Entertainment Weekly

Harper’s Island Moved to Saturday Nights

Ratings aren’t backing up the weekly escapades of a frenzied mystery killer on Harper’s Island. Because no one is buying into it, the show is getting pushed to the second-worst night of the week and that’s Saturday (seeing as how Fox has Friday night all squared away and all).

But CBS is quick to point out that the 7-day playback ratings are good outside Harper’s Island’s Thursday night air time. Are those studio execs good at attempted spin, or what? The last pick-up truck I rolled and destroyed, the radio still worked!  See?  I could work for CBS.

Starting May 2nd, Harper’s Island will be on at 9PM and will be the lead-in for 48 Hours Mystery on CBS.

Source: CBS Press

ABC’s Renewed Shows

ABC has announced their list of shows that are coming back next year. To be thorough, I’m adding everything, though I cringe at some of it.

The shows renewed for the 2009 – 2010 season are:

Lost, Ugly Betty and others. Oh… I said thorough, didn’t I? They’ll also be bringing back America’s Funniest Home Videos, The Bachelor, (Because on-air break ups are all the rage these days.) Brothers & Sisters, Dancing with the Stars, Desperate Housewives, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Supernanny, and Wife Swap. (I can’t help but think interesting thoughts with that last show title. Sorry.)

Source: ABC

Is Fox Making A Political Statement?

On Wednesday, Fox Broadcasting Company did not air President Obama’s Wednesday nights news conference. They’re opted to air Lie To Me and their bread winning reality show, the results episode of American Idol.

It was an interesting bit of gamble and social statement and sadly, the social statement was surprising as ratings between the shows were comparably even.

Wow – reality TV trumps the President.  But then, it is Fox.  (Note: The CW never breaks for presidential telecasts.)

Source: TV Guide, E Online

Weekly Ratings Reported

The usual shows sat in the top 10 slots yet again. CSI stayed strong. Last week the repeat (R) of Criminal Minds sat in 19th and the new episode popped into 6th.

NCIS held on to a top 10 spot, though this week’s the episode introduced it’s cast / team for it’s new spin-off show. Did anyone catch it? What did you think. I’m betting it’s in the top 5 in next week’s chart.

Lost lost it and dropped to 43rd from last week’s 28th spot. I think people are getting tired of non-linear stories.  But this weeks episode was pretty decent in my opinion…  oh, they stayed fairly linear this week.  Sort of.

Castle popped up 8 spots to 32nd while Southland surprisingly faded from 25 to 34th. Harper’s Island keeps sliding down the chart, now sitting in 41st, while Heroes slid down to 49th. What is up with that?

Chuck held steady, while Smallville moved up from 83rd to 75th. Supernatural held fast while Dollhouse and Prison Break are still suffering the Friday night slot.

Look for your favorite show in the list below and tell us your thoughts on the different issues at hand here this week!

• TV Renewal And Cancellation Notes To Date
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – June 25, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – May 21st, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – May 7th 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 19th, 2009
• Weekly TV Update – April 23rd, 2009

So what’s happening this week with some of our favorite television shows? I’ll fill you in on the vaporizing ratings for Dollhouse, The Sarah Connor Chronicles and others. I touch on some Supernatural & NCIS casting news and a season ending story development. I then sprinkle some CSI:NY bits and round it out with some Lily cast updates.

Let’s check it out.

Ratings Notes

A sad ratings note: The completely non-advertising supported set of repeats of Jericho on The CW scored a 0 in ratings. A zero. Of course they are Nielsen families, so that means none of them made any sense of it the first time around and they don’t want to deal with it a 2nd time.

Though it hasn’t been officially announced, inside sources are saying Heroes will be renewed for another 18-20 episodes next season.

Knight Rider, on the other hand, has been parked and done. The season finale had a 21% drop off in ratings from its premiere. Sorry to say for the KR fans out there. I guess it’s time to snatch up the DVD when or if that ever comes out.

Dollhouse fell below 4 million viewers last week, snagging only 3.5 million viewers during the airtime. This is Echo, looking for viewers in the audience!

The Sarah Connor Chronicles viewers dwindled to below 3 million viewers. Friday may be bad, but this is really bad. Maybe as they quit focusing on Sarah’s “3 dot pursuit” and more on Cameron, we might wake up on Fridays once again.

Sources: E Online, TV Guide, TV Guide

V Snags A Firefly Alum

ABC’s reboot of V has landed Morena Baccarin (aka Firefly’s Inara and Stargate SG-1’s Adria) has been cast as Anna, whose referred to as the “frontwoman” for the alien visitors who come to Earth.

Source: TV Guide

Supernatural

Now that Supernatural has found itself renewed for a 5th season, we will be seeing more of Misha Collins, who plays the angel Castiel. Collins will become a series regular next season. Misha says that with his extended stay, he’ll be doing some butt whooping.

Source: SciFi Wire

NCIS

The news on the street is that NCIS is going to focus heavily on Tony (Michael Weatherly) and Ziva (Cote de Pablo) in the last 4 episodes of the season. But with their complicated love triangle involving Michael Rifkin (Merik Tadros), they have planned a pretty explosive ending lined up for the viewers.

Source: Entertainment Weekly

CSI: NY

Winding up to the season finale of CSI: NY, big things are going to happen. The team loses one of their own, Ed Asner will be making an appearance and Craig T. Nelson winds up his story arc. I dare not say anymore!

Source: Entertainment Weekly

Lily

The Gossip Girl spin off tentatively titled Lily is starting to line up some cast.

The CW is in advanced talks with Cynthia Watros (Lost) and Andrew McCarthy (Lipstick Jungle) to come onboard. Watros and McCarthy would play play CeCe and Rick Rhodes, Lily’s parents and Serena’s grandparents. (Caroline Lagerfelt plays CeCe on the current series.)

The “backdoor pilot” episode is slated to air May 11.

Source: E Online

A Quick Rant

As anyone seen the latest COMCAST commercial where they have this sing-song monotone chant / rap throughout the ad while real people exist in some cartoonish world? Is it just me, or do you want to throw your TV out the window when that ad comes on? Ack!

A Question To Our Readers:

Do we have any Gossip Girl fans hanging out around here? Let me know.

Additionally, if there’s anything you have a hankering for, ask away in the comments section and I’ll scour the news for these requests. All you have to do is ask. I’ll be watching for your comments.

• TV Renewal And Cancellation Notes To Date
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – February 26th, 2009
• The Friday Night Death Slot: Sarah Connor Chronicles & Dollhouse
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – May 21st, 2009
• TV Ratings: ‘V’ Down 27% In Second Week
• Are Smallville And Supernatural Ending Next Season?

It was a busy news week for some big shows and some other shows that aren’t so big… so let’s get on with the tidbits of news!

NBC’s Day One

NBC is pulling together a post-apocalyptic drama called Day One. It’s about a group of neighbors from an apartment complex after a catastrophic event. The cast includes David Lyons, Carly Pope, Adam Campbell and Thekla Reuten.

