Knight Rider Undergoing Major Revamp
Smith Cho and Justin Bruening, Knight Rider
Knight Rider is changing gears for the back half of the season.
Recently granted a full season by NBC, the drama is now out to finish its freshman year on a high by undergoing a major reboot. Rider is set to dump three regulars — Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Yancey Arias and Bruce Davison — after the initial 13 episodes and will revamp the show to draw more parallels to its '80s original, The Hollywood Reporter reports.
"It's a reboot," Gary Scott Thompson, executive producer/showrunner, said. "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."
Currently registering modest ratings, the "new" (and maybe improved) Rider will kick off as a two-parter in January behind an NFL Sunday night football game in an effort to buoy its ratings. The second part will air the following Wednesday.
Despite the departure of three stars, which Thompson says was only a result of a change in creative direction, there are no plans to add new regulars. Instead, the show will focus on the remaining characters — Mike (Justin Bruening), Sarah (Deanna Russo), Billy (Paul Campbell), Zoe (Smith Cho) and KITT — and will look into stunt guest casting.
Does this mean we should make way for The Hoff?
