It looks like NBC's new Knight Rider is on its last turbo boost, and the show's executive producer claims NBC has no one to blame but themselves.

Mediaweek's Alan Frutkin sat down with the show's executive producer Gary Scott Thompson to talk about the show's already troubled times before it hits the air again on Wednesday.

Thompson said the show has undergone some usual first season changes like differences in creative direction and story outlines, but the changes the network handed down cut far deeper to the bone.

I'm sure at one point or another in every little kid's life, he or she has wanted to have a robot BFF. All the potential for wacky fun and scientific misadventures would make up for the inevitable human/binary language barrier, and, when I think about it, I still totally want a robot buddy. I mean, from my time on this Earth, of two things I am sure: Lists are fun and robots are awesome. So, despite the fact that my age numerically suggests I shouldn't be thinking about this sort of stuff, I am all over this list.

I should also note that, upon completion of this depressingly nerdy post, I am legally obligated to punch myself in the face for a solid fifteen minutes and then steal my own lunch money. Let's just get this over with, shall we? Here are the top eleven robot buddies from TV, in no particular order, because each robot is special in its own way. Also, I don't want any readers to kill me for not ranking to their liking.

Everything about the new Knight Rider is about to change.

Well, OK, almost everything. It's not like they're going to get rid of the car and change the show to a musical/variety hour featuring dancers and puppets. But they are getting rid of three of the stars of the show and changing the plot around to be more like the old version of the show.

Stars Bruce Davison, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, and Yancey Arias will no longer be on the show after the first 13 episodes. Also, the producers are getting rid of the stories where our hero fights professional bad guys and instead goes around and helps everyday Joes (plumbers and otherwise). Supposedly this will bring the show more in line with the other dramas on the NBC Wednesday lineup, Life and Law and Order. Though I don't think either of those shows feature a talking car.

The cringe-inducing piece of news is that they plan to do more "stunt-casting." Big name guest stars can be OK, but it's odd to announce "yes, now we are going to do more stunt-casting."

If they really want to make the show more like the old one they should bring back William Daniels.

Battlestar Galactica has spoiled us all.

I say that because, since the excellent "re-imagining" of the craptastic '70s scifi series hit the air, we expect the remakes of our favorite shows to be darker, more layered, and more complicated than the originals. But sometimes, going darker doesn't always work: take a look at the failure pile that passed for the Bionic Woman remake as the best example of that. So, when a "25 years later" return of Knight Rider was announced, I half wondered if they were going to go the BSG route and make it all serious. But I equally wondered if they would go the other way and make it a modern camp classic, sort of the way the original, Hoff-injected series was.

Turns out, the answer was "none of the above." Mostly the movie / backdoor pilot that aired last night was dull, with a few fleeting moments of camp thrown in. But it never made me clamor for the show to return as a series.

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In the movie Batman Forever, Val Kilmer as Batman said "Chicks love the car." There he was talking about the Batmobile, but maybe he was being prophetic, too. Kilmer has just signed to replace Will Arnett as the voice of KITT in the forthcoming NBC Knight Rider telefilm/back-door pilot. I want you to note that in the original link, they've been very generous in picture selection for Mr. Kilmer, as his waist size and age have apparently been running neck and neck the last several years. This article chose a more recent picture, and right now we're all thankful he's only doing voice work on the film.

Knight Rider premieres in 10 days (02-17-2008) and Arnett had completed all of the voice work already. Apparently, as our own Kristin witnessed first-hand, the new KITT is a Ford Mustang and Arnett had done some GM commercial work before so it would be blasphemy to let him voice a Ford car. BLASPHEMY!!

I know, you woke up in the middle of the night last night in a cold sweat and wondered, why is the new Knight Rider car a Mustang?

Davis Bartis, who is the executive producer on the new NBC remake of the 80s show, says that there is no Trans Am available like the original, so they went with the Ford Mustang, which he thinks is "the coolest car out there." So now, not only will K.I.T.T. have a new voice (Arrested Development's Will Arnett, taking over for William Daniels), the car itself will be completely new.

Back in April we told you about the sale of one of the four original Trans-Ams used in the filming of the original Knight Rider series. Now, another original KITT car has been put up for sale, and this time it's on eBay.

The black 1984 Pontiac has been put up for sale to satisfy a large amount of debts incurred by a slain real estate developer whose murder last year was unsolved. According to creditors, Andrew Kissel owed somewhere along the lines of $30 million dollars. Wow.

Today I went to NBC studios for the unveiling of the new KITT (Knight Industries Three Thousand) for the upcoming two-hour television movie Knight Rider set to air on February 17 at 9 p.m. ET. This modern-day sequel to the iconic 1980's show stars Justin Bruening (Cold Case), Deanna Russo (The Young and the Restless), Sydney Tamiia Poitier (Veronica Mars), and Bruce Davison (Breach). Will Arnett (Arrested Development) will play the voice of KITT. And don't worry, the Hoff will make a guest appearance as Michael Knight.