So will NBC give this a chance? They’ve nabbed Heroes ex-writer Jesse Alexander for the task of creating this little mini Jericho. Why do I call it that? It’s about a small band of survivors who strive to rebuild society and unravel the mysteries of the disaster than took place to force them into this situation.

Sources: Sci-Fi Wire, Hollywood Reporter

The Bachelor Turns Fans Off

Jason Mesnick outdid anything any other bachelor may have, or will ever do. At the end of the season, he picked his girl and asked her to marry him. Melissa was a happy ex-cheerleader from the Dallas Cowboys. He later dumped Melissa and went for plan B, Molly. Molly is the girl he dumped in favor of Melissa on the last day of the season of The Bachelor.

According to various polls, this move didn’t go over so well and people think he’s a stinker. (Different words used to protect the eyes of any youngsters reading!) But don’t worry, Melissa has already hooked up with a guy she’s been seeing on and off for the last two years.

Source: E Online

Fringe

FOX is not committing to anything yet as people are starting to wonder if FOX will renew Fringe for another season. They say they want to wait and see how it does after its April 7th return to the air. Come on people. Do it. You know you’re going to.

Source: TV Guide

Prison Break

FOX is putting together those extra two hours of Prison Break in the form a two-hour movie. It’s a self contained adventure and it takes place a few days after the events of the season (and series) finale.

Why? I have no clue. But that woman we all love to hate, Gretchen, is in it. Grr. I hope it finally happens to her!

Source: E Online

Knight Rider

In case you’re wondering, Knight Rider’s last episode aired last night. The organized fan clubs are trying to rally to let NBC know that they want to see it return. They even admit that the show is completely different than it was when the season began and they say that it’s finally getting its legs under it. The cast has been trimmed and they stopped figting the terrorist of the week. Just like it used to be in the original series. No news is good news, but in this case, no good news is probably just that, no good news. We’ll see what they have in store.

Life On Mars

I hope you weren’t a Life On Mars fan. If you are, you’re in for some real disappointment as your reality crashes back to Earth. ABC canceled Life On Mars. They are going to let it run its course of 17 episodes and they’re done with it.

At least the fans of this show can get themselves some closure as the exec producers have been told with enough time to put together a decent series finale. Unlike the way ABC unceremoniously dumped Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money and Eli Stone.

At least you’ll get an answer to the obvious question everyone has: Is Sam Tyler in a coma or been smacked back in time by the car accident!

Source: Variety

Survivor

Knowing how all of our readers are such big reality TV fans… crickets… I just had to warn you that CBS has ordered two more editions of the Gilligans Island mockumentary of sorts. At least that’s what I like to call it.

These two new “editions” will air in the 2009-2010 season. This will put the show into it’s 20th season, edition or whatever the h**l you want to call it and will officially make it the longest running reality TV show ever. Oh goody. I get quality time with my wife who happens to like this show.

Source: CBS Press

Jerry Seinfeld Returns!

Jerry Seinfeld is joining forces with NBC for a new reality series. Yes, another one… but this one sounds like it could get interesting. Bear with me here! The show is tentatively titled The Marriage Ref and will feature celebrities, athletes and comedians, who will judge couples in marital disputes and recommend resolutions to their problems.

LOL… this sounds like a can of worms. Comedians tossing out advice to sparring wedded couples? Heck, cops don’t even like dealing with domestic disputes. This could be funny… and that is exactly how Seinfeld is playing it out… as a comedy.

Six one-hour episodes have been ordered and are expected to premiere in the fall.

Source: TV Guide

Burn Notice

Finally! After two seasons of Burn Notice where we’ve been learning how to be an operative on the lamb and getting the job done taking down bad guys, Michel Westin is going to come face to face with the person who had him burned in the first place. This is going to happen in tonights season finale.

Along with that event, Michael and Carla are putting each other in the crosshairs too. It should be an exciting episode.

Season 3 will be about Michael and Fiona still trying to not be together and Michael dealing with things from his past and his career choice.

With the guy who burned him outed, I hope they can continue to make this interesting. It’s been great having this subplot always in the background generating that little extra intensity to each episode.

Source: TV Guide

V

Scott Wolf has joined the cast of V. Wolf will play Chad Decker, the reporter tapped by the visitors to distribute their propoganda.

Source: EW.com

The Simpsons

FOX has renewed The Simpsons for two additional seasons. That will bring the longest-running series in prime-time television history through its 22nd season. Zoinks!

Source: Sci-Fi Wire

That’s it for this week!

• Weekly TV Wrap Up – April 30th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 19th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – July 23rd, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 12th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – April 9th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – August 13th, 2009

PRISON BREAK:

It’s been reported that the actors of Prison Break were given notice that their schedule for filming has been extended for two additional hours, and the thoughts are that these two hours are the last two hours, wrapping up the four year series.

I mean face it, it’s called Prison Break. They got out… from 2 different prisons. Now if they renamed the show to “On the Lamb”, or “Michaels Vengeance” or “Whistler on the Roof”, maybe they could have pulled this off. Who knows.

But if you’re a paranoid doom-sayer like I can be sometimes, the fact that the remaining six episodes of its 22-show order weren’t on Fox’s recently released schedule for mid-season just makes one wonder what’s up over there in the halls of Fox. I mean they’re so good at how they handle their franchises, I just can’t imagine something going wrong. … <crickets>

KNIGHT RIDER:

My Own Worst Enemy is struggling in ratings, and the network ax comes flying from the darkened shadows of the network hallways. And through it all, while Knight Rider also struggles with ratings in it’s Wednesday time slot, it gets to keep on rolling. (No, I’m not bitter.)

To keep Knight Rider viable in the line-up of NBC shows, the story line is going to stop being about the terrorist of the week, and start doing more personal rescue tales, much along the lines of what made the original as popular as it was in hit’s hey day.

On the down side of the show continuing, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Yancey Arias and Bruce Davison were not signed on to stay with the show past the initial 13 episodes. The network is paring down the focus of the show to just Mike (Justin Bruening), Sarah (Deanna Russo), Billy (Paul Campbell), Zoe (Smith Cho) and KITT. I think that they just want to be able to afford KITT’s voice actor, Val Kilmer.

This new focus of show runner Gary Scott Thompson has been referred to as a reboot. Yea, you read me right, they called it a reboot.

So if this is a reboot of the re-imagining of the two-hour pilot reboot, what the bloody blazes does that make this? The ghost from Networks past? The Re-re-re-boot. Cripes, just rename the show “Transformers, the Prequel” and be done with it. KITT can be the first one on Earth, the forward scout. Heck, why not make KITT’s chip start acting up and have him think he’s a Ford Pinto at the worst times and blow up? (Nope.. not bitter.)

All joking aside, if I were to play political-favorites-guessing-game, NBC may feel like they owe Thompson for cutting his show legs out from under him when they cut Vegas in the middle of a season cliff-hanger. People want to know about Danny’s and Delinda’s baby, where was Coop and who finally got the casino? (Gary, remember me at Comic-Con? Take note: ) Maybe KITT can take a tour through Vegas in one episode and they can hint at some of these missing details in the background of the story! I’m not asking for the actors, just drop a clue in the script. Some folk just need closure from the mind of the source.

