In a successful career full of head-scratching moves, Doug Liman's next project almost sounds like a prank -- but it's not. The man who directed 'Swingers,' 'The Bourne Identity,' 'The O.C.' pilot and 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith' has signed on to direct a scripted half-hour comedy-drama pilot for MTV called 'I Just Want My Pants Back.' In addition, he'll helm the pilot for a new reality show on A&E called 'The Unexplained,' which will examine real-life paranormal activity.

Here are the reasons it sounds like a joke: First, well, just read it again. Second, MTV hasn't done a project like this since 2002's 'Undressed.' Third, the title sounds like a sequel to 'Dude, Where's My Car?' Fourth, MTV has banked so much on their reality programming, why the change of heart now? Fifth, MTV is notorious for not paying very much, so how are they paying for Liman?

Imagine for a second that Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons was hired to run a television show. Now imagine that the television show was a remake of an old favorite. Sounds like it would make for a pretty impatient press tour panelist, right? Well, that's what we got with Gary Scott Thompson, the new show-runner for Knight Rider.

Thompson answered most of the questions on the panel, and his message to everyone was: remember that two-hour KR movie that aired last year? Forget all about it. The characters may be the same but the story is completely different. What went on before probably won't matter for much. Even KITT is a little different.

Well, here's hoping that the powers that be were reading TV Squad after the two-hour Knight Rider movie premiered last February. Then, at least they'll know how to fix the show, because NBC has picked up Knight Rider as a series for the 2008-2009 schedule, and it's going to need some re-tooling.

That's the phrase they love to use in the business to describe all the work that's needed to turn a turkey -- albeit one with great ratings -- into a successful series. And Knight Rider, as conceived in that TV movie/back door pilot, needs some major work.

I know, I know, you're thinking, "how the hell can NBC think of bringing back a show like Knight Rider?" But people were saying the same thing when they announced a new Bionic Woman and look what happened.

It's true: NBC has given the OK for a TV movie pilot (we don't see much of those on TV these days) for a new, updated Knight Rider, to be directed (possibly) by Doug Liman (Swingers, The Bourne Identity, Mr. and Mrs. Smith). Hopefully this updated version means that the car isn't going to talk but will have other, more impressive capabilities to fight crime. We can also assume that David Hasselhoff will not be asked to reprise his role as Michael Knight, though I bet we see a wink-wink cameo at some point.

ABC had garnered a fair amount of press over this one because of the obvious tie-in to the Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie movie. The big news is that the creators of the movie are back for the TV show. Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Swingers) and Simon Kinberg (X-Men: The Last Stand) have signed on to try and transform their movie to the small screen.

Sometimes the wheels of TV production turn mighty slowly. In August of '05 Adam posted about Doug Liman signing a deal with NBC. Then, last January there was talk about his first project being a series adaptation of the movie Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

A year later, and the show is finally getting the go ahead for a pilot, but not at NBC. Somehow the show has now ended up at ABC. Liman, who directed the big screen version, will direct the pilot. It will be written by Simon Kinberg, who wrote the movie. Kinberg says of the series, ""It's essentially Married With Children with guns." Casting is under way with nobody officially attached to replace Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie at this time.

I'll be curious to get a look at it, just because it's Doug Liman, but my real hope for the show is that it will somehow lead to a DVD set of the completely unrelated CBS show, also called Mr. & Mrs. Smith. You might remember that from the fall of '96, starring Scott Bakula and Maria Bello.

I mentioned back in August that Doug Liman had inked a deal with NBC. It now looks like his first show for the network will be a TV version of his remake of Mr. and Mrs. Smith starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie (without the two mega stars, natch). I'm actually quite pleased to hear this, as I've developed a severe allergic reaction to original ideas. NBC has not picked the show up officially, though Liman claims the network probably will. I guess I'll take his word for it.