Reuters Canada is reporting that David Hasselhoff is in talks to reprise his role as the titular character Michael Knight in the updating of the classic series Knight Rider. In the new telefilm / back-door-pilot, Justin Bruening (All My Children) has already been cast as Mike Tracer, the estranged son of Hasselhoff's Knight, who never knew his father.

Just added is fellow soap-star Deanna Russo of The Young and the Restless. She'll play Tracer's former girlfriend Sarah Kamen. In the film, she sets out with KITT (that's the talking car) to find her father, recruiting Tracer along the way. Does she know he's the son of Michael Knight? Does Kitt? Maybe KITT is vampiric now and needs Knight blood to survive; Hasselhoff will be trapped in the engine block, barely alive. "FEED ME, MICHAEL!"

Well, the upfronts have come and gone and everyone is asking the question that gets asked every year at this time, "How could they cancel my favorite show?"

No one understands how difficult this is better than I. I have been watching TV for a long time and I've seen many of my favorite shows get cut down in their prime. Arrested Development, Firefly, Bosom Buddies; I loved all of these shows and I was sad to see them go. Here's what's important to remember: With every great show that gets canceled, a deserving show goes with it. For every Jericho that gets cut down, there is a George Lopez Show that is put out of it's misery. For every Veronica Mars that is stopped short there is a Reba that we no longer have to deal with.

Besides, in a few months, the new fall season will be here and there will be a whole new batch of shows to worry about.

Now on to this week's question...

On the classic show Knight Rider, Kitt had an evil twin. What was his name and what did his name stand for?

This should be an easy one for all you true TV fans. Good luck!

Congratulations to NPC who set a new time record with his correct answer of KARR (Knight Automated Roving Robot).

I thought there was something fishy about this David Hasselhoff drunk tape nonsense. It smelled of publicity to me, though why anyone would want to be filmed drunk and slobbering over a cheeseburger and potentially hurt his relations with his family is a mystery.

But guess what? The Hoff has an autobiography coming out May 15! I'm sure it's just a coincidence though.

The title, by the way, is Don't HassleThe Hoff. Jeez, it's one thing for others to call you "The Hoff," but calling yourself that? The book has a lot of (supposedly) juicy details, including Hasselhoff's revelation that he knows that Baywatch was a sexist show. The above link includes an excerpt from the book.

KITT, the sleek black sports car that helped David Hasselhoff solve crimes (on Knight Rider, not in real life, that I know of) is for sale. You can buy it for only $149,995. If you spend another $5 and make it an even $150,000, I'm sure he'll throw in the cup holder.

Now, this is one of four cars that were used on the show for interior shots and other close up camera work. And that light in front actually does work and it also hums. Inside the car you get a bunch of cool buttons and stuff.

Note to potential buyers: the car doesn't go real fast and there aren't any weapons on board. But oddly enough, the winner will get the use of William Daniels for an entire year.

I wish I was bored patient skilled enough to create an awesome pumpkin like the one the guys over at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories created. They have a step-by-step guide to carving your very own Cylon-O-Lantern, a la Battlestar Galactica. The actual carving part is easy, but, of course, there are also electronics involved. The evil geniuses recommend fashioning a KITT (as in Knight Rider) scanning circuit to create your Cylon pumpkin. And be sure to use a giant pumpkin for better results. I wonder if they're also sporting blonde wigs and tight red dresses this Halloween?

[Thanks, Justin!]

The will they or won't they saga of making a Knight Rider movie continues. Ain't it Cool has a collection of rumors about the latest goings on with the project. Here's the short version. The pics recently floating around that were touted to be the new K.I.T.T., shown here, aren't real. However, one tipster suggests that the concept Camaro from recent auto shows is a possibility.

The involvement of Orlando Bloom as Michael's son also seems to be false. It is explained as the result of a conversation between Bloom and Hasselhoff at an awards show. According to the tipster Hasselhoff has no official involvement in the movie and there is currently no part in it for him.

Paul Goebel mentioned this David Hasselhoff video on his podcast, and I must say it really continues the singer's long-standing tradition of pushing greenscreen effects to their very limits. The song is called "Get In My Car" and it uses the same "let's cram an entire conversation into a song rather than write lyrics" approach to songwriting that earlier brought us such gems as Meatloaf's "Paradise By the Dashboard Light." Hasselhoff has never been above a bit of self-deprecation, and this video makes references to both Knigt Rider (he drives KITT throughout the video) and Baywatch. Also, his backup singers call him "gay," a rumor I wasn't aware of, but apparently he wants that spread around, so you know, everybody get on that. The song really does sound like it's being made up as they go along. I'm guessing it could have been a ten-minute epic if they allowed, eventually devolving into Hasselhoff and his passenger talking about mundane things like air freshneners and unopened packets of ketchup in the ashtray. Watch the video after the jump.