We can all hope, right? I mean the poor guy gets asked about this on a non-stop basis. I think he needs to put this to rest and KITT can help as he continues to roll on.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 5th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – April 30th, 2009
• 2009 CW Fall TV Line Up
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 12th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – July 2nd 2009
• Weekly TV Update – April 23rd, 2009

I swear that one day I’ll get this out on a Wednesday.

This week:

Dick Donner talks The Goonies 2; the film version of The Road may be delayed until 2009; Ron Shelton and Tim Robbins talk Bull Durham 2; Sam Raimi’s Sleeper gets a writer and Kight Rider and The Sarah Connor Chronicles get more scripts.

1.  I seem to be spending a lot of time writing about Richard Donner lately. That’s not a complaint, he’s a great director and the man should get more praise. He should also be allowed to make more movies, be them Lethal Weapons or not.

Donner has announced that a sequel to his 80’s classic The Goonies has been scrapped. Donner told Variety:

“We tried really hard, and Steven (Spielberg) said, ‘Let’s do it.’ We had a lot of young writers submit work, but it just didn’t seem to call for it”

However, if you love The Goonies there might be a musical. Donner says:

“I’m in the process of trying to get it done as a musical on Broadway. Wouldn’t that be great?”

Dick, I really don’t know. Music by Cyndi Lauper?

Source: Variety

2. Fans of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road may have a longer wait for the film adaptation of the novel. The Hollywood Reporter reports that the film won’t be making its scheduled release date of November 16.

The Viggo Mortensen starrer may be pushed to 2009, as director John Hillcoat is still in the editing phase. That’s gotta hurt as the film is seen as prime Oscar material. I know some people who have read the book, and it has brought a grown man to tears. He wasn’t a particularly tough man, but he cried all the same.

There could be a long road ahead.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

3. There’s more news on the sequel to Bull Durham, Kevin Costner’s iconic baseball flick. Director Ron Shelton and co-star Tim Robbins have been talking up the film at the original movie’s 20th anniversary commemoration at the Baseball Hall of Fame. Shelton said:

“For 20 years I have said no to a sequel. For the last year we’ve been talking about it. I used to say ‘You can’t do a sequel 20 years later.’ Then the fact that it’s 20 years later started to intrigue me.”

Robbins says:

“I actually told Ron this idea a couple of months ago. (Nuke) hurt his arm. I want the sequel to open with him at one of those trade shows signing autographs.”

The pair went on to give a detailed plot for the film:

You pan from Pete Rose and all these guys getting $350 and $500 an autograph, and there’s Nuke and he’s getting 15 bucks. And he’s really steamed about it because (he was supposed) to get 25.

My view of his major-league career is he went up there and in his second year in the majors he was 18-4. In his third year he was 4-18,It was a sort of an unrealized career in which we saw glimpses of his greatness. (Crash Davis – Costner)is now managing Durham in Triple A, back with a (major-league) dream alive again. I think he’s kept this wonderful hot relationship with Annie (Susan Sarandon), who probably has the Faulkner Chair in Oxford, Miss. Crash and Annie find him in the middle of a drunken stupor in the middle of his hotel room or something and bring him back to the majors by teaching him how to throw a knuckleball …”

It sounds like it could work – but will Costner play ball?

Source: Times Union

4. Brad Ingelsby will write the adaptation of Sleeper for Warner Bros. The Comic book film will be produced by Sam Raimi and Josh Donen. Wrap Up favorite Tom Cruise is interested in starring.

Source: Dark Horizons

5. Although ratings are dropping on both series, Fox and NBC has ordered more scripts for The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Knight Rider.

Might The Sarah Connor Chronicles be terminated? Could it be the end of the road for Knight Rider?

Maybe, but if things improve then you’ll have a few more episodes to watch, and lets face it – at least they aren’t canceled!

Source: SyFy Portal

That’s it for another week. See you at the movies.

• Mid-Week Movie News Wrap Up – April 9, 2009
• Tubey Awards For The 2008-09 TV Season
• Young John Connor To Take On Freddy Krueger?
• Will William Hurt Robin Hood?
• Ghost Rider 2 Gearing Up For Production
• TV Renewal And Cancellation Notes To Date

Well… I just watched the online series/season premiere of NBC’s reboot of Knight Rider. I know the term “reboot” has been overused of late, but in this case it truly applies. Exactly 7 months ago to the day, NBC unveiled a pilot/TV movie of a new version of the well-known Knight Rider TV series from the 1980s. While I thought it was extremely cornball, it had enough nods to the original series to soften me up a little bit and not totally rip it.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.

Apparently many people agreed that it was pretty lame, because although NBC decided to move forward with it as an ongoing TV series, they also decided to scrap the pilot and start from scratch with a completely new story and concept.

So, we here at Screen Rant figured there might be a glimmer of hope for the new series. However earlier today I posted up a short preview for the new show and it looked bad.

OK, expectations lowered.

Enough prevaricating – what’s the verdict?

Well, it IS better than the two hour movie, but it’s still not very good.

The episode started out portraying our hero Mike Traceur (Justin Bruening) as a slick, James Bond-type character in a tux at a fancy shindig. He’s there with Sarah (Deanna Russo) daughter of Charles Graiman (Bruce Davison), the genius behind uber-car K.I.T.T.. She is captured and Mike goes after her with the help of K.I.T.T. (apparently still voiced by Val Kilmer).

Things go wrong and soon the gang is trying to outrun a heat-seeking missile. They are unable to do so, despite the fact that I would think a couple of hard turns down a street or an alley would take care of it. Anyway, there’s some sort of “molecular chemically enhanced” napalm that K.I.T.T. is unable to put out.

Back at headquarters, Charles exhorts the team to come up with a solution before his daughter and Mike are cooked alive. This is where the show drops quite a few IQ points with its cast of characters. We have a brilliant and under-appreciated tech geek (played by Bill Morgan), and and hottie Smith Cho (played by Zoe Chae, try to keep up folks) the MOST annoying “genius” I’ve seen as a character on a TV show.

She utters idiotic things like “cool!” and “awesome!” as a reaction to life threatening situations – specifically while Mike and Sarah are near death with no solution in site. Really, REALLY annoying and stupid.

It turns out that in this version of the show, Mike has some partial memory loss and was a Black Ops guy over in Iraq. In the show’s favor, at least they have him playing more of a serious character in line with his background than the goof-off he was in the pilot. He doesn’t know why, but some of his former associates are out to get him.

The main plot, getting hold of a highly classified “package” almost seems like an afterthought. And the package turns out to be a person – a guy who has written the ultimate cypher and has hidden the code to break it… in his DNA. I agreed with Mike Traceur who pointed out “that’s really stupid.”

In this version of the show, the car truly is a “Transformer,” able to not only morph into a beefier version of itself with more body ground effect panels and a pop-up air intake, but it can even turn into a pickup truck.

