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| Transampontiac.com |
Love it or hate it (and there are a number of people on both
sides of that argument), Knight Rider was a huge hit with TV viewers in the
80s. I sort of straddle the fence on the warrants of the show. Yes, often the
storyline limped along like Long John Silver, and whoever told Mr. Hasselhoff
he could act was almost certainly living in La-La land, but I still tuned into
the show each week because it was plain and simply fun to watch!
Of course, the black 1982 Pontiac Trans Am was the true star
of the show. With that pulsating red strobe light buried in its hood, it wasn’t
difficult to buy into the idea that this was a living, breathing automobile. I
also enjoyed the stunt driving, although they never quite reached the standards
of Hollywood, unless we’re talking of Disney.
The show survived from 1982 till 1986 but, towards the end,
it was getting rather long in the tooth. Since then, there have been several
attempts to reinvent it. In 2008, NBC launched a made-for-TV movie and tried to
follow this up with another television series. By this time, a Ford Mustang had
replaced the famous Trans Am and they’d also managed to find a younger lead
(former male model, Justin Bruening). Unfortunately, he came across as only
marginally better than his forerunner and the show only lasted a few short
months.
Mr. Hasselhoff went onto bigger and well, better things. He
became famous as the guy who hung around with those bikini-clad beauties on
Baywatch, and most recently became a judge on a popular TV talent show. Justin,
well I don’t really know what happened to him and, if I’m totally honest, I’m
not actually interested enough to go search for that information.
What I really would like to know however is, whatever
happened to KITT? After working with the Hoffmeister for years, did he simply
drive himself into the nearest car-crusher at the end of the series out of pure
embarrassment, or is he still out there somewhere waiting for someone like me
or you to call his name?
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| Transampontiac.com |