KnightRiderLegacy

  KNIGHT RIDER LEGACY

  KNIGHT RIDER LEGACY

  THE UNOFFICIAL GUIDE TO THE KNIGHT

  RIDER UNIVERSE

  Joe Huth IV and Richie F. Levine

  iUniverse Star

  New York Lincoln Shanghai

  Knight Rider Legacy

  The Unofficial Guide to the Knight Rider Universe

  All Rights Reserved © 2002, 2004 by Joe Huth IV and Richie F. Levine No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

  iUniverse Star

  an iUniverse, Inc. imprint

  For information address:

  iUniverse, Inc.

  2021 Pine Lake Road, Suite 100

  Lincoln, NE 68512

  www.iuniverse.com

  This book has not been approved, licensed, or sponsored by any entity involved in creating or producing Knight Rider, the television series, or any of its incarnations.

  Book cover design by Joe Huth IV

  ISBN: 0-595-75094-X

  Printed in the United States of America

  In memory of Edward Mulhare, Robert Cinader, and Richard Lapham—three talented men involved in Knight Rider’s success. From Joe Huth IV:

  For my mother, Eva, who gave me the motivation and support to complete this project; For my father, Joe, who taught me to strive for excellence and never give up; For my sister, Jenny, who is always there for me (and who claims to have hooked me on this series!); For my other sister, Krissy, who has kept me level headed; Also for my stepmother, Darlene, and my stepfather, Tom. Thank you for all your support while I completed this (what turned out to be) monumental project!

  For Bobby, who always indulged me when it came to Knight Rider (“You’re not going to believe this either, but that’s not Devon”); For Tyler, who has helped me countless times with countless problems; For Sarah, who has become such a wonderful friend and confidante. Also for Katie, Ish, and Sharon. To A.H., who was there for the first ride so many years ago. Maybe one day…

  From Richie F. Levine:

  For the memory of my father, Stuart R. Levine, and also my mother Janice who instilled in me the belief that one man really can make a difference; For my wife Jacqueline, who knew all along her support for this Knight Rider obsession would lead to a book about the subject; For my brother, Ronald, who finally followed his dream and taught me the importance of escaping in laughter; For my only nephew—may you one day achieve your potential through your curiosity and wit; For my uncle, Martin—chess truly is the game of life and every move brings you closer to checkmate.

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  For Asif, Bushra and their kids—thank you for putting up with this obsession. For Laura Tenorio, who without her help this book wouldn’t look half as good as it does (“I am the Knight Automated Roving Robot, but you may call me K.A.R.R.”). A special thanks to Glen A. Larson for helping create the ultimate Knight Rider reference, and for Patricia McPherson and Rebecca Holden for making it real hard to tell which mechanic is better. A special thanks to Paul Sher Jr. whose imprint on this book will be everlasting .

  EPIGRAPH

  Knight Rider, a shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist. Michael Knight, a young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of criminals who operate above the law.

  Michael Knight, a young loner in a dangerous world, the world of the Knight Rider—David Hasselhoff as “Michael Knight” [Courtesy George Barris] vii

  CONTENTS

  FOREWORD ........................................................................................XIII

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................XVII

  INTRODUCTION ................................................................................XIX

  CHAPTER ONE: A SHADOWY FLIGHT… ............................................1

  CHAPTER TWO: I AM THE KNIGHT RIDER ........................................8

  CHAPTER THREE: THE F.L.A.G. FAMILY ............................................19

  CHAPTER FOUR: ONE MAN CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE ..............28

  CHAPTER FIVE: WHITE BIRD MUST FLY ..........................................40

  CHAPTER SIX: THE KNIGHT BEHIND THE WHEEL ......................45

  CHAPTER SEVEN: DESIGNING K.I.T.T. ..............................................57

  CHAPTER EIGHT: MEET GOLIATH ....................................................76

  CHAPTER NINE: JUST FOR OLD TIME’S SAKE ................................91

  CHAPTER TEN: A KNIGHT IN DECLINE ........................................101

  CHAPTER ELEVEN: AFTER THE SUN SET ......................................117

  CHAPTER TWELVE: KNIGHT RIDER SEASON ONE ......................125

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN: KNIGHT RIDER SEASON TWO ..................172

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN: KNIGHT RIDER SEASON THREE ............212

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN: KNIGHT RIDER SEASON FOUR ....................252

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN: UNPRODUCED EPISODES ............................292

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: KNIGHT RIDER