So I come back from a week away, and what should await me but a time warp to a long-forgotten (and happily so) era of kitschy schlock. Courtesy, naturally, of NBC, whose new regime appears to be operating under an embargo banning anything with a shred of originality. Two hours of American Gladiators (which I skipped) followed by two hours of Knight Rider (which I forced myself to endure). Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a forgettable night — unless you enjoy the rubbernecking spectacle of watching a network slip further into the abyss of cultural irrelevancy. (You doubt me? I guess you missed the promos for Monday’s newest reality gem, My Dad Is Better than Your Dad.)The new (more or less) Knight Rider wasn’t really a show, it was more like the longest car ad in human memory: “Brought to you by the star of our show, (name of car).” Almost made you pine for the good old days of the writers’ strike.Despite a few contemporary touches — on...
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This two-hour special event for TNT's The Closer absolutely was special and an event, at the same time addressing the state of the scandal-fractured Priority Homicide Squad and thrusting Brenda Leigh into a high-stakes investigation, at the bequest of "The Company." I liked (yet was saddened by) how this outing opened, seemingly just another fresh death to be looked into by Flynn, Gabriel and the rest of the gang.... 'Cept there was no rest of the gang, just Taylor and a pair of gangly regular homicide clowns named McHale and Ross. To add insult to injury, Taylor had the nerve to mock the on-leave Brenda by lampooning her Southern-fried thank-yous. Not nice. Taylor would get his later, though, when Brenda leveraged her freelance CIA assist into a posthaste reassembly of her squad, right down to Tao, who was perfectly aghast at the dusty state of his keyboard. And Flynn, such the come-and-go softie, telling Brenda, "I've missed hearing the word 'please'"? Awww.As for the actual case ...
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Rebecca Holden and David Hasselhoff, Knight Rider
Question: On the show Knight Rider, what did K.I.T.T. stand for?Answer: Why, he and partner/driver Michael Knight (David Hasselhoff) stood for truth, justice and single-handedly lowering the auto-industry fleet's miles-per-gallon average by 10 miles or so. Weren't you watching?
Actually, K.I.T.T. stood for Knight Industries Two Thousand, the model name for the superpowered, computer-sentient car built by dying rich guy Wilton Knight. The hit series ran on NBC from September 1982 to August 1986, and as fans will know, Knight rescued undercover cop Michael Young, who'd been shot in the face while on the job. He paid for his plastic surgery, giving Young a new mug and a new name (Knight, which smacked of some ego, I thought) in the process. Then he handed his creation the keys to K.I.T.T., a black Trans Am with a
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