Neat trick, that.

At least they did bring back “Turbo-boost” although it’s so extreme as to border on ridiculous – acting almost as a VTOL (Vertical Take-Off & Landing).

Following my review of last year’s Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles pilot, I’m a little gunshy about dismissing a series based on the pilot alone. If they got rid of the stupidity factor of the duo back at headquarters, knuckled down and tried to take this seriously, it might have the potential to be at least watchable.

But as long as they’re schizophrenic about it – trying to combine stupid goofy “laughs” with a character story (Mike’s) which is obviously meant to be very serious, this show will be in trouble.

• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 5th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 12th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – April 30th, 2009
• ABC’s FlashForward: Season Preview & Pilot Clip
• The Technology Of Science Fiction Is Here Now
• Next in the TV Show Remake Craze: Charlie’s Angels

Watch the full season premiere episode of Knight Rider online a full week before it airs on NBC – today.

NBC has releasing the episode on the web today, and you can watch the entire first episode of the new series right here:

NBC Knight Rider Episodes

If you didn’t know, NBC dipped its toe in the water last Spring with a two hour movie that was an update of the well known 80s series starring David Hasselhoff. I was less than kind in my review of the TV movie. It was incredibly cheesy and while it wasn’t as awful as I had anticipated based on the preview clips, it wasn’t exactly great.

I’m hoping that history at least partially repeats itself (I’ll explain in a moment). For now, check out a brief promo for Knight Rider 2008:

This does NOT look good to me, but then again the clips before the pilot premiered last season were far worse than that… and I’m hoping that the series is better than what you just saw above.

NBC has re-tooled the previous pilot completely, leaving only the barest framework and building fresh. We talked about the Knight Rider reboot last May.

Even if the new Knight Rider premiere episode is weak, I’m going to give it a few episodes to see if it gets better. I’ve learned my lesson with Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which had a very weak pilot but went on to be a decent series.

In any case, check out the series premiere here and if you’re on your lunch break watch the episode and let us know what you think. I’ll be reviewing it later on.

Knight Rider premieres on NBC next Wednesday, September 24th.

• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 12th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 5th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – April 30th, 2009
• ABC’s FlashForward: Season Preview & Pilot Clip
• The Technology Of Science Fiction Is Here Now
• FlashForward: David S. Goyer’s 5-Year Plan

The new 2008 Fall TV season is almost upon us, with the first new show of the season premiering on September 1st. Screen Rant has put together an extensive list of new and returning programs along with their premiere dates, along with descriptions and recommendations.

So what’s up this fall? What are we anticipating, what are we, well… not anticipating?

I know some of you have given up on network television. At times I don’t blame you. For those of you who still have a wee bit of faith, anticipation, or hope in network programming – or even plan on patiently waiting for shows to hit DVD, then this endeavor is for you. I gave a brief overview of the upcoming TV season a couple of months ago, but this right here is the big kahuna.

And yes, even I am looking forward to a few TV series…

Maybe I’ll stop my “rant” and get going. What you’ll see below is:

• The name of the series, along with which season it will be for the show
• A brief description
• An opinion or two
• The premiere date

Below the primary alphabetical listing section, I’ve also ordered the shows by date in case you have plans that you have to alter for your favorite TV show. We give season premiere dates, summaries and recommendations on everything from highly anticipated shows like Heroes, Smallville and The Sarah Connor Chronicles to new shows like Dollhouse, Fringe and My Own Worst Enemy.

If you want to skip right over to a favorite show, click on one of these links:

Crusoe, CSI, Damages, Dexter, Dollhouse, Eleventh Hour and Fringe

Ghost Whisperer, Heroes, House, Knight Rider, Law and Order, Life on Mars, Lost and My Own Worst Enemy

NCIS, Numb3rs, Prison Break, Pushing Daisies, Raising the Bar, Sanctuary, Smallville and Sons of Anarchy

Supernatural, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Mentalist, The Shield, True Blood, The Unit, Valentine Inc. and Without A Trace

Bruce says: Let’s get on with it!

24 on Fox (Season 7)

After a year long delay, season 7 of 24 kicks it into gear -
Starting on Mondays, in January 2009.

Bruce says: Don’t miss it! (Everyone, you have to read this with that gravely voice the movie voice over dude has! It makes it better!!)”

On November 23, 2008, 24: Exile will air on Fox as a prequel to the seventh season, bridging the gap between the seasons.

Battlestar Galactica on Sci-Fi (Season 4.5)

In one devastating day, billions of human lives were consumed by nuclear fires and a very lucky few, less then 50,000, were fortunate to escape aboard a band of refugee starships and flee from the Cylone attack into deep space, led by the sole surviving Colonial warship, the battlestar Galactica. In the final season, they have found Earth, and it ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Bruce says: OK, if you don’t know what I think about the show by now, what cave have you been in? For the new folk: I am really looking forward to the final part of season 4, regardless of how crappy the Sci-Fi Channel is handling it.

Starts in February of 2009, as leaked by Jamie Bamber back in late 2007!

Bones on Fox (Season 4)

A scientist who reads clues left behind in bones’ to solve cases teams up with an FBI Special Agent who mistrusts science and believes evidence should come from the living. (X-Files??)
It stars Emily Deschanel, David Boreanaz and Michaela Conlin.

Bruce says: Actually I hear that if you’re a Boreanaz fan, you’d be happy. I’ve enjoyed all the commercials I’ve seen for it! I just haven’t had the time to watch it.

Premieres Wednesday, September 3rd.

Chuck on NBC (Season 2)

From executive producer Josh Schwartz and executive producer-director McG.
When Chuck opens an e-mail subliminally encoded with government secrets, he unwittingly downloads an entire server of sensitive data into his brain. Now, the fate of the world lies in the unlikely hands of a guy who works at a Buy More Electronics store. Instead of fighting computer viruses, he confronts assassins and international terrorists.

Bruce says: Catchy, quirky and an ongoing sense of developing characters. If you’re not careful, you could get hooked.

Premieres Monday, September 29th.

Cold Case on CBS (Season 6)

A drama about Lilly Rush (Played by Kathryn Morris), a dedicated female detective in the Philadelphia homicide squad, who finds her niche when she’s assigned to “cold cases”–crimes that have never been solved.

Bruce says: I really enjoy how they look at older cases, and how it’s portrayed in the screen. Flash backs to familiar era’s, then snapping back to the older characters in present day is done well. This one is a Bruce Fave.

Premieres Sunday, September 28th.

Cops on FOX (Season 21)

Bad Boys, Bad Boys, Whatcha gonna dooo? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you? (I hope you read that with the tune going off in your head!) And they’ve been coming for them for 21 seasons. Sheesh!

Bruce says: It’s a classic. When nothing else is on, I like tuning in to hear the excuses the half neked criminal ilk come up with. It’s almost a game!

Premieres Saturday, September 6th.

Criminal Minds on CBS (Season 4)

The BAU (Behavioral Analysis Unit) is an elite team of FBI profilers who analyze the country’s most twisted criminal minds, anticipating their next moves before they strike again.

Bruce says: That’s TWISTED CRIMINAL MINDS. Not my mind. I really liked this show when Mandy Patinkin was on it. They’ve done OK with his replacement, Joe Mantegna and they took a different and interesting approach to showing the story in season three. This is still a Bruce Fave, even without Patinkin.

Premieres Wednesday, September 24th.

(Click here for Crusoe, CSI, Damages, Dexter, Dollhouse, Eleventh Hour and Fringe)

• NBC 2009 Fall Premiere Dates Announced
• Upcoming 2009 TV Season Finales
• Fox Fall TV Premiere Dates & Times
• NBC Announces 2009 TV Schedule
• Syfy Announces Premiere Dates For Stargate Universe & Others
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 19th, 2009

In case you wonder where I am when I’m not pestering you here on Screen Rant, I keep myself busy blogging about NASCAR. It’s always easy to figure out where I’ll be. If I’m not at the track, I’m glued in front of my TV watching auto racing, specifically, NASCAR. then Sci-Fi, then action movies, then… well you get it.

I’ve been feebly trying to sneak a NASCAR post in here from since, well, forever. I finally get to talk about it here on Screen Rant! Vic is letting me because I am sneaking it in under the umbrella of TV news. HA HA!

In my “bio”, he says he can’t figure out the common ground between my love for Sci-Fi, Comic Books and NASCAR.

Well here it is:

Yates Racing and NBC announced a unique partnership with and between Ford Motor Company and NBC.

Travis Kvapil will pilot the No. 28 Knight Rider sponsored Ford for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway, on August 23rd, 7 p.m. ET Sat. on ESPN.

Ha! There ya go Vic!

But before I close this little vent, I would be remiss if I did not mention that the studios often use NASCAR to advertise their products.

We’ve seen movie sponsorships on the hoods of Mark Martin and Dale Jarrett for Batman, Superman, Superman Returns, Shrek & Toy Story movies. In one race a few years ago, the Joker was on one car, Batman on the other. It was a big to-do about who would win. I think the Joker did. Anyhow, Jeff Gordon has had Speed Racer, Underdog, Mighty Mouse & Looney Tunes on his hood. Bobby Labonte has carried Toy Soldiers, Jurassic Park movies & Spiderman on his hoods. Kevin Harvick has had Bare Naked Ladies… oh, that’s not a movie, my bad. Bands are on the hoods often. Especially on Dale Earnhardt Jr’s hood ’cause he’s the cool dude in the pack and knows these cool dudes.

This list is a tiny sampling. Many movies and television shows come across the hoods of the cars and NASCAR fans have a reputation for being among the most sponsor dedicated fans in the sporting world, so they’re a coveted demographic. (Yep, ol’ Brucey is a coveted demographic!)

Those hoods cost a sponsor $10 million a year, and they find it worth it to be there!

OK, that was it. I was able to squeeze my NASCAR moment into SR. Thanks for your patience everyone! Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Finally… I can breathe again!

Source: Speedway Media, Main Part of Image: Hollywood Reporter

PS: I’ll have my name on the side of Dale Earnhardt Jr’s car in tiny font along with 50,000 other fans… but it will be there! Hehe. And yes, I’ve driven one of these beasts, at the 2 mile track in CA. Quite the experience!

• The Technology Of Science Fiction Is Here Now
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 5th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – April 30th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 12th, 2009
• First Look: Superman/Batman: Public Enemies
• SR Pick [Video]: The Dark Knight vs. Blade Trailer

This morning I attended the Knight Rider Panel at Comic-Con 2008 in San Diego. The members of the panel showed up slowly throughout the scheduled hour, by no fault of their own. They had left L.A, with time to get here, but a big rig crashed in Oceanside, flipping over and bursting into flames.  The traffic backup was measured at 13 miles of bumper to bumper patience testing, so I was amazed anyone got there at all, and by the end of the panel everyonehad arrived.

The panel kicked off with Gary Scott Thompson and Paul Campbell (Billy from Battlestar Galactica) sitting in for everyone and they played a preview trailer for Knight Rider that had a strong cinematic feel to it and the audience reacted well to it.

If the trailer is any clue to how much Gary Scott Thompson has stepped up the show, we aren’t going to be disappointed.  As we’ve noted before, this reboot has nothing to do with the first 2-hour Knight Rider reboot that NBC aired last season so delete that from your memory reference banks all together.

Items of note:  Val Kilmer is back as the voice of KITT, the AI controlled super car, and it’s a good match.  It sounds good coming from the car.

The first clue to the nature of the re-reboot of the franchise is a scene where we watch Justin Bruening introducing himself as Michael Knight.

The fight choreography had the feel of a Bourne franchise fight scene.  (The cast has now been trained for fight scenes)

KITT has a complete transformation mode.  In a scene which the panel audience loved, Michael Knight jumps into the back of a black Ford F-150 which a few moments later, and after a whole bunch of body panels move around, reconfigures into the black Ford Mustang we all know. They touched on the fact that KITT has a battle mode (we didn’t see that), that we may be seeing an evil version of KITT, and the reintroduction of the turbo boost.  Yes, KITT will be jumping things again.  Thompson said that he’s read the media about the show and noticed that viewers missed the turbo boost.

Other points are that we’ll be seeing Thompson touch more on Michael’s military background.  They have a hi-tech “Batcave” of sorts for KITT that is just completely cool – and of course David Hasselhoff will more than likely NOT be seen in the show since Hasselfhoff has got a pretty busy schedule.

A side note: Thompson was asked about finalizing the character stories from Las Vegas.  The show was canceled at the close of last season on a cliff hanger.  He said he’d love to finish the story out to closure in some fashion, whether it be in a movie, webisode or what not, but bringing everyone together, like Josh Duhamel, what with their developing careers might be a tough one.

Knight Rider premieres on NBC this Fall.

UPDATE:  Earlier I had made the statement “Bruening is not playing David Hasselfhoff’s son, he’s playing the actual character from the original series.“  & “David Hasselhoff will more than likely NOT be seen in the show since Bruening is playing him”

Some folk think I’m off on my extrapolations and I don’t blame them for it… it’s good to be curious about what is correct and what is not.  So I went back and rewatched the panel and here’s a collection of quotes from the panel that led me to make the previous statements:

• There’s the preview clip where he introduces himself as Michael Knight.

• Thompson said they’re “blowing up the mythology and making a new mythology“.

• “Michael knight is back, as you’ll see in the first episode.“

• Thompson addresses the preview by saying:

“in the preview we just saw Justin say I’m Michael Knight,  in the 2 hour his name was Michael Traceur and obviously we’re doing something to take us back to the roots, the origins of this show.“

I’ll let you folks be the judge on this one.

• Smallville Comic-Con 2009 Panel
• Stargate Universe – 2009 San Diego Comic-Con Panel
• WonderCon 2009 – The Sarah Connor Chronicles Panel
• Comic-Con 2009: ‘24′ Panel
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 5th, 2009
• David Goyer: Ghost Rider Sequel Not a Reboot

Today I’m chatting about Supernatural, Virtuality, Heroes, Knight Rider, and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Kind of like a grab bag!

The creator and executive producer of The CW’s show Supernatural, Eric Kripke, just signed an exclusive two year deal with Warner Brothers Television. In that deal, he will continue to run Supernatural and will be developing other projects under the contract for them.

An article in Variety surmised that one of those projects might be a prequel to Supernatural. Kripke has been interested in a prequel to Supernatural based in the old west and if he gets that chance, I think he can pull it off. He’s the kind of twisted person who likes watching editors jump and cringe while they work on his stuff. (I like this guy!) And I’d like to see how that much coveted Colt came about. (Eric, are you reading this?)

With the good news out of the way, let’s talk cast.

We all are pretty aware that Bela (played by Lauren Cohen) bit the big one last season and rightfully so. Bela’s manipulative methods rubbed me and the show runners the wrong way, which is a sort of twisted kudo to her, but she’s not coming back.

I’m bummed about the fact that Katie Cassidy, who played the demon Ruby, has been cut from the cast. The reason for her cut: Production costs of all things! Even though they have the same budget as last year, they’re “suffering from a lousy exchange rate.”

There will be female characters interspersed throughout the season, but no regulars. (TV Guide)

Supernatural starts its fourth season this September.

~~

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, previously of New Amsterdam, has been tagged to star in the Fox two-hour pilot Virtuality, as mission commander Frank Pike.

It will be interesting to see how he plays this completely different type of character. I look forward to it. (Hollywood Reporter )

~~~

Heroes on NBC will be adding Bruce Boxleitner (Of Babylon 5 fame) in a recurring role. (TV Guide)

A new speedster named Joy is also coming to Heroes, played by Brea Grant. She’s new to the genre of Sci-Fi and has been in some guest roles on Friday Night Lights and Cold Case. (TV Squad)

Heroes will premiere on September 15

~~~~

Paul Campbell, who we may all remember as the ill-fated, love torn presidential assistant Billy, in Battlestar Galactica, has joined NBC’s Knight Rider and will play the head research tech at Knight Industries.

It looks like Leven Rambin is coming on board Fox’s Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. She will be playing Becky, a potential love interest for John Connor. (Hollywood Reporter)

That’s all I got for ya, for now. Chat with you later.

• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 12th, 2009
• Are Smallville And Supernatural Ending Next Season?
• Supernatural: Some Season 5 Story Points
• Is Jeffrey Dean Morgan Returning to Supernatural?
• Supernatural Season 5 Preview
• Young John Connor To Take On Freddy Krueger?

After the movie pilot for Knight Rider came and went, Vic gave it a “Not Awesome” rating, which actually meant it didn’t completely suck. Some saw it as a great extension of the original show, while others thought it reminded them more of an older show that tried its hand at the super car genre, called Viper. (I really like Vipers, BTW)

I liked seeing the K.I.T.T. with new technology in a new car, even if we never heard what happened to the old one, but it just felt empty to me. Fun to watch, but I wasn’t compelled by any character.

The pilot had sufficient ratings to be granted a shot at a series slot on NBC, and eerily, in an earlier post, Vic said “One can only hope they get some new writers once this thing goes weekly.” It freaks me out and I put on my tin foil helmet to protect my mind from probing brain waves because it seems that NBC listened or Vic sensed something…

Why? Because NBC went out and hired Gary Scott Thompson as the Executive Producer and showrunner for Knight Rider. If you’re wondering where you’ve heard that name before, he’s the guy who brought us Vegas on NBC, and another car-centric movie: The Fast and the Furious. The first good thing about this is that Thompson is a self proclaimed motorhead.

Usually when someone comes on board a project, they pay some form of homage to the pilot or effort before it, but Thompson is taking a whole new route with his thoughts on the project.

He’s approaching the series with 7 to 8 writers, some of whom he’s worked with before. Their experience comes from shows like Crossing Jordan and Charmed. A few other writers from from shows like Lost, Prison Break, and a writer who contributed to the first two seasons of Smallville (you know, back when it wasn’t quite the mess it is now).

With this variety of experience, I’m already thinking this might not be a loser, but I’d better not see a mystery smoke tendril or I swear I’ll lose it.

The other aspect about the show being an improvement over the pilot was that, as Thompson put it, he had nothing to do with the 2-hour pilot and he seems proud of that. In fact when the studio asked him his opinion on the pilot, he questioned their sanity in asking if they really wanted to know that or not. Fair warning I guess. He basically said that the movie did not advance anything about the mythos of the show and the series would need to be reinvented.

What he did like was that the way the movie ended. It left the direction of the series a blank slate for him, so he’ll move it forward by twisting some of the movie facts around a bit to push the series in his preferred direction. One of the things he’s going to torment us with is what the car actually can and cannot do… by keeping some of its features quiet for as long as possible… the rat!!

To add to the car, he and his staff are visiting different tech companies and asking about their vision for things 10 to 20 years down the road. Even Microsoft is entertaining them. But mark my words, if K.I.T.T. ends up being run by MS Windows, the car is screwed. They’ll keep finding themselves pulling over, turning the car off, and restarting it every week or two!

What Thompson recognizes is that very little that was new was brought forward about the car in the movie and he plans on expanding on that. He told the studio that he will take the show in the direction he feels necessary to maintain his credibility – and that sounds like a man on a mission. Not to mention a man who could be the guy who gives NBC a pseudo sci-fi action hit. A gray area indeed, but if NBC supports him and gives him a good time slot, this just might work.

He’s writing the first episode and the story will be such that you won’t have to have seen the made for TV movie to get on board the new series. He wants to catch the audience’s attention, get old fans on board, and make new fans say ‘holy crap’.

We can only hope, as they start shooting in June!

Source: Shadowy Flight

• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 5th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – April 30th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 12th, 2009
• He-Man Leaves Warner Bros.
• New ‘Stargate Universe’ Details Emerge
• The Technology Of Science Fiction Is Here Now

When the remake of The Bionic Woman bailed on ratings, it supposedly left some lessons in it’s wake that NBC hopes to apply to the upcoming remake of the 1980’s series: Knight Rider.

Rushing The Bionic Woman into production after the pilot aired hurt NBC creatively, and obviously the quality level of the show also took a hit. What is it my mom used to say? Haste makes waste? After the first episode, the ratings plummeted like swirling water in a tub. No, faster. Tub water swirls, slowing the decrease of water in the tub.

Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios, said that this time around with Knight Rider, they are taking their time in putting the new, weekly series on the air.

As with The Bionic Woman and The Sarah Connor Chronicles, these series start out with a bang, but then fizzle in the ratings. Vic previously suggested that some show ratings are beneficiaries or victims of the curiosity factor. Out of curiosity and fond memories of past shows, we pile on in to see how the new version cuts it, but due to one reason or another, ie: lack of quality content, etc – it flounders once it switches over to weekly episode mode.

It seems NBC might have read Vic’s post (or not) and has tapped into partnering with a show runner with a fairly decent track record: Gary Scott Thompson. He was the show runner for NBC’s Las Vegas, scripted The Fast And The Furious and penned Hollow Man. All good stuff in my book.

Knowing they’ve got some ratings to live up to, NBC is taking a serious approach to meeting the audience’s expectations by hiring staff, cast and writing crew. Just maybe, the audience will be the beneficiaries of their attention to details.

I guess we’ll find out when Knight Rider premiers on NBC this fall.

Source: Sci-Fi Wire

• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 5th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – April 30th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 12th, 2009
• The Technology Of Science Fiction Is Here Now
• Warehouse 13 Setting Records For Syfy
• Next in the TV Show Remake Craze: Charlie’s Angels

According to Variety, NBC has decided to go ahead and approve Knight Rider as an ongoing TV series for next Fall.

It seems that the pilot had decent enough ratings to convince the powers that be to go ahead and approve the concept for a weekly series. While I didn’t exactly skewer the recent Knight Rider pilot, I didn’t exactly give it a glowing review, either. As a matter of fact, most commenters on my review said I went too easy on the two hour pilot.

My defense was that the source material was not exactly high art, so I tried to review this updated version with some relation to the original. Still, it was pretty damned weak in my opinion, mainly due to the script. I didn’t even find the lead, Justin Bruening to be completely awful in the role. He might even grow into it eventually.

But the story and script… yikes. Really over the top terrible. One can only hope they get some new writers once this thing goes weekly. I also hope they do away with inserting the lead along with KITT into the Ford Mustang commercials during the breaks.

Regarding the series being picked up based on the pilot’s ratings, I’m sure the folks over at NBC know a lot more about this sort of thing than I do (well…) but it seems to me they’re possibly missing one important part of the ratings equation: curiosity.

How many people, I wonder, tuned in to the two hour pilot just out of curiosity based on just the Knight Rider name just to see whether this thing would be any good – or a train wreck? Will those same folks hang around to tune in week after week? Somehow, I think that a large percentage won’t.

On a final note, I doubt it’ll happen, but I’d love to see David Hasselhoff in a recurring role on the show.

Source: Variety via AICN, which I heard about from New Film Dimension (hey, credit where credit’s due)

• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 5th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – March 12th, 2009
• Weekly TV Wrap Up – April 30th, 2009
• Doctor Who To Become Funny Lawyer For NBC
• ABC’s FlashForward: Season Preview & Pilot Clip
• Bruckheimer Pilot Coming To NBC

This review is for last February’s two hour pilot – If you’re looking for the September Knight Rider series premiere review click here.

Let’s get just get straight to the punch line: NBC’s Knight Rider TV movie (or pilot, depending on what you’d rather call it) was not nearly as awful as I had anticipated.

Now that that’s out of the way, please don’t mistake “not as awful” for “awesome.”

I will say that one of the things I reminded myself of as I watched this with the intention of writing a review was that the original series was not exactly Citizen Kane.

Overall I would describe it as a typical mediocre TV movie punctuated with moments of awfulness.

BTW, there will be spoilers in this Knight Rider review, so you have been warned.

I fully admit that I expected the worst from this, so believe me when I say I was surprised that I actually found the opening few minutes to be pretty decent. A couple of bad guys posing as guys from the local electric company show up at the door of inventor Charles Graiman. It seems he’s been working on some top secret government program and the baddies want the information on his hard drive, along with the decryption codes.

Dumb item #1: Graiman it turns out is working on some super-top-secret computer program called Prometheus which can control satellites, computer networks and prepare pancakes (ok, I made that last one up). It’s so dangerous that in the wrong hands it could be used to start a war… And Graiman is working on it on his home computers.

As they’re questioning and strong-arming him, he apparently dies. They explore the house and come across our hero: The Knight Industries 3000, aka K.I.T.T. The car promptly starts up on its own and takes off, but not before capturing an image of the lead bad guy, and showing off its bullet-proof abilities.

The bullet-proof visual effect was actually pretty cool, with a slow-mo closeup of the bullets hitting the car, causing some sort of crystalline effect and then bouncing off not leaving a scratch. I also liked the opening credits, which used the original music and definitely paid tribute to the old TV series.

Unfortunately when we return from commercial things get a bit cheesy. We start off with meeting the daughter of Graiman: 24 year old Sarah who is the prototypical attractive Ph.D candidate wearing glasses to make her look smarter. From there we cut to seeing Mike Tracer in bed with not one, but two babes, and he shares a house with the obligatory polar opposite geeky roommate.

It seems that Mike races cars and his roomie is the mechanic. Mike is in debt to some loan shark to the tune of $90 grand, and after demonstrating some of his ex-Army Ranger fighting skills is given until that evening to raise the money.

Dumb item #2: I found it hard to swallow that an ex-Army Ranger would be such an obviously undisciplined and irresponsible guy.

Then we cut to a beach scene with a lingering close up of some wet hottie removing her t-shirt to show off her glistening bikini-clad chest. It felt like the PG-13 version of a wet t-shirt contest. Immediately following we meet Carrie Ruvai, a tough FBI agent which the shows goes out of its way to show us is a lesbian with a penchant for one-night stands.

All this within the first 10 minutes of the show – I suppose to make sure that the target male demographic hangs around to watch then next 110 minutes, which BTW contains nothing even remotely resembling these first few scenes, thus proving my point for their insertion.

Anyway, K.I.T.T tracks down Sarah, warns her she’s in danger, picks her up and then brings her to Mike because they had a brief fling and her father trusts him to take care of her if anything goes wrong.

I will admit that soap opera actor Justin Bruening wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought he’d be based on the brief clips that were released about a week ago. I think that if this gets spun off into a weekly series he’ll probably do all right.

What is there to say here? It was your pretty typical mid-level TV show. Not at the level of say, Journeyman, Lost or Battlestar Galactica, but it was better than Bionic Woman.

Part of what kept it from being better is that the story was pretty weak. The threat just wasn’t all that compelling despite the described possibility of armageddon. It was basically “keep the bad guys from decrypting the code and uploading instructions to the satellite.” Not what I’d call riveting.

However there were a number of thing that struck me as really annoying and sometimes blindingly stupid. The worst offender was a scene where our heroes, in their 540HP, computer driven Ford Shelby Mustang are being chased by the bad guys in what looks like one of those SUV/station wagon hybrids.

And the Mustang can’t seem to outrun it.

Oh, but it gets better – the chase comes to a point where K.I.T.T. calculates that an escape opportunity is coming up but the probability of the bad guys dying due to the manuever is very high. The good guys manage to snake through traffic on a curvy mountain road at 100MPH with the baddies in hot pursuit. K.I.T.T swerves between cars and leaves the bad guys heading straight for an oncoming Mac truck with nowhere to turn… and we cut to commercial.

When we return to the scene in progress, we see the bad guys scream, slam on the brakes… and both the truck and their vehicle come to a stop within inches of their front bumpers connecting.

I actually yelled out loud at the ridiculousness of that scene! Two vehicles speeding towards each other at a combined speed of probably 160MPH with them seeing each other maybe 6 car lengths away – and they are able to stop in time to avoid a collision.

Ho-lee crap, are you kidding me?

Other dumb items of note:

- When K.I.T.T. first rescues Sarah, the bad guys leap away from her in panic, even though the car isn’t even heading straight at them.

- Mike, who has returned from Iraq, says: “I’ve done plenty of fighting – trust me, it doesn’t make a difference.” Ah yes, I’m completely in the dark as to the political persuasion of whoever wrote that line.

- Where did 24 year old Ph.D candidate Sarah get $90,000 within a matter of a couple of hours to pay off the loan sharks?

- It turns out that Sarah’s father survived, and his body double was killed (body double??). Why did he run off into the woods when he had a fully functioning, super-high tech bullet-proof car sitting in the garage?

What was good? I liked the nods to the original series with the opening credits, and at one point Mike’s mother says to Graiman “It’s not another Trans-Am, is it?” The car’s “morphing” abilities were much more subtle than I had feared when I hear comparisons to the Transformers movie. It could change color, add a spoiler and other minor touches, and again, the effects were pretty cool.

I also liked David Hasselhoff’s cameo. He actually played it well and I believed that this was the same Michael Knight, but much older.

If it becomes an ongoing TV series will I watch it? Probably not, but I think it would most likely find an audience.

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Oh boy… I justed watched five clips from the Knight Rider TV movie/pilot that will be airing this Sunday.

How many synonyms are there for the word awful?

Ok… let me back up and maybe try to be a bit more fair. The only scenes that were excrutiatingly painful to watch were the ones containing the fellow on the left, Justin Bruening, who plays Mike Knight, son of Michael Knight.

Holy cow is this guy awful in the role. I’m talking cringe-inducing.

You can see for yourself by heading over to IESB.net, which has exclusive clips from the show.

Now they’re not ALL bad, mostly the couple of clips where “Mike” appears. Although that doesn’t mean that the other ones are fantastic.

I do like the girl, and I actually like Val Kilmer as the voice of K.I.T.T. and I think they’ve done a decent job with the personality of the car.

But the character of Mike… holy cow, man. (Of course the more terrible it is, no doubt the higher the ratings will turn out to be.)

Just head over there for yourselves to see what I mean, then come back here and give us your thoughts. In particular check out clips 4 & 5.

Knight Rider airs on Sunday, February 17th.

Source: IESB

• Weekly TV Wrap Up – April 30th, 2009
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Now this is pretty damned funny.

NBC’s Knight Rider “re-imagining” is only a couple of weeks away from airing, and at the 11th hour the production has had to bring him in to completely replace the voice-over work of Will Arnett.

Arnett was to be the voice of the famous crime fighting car K.I.T.T., but apparently the combined forces of K.I.T.T. and Mike Knight were not enough to beat the supervillain known as…

General Motors.

It seems that Arnett has been doing voice-only commercials for GM trucks for the past 10 years and alas, the car in the show (which used to be a GM car) is now a Ford, who has a heavy hand in marketing and branding of the made for TV movie.

Hellooooo, does no one at GM read movie sites? Arnett’s been known to be the voice of the car for quite a while now.

Anyway, there’s just a wee bit of a conflict of interest there, so GM told Arnett he couldn’t provide the voice of a Ford Mustang.

Scramble, scramble, scramble, and NBC came up with Val Kilmer to do the last minute re-do for the movie.

I find it quite ironic because if the show had gone with a new version of the Pontiac Firebird (the original car used when the show was first aired) as the fans have wanted all along, this would never have been an issue. Yes, I realize there is no current Pontiac Firebird – but there’s a brand new retro Camaro that was unveiled in the Transformers movie so you can bet your last dollar that if there’s a new Camaro, a new Firebird can’t be far behind.

I guess GM would prefer to premiere a new version of that car in something a little more prestigious than a made for TV movie/remake combo.

Oh, and here’s the poster for the movie:

BTW, there are some big time unflattering pics of Val Kilmer floating out there right now… I tried to find one that was recent but not as awful as some of the others.

Source: Variety via Rope of Silicon

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The new KITT from NBC’s upcoming Knight Rider TV movie/pilot

There’s a very short teaser for the new Knight Rider TV movie that NBC is floating this February, no doubt to see if the ratings are strong enough to justify an ongoing TV series. Above you’re looking at the new K.I.T.T. which we’ve talked about before. I still don’t like that they’re not using a Pontiac Firebird for this. Especially since I’m absolutely sure there’s a brand new version coming out as the sister vehicle to the new Camaro that premiered in the Transformers movie.

Anyway, the teaser is below and it’s quite short at only 15 seconds:

I already don’t like it. Having the car call Knight “Mike” instead of “Michael” just sounds… weird. It’s too familiar. I always liked how formal the car sounded in the original show. Is this car going to be more like a cool buddy, or what?

I will probably tune in just for laughs and to see how bad this thing will be.

Knight Rider debuts some time in February 2008.

Image courtesy of Edmunds.com.

Source: /Film

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You’re looking at the new K.I.T.T. from the upcoming made-for-TV Knight Rider movie. No, your eyes do not deceive you: It’s a Ford Mustang. A Mustang GR500KR to be precise.

Normally I’d rag on GM for not taking advantage of this and getting a new version of their Pontiac Firebird in there. After all, in the original series the car was a Firebird, which at the time was a pretty cool looking car. However I’ll give them a pass for two reasons:

1. Although this is Knight Rider, it’s a made-for-TV movie. Not as big a deal as getting their hot new Camaro into the Transformers movie.

2. As far as I know, they don’t have a new Pontiac Firebird ready to roll yet. I say “yet” because the Camaro and Firebird have always been two versions of the same car. If they have a new Camaro out, the Firebird can’t be far behind.

As to story details, AICN and Hollywood Reporter bring us the following:

- David Hasselhoff does appear, playing Michael Knight although his son Mike Tracer (Justin Bruening is the star.

- Tracer (not Knight Jr. – his dad did save the father of a hot young babe in a different town every week after all) is recruited by his long-time best friend, Sarah Graiman and her physicist father, Charles (Davison), to join the Knight Foundation.

- Bruce Davison (Senator Kelly in the first two X-MEN films) will appear as Charles Graiman.

Here’s a bigger look at the car:

The story revolves around the Knight Foundation’s commitment to counteracting and preventing the damage done by private, covert military contractors. Charles creates the next generation K.I.T.T. to help in their mission. A millionare wants Charles to create a version of the car for himself and when Charles refuses, the millionare uses one of those contractors to murder him.

It’s unknown at this point if they’ll bring back William Daniels to provide the voice of the artificially intelligent car. I think they should, but the guy is 80 years old at this point, so who knows?

The TV movie is being considered a pilot, and if it gets decent ratings may end up being spun off into a series. My gut-check meter says: Stinker.

Sources: Jalopnik.com via AICN and Hollywood Reporter

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