Contact Music have some soundbites from David Hasselhoff regarding his opinions of the recent Knight Rider TV-movie. Apparently, he didn’t like it.

“Basically, I brought the project into NBC,” he told them. “They read my treatment, which involved Michael Knight and his son, and they called me up and said, ‘Hey, we’re going ahead.’ They asked me to come in and do a cameo and promote it and I said I would. But it was not what I had in mind.

“I didn’t get a chance to see the show until the final product and it was clearly not what it could’ve been. It was someone else’s vision.

“I clearly could’ve brought more of Michael Knight and the past into it. The bottom line was they missed a big audience because it was not retro and that was the whole point of it — being retro. I mean everybody grew up watching that show and they loved it. They missed the point of heart, humour and action. They didn’t have heart, humour and I don’t know how they didn’t have action.”

Why did NBC go the route they did? It’s obvious that they were trying to cover all the bases — set up a new series, leave room for Hasselhoff’s involvement in other projects (America’s Got Talent, the proposed Tales From The Hoff), and cater to a young, modern audience that has been raised on Smallville and the like — and they did that. I have faith that the current production team can deliver when it returns in September as a series, but I also think that having Hasselhoff onboard would be a big, big plus. That’s not just me speaking as a fan — in recent years Hasselhoff has demonstrated a strong understanding of Knight Rider as a series, and the elements that make it work. Take another glance at the comments above. Would you rather have seen that movie?

From the sound of his statement, Hasselhoff’s take on the material would have seen a more conventional passing of the baton — like the earlier Knight Rider 2000. In fact, in August 2004 he told Jonno & Harriet’s Breakfast Show (on the UK’s Heart FM radio station) his plans:

“I want to bring a cool Knight Rider in with a new car but also at the end Michael Knight comes in with the old K.I.T.T. and saves the day. I’m probably going to take over the Devon character and have my son be like the Knight Rider.”

It seems to me that the only chance Hasselhoff has of being reunited with the Trans Am would be in a straight-to-DVD special. That could work, and there’d be a huge market for it. It could be a lot of fun. If the new show is a success, us old-time Knight Rider fans still have a chance of seeing something along those lines. And, of course, there has to be room for him to return in the series, as a semi-regular if not a co-star.

Contact Music claim in their piece that Hasselhoff wants nothing to do with the new Knight Rider, but it should be noted that nowhere in their article is he actually quoted as saying that. I’ll be keeping an open mind about that for the time being.

– Paul

Contact Music – Hasselhoff Unhappy He Was Driven Out of Knight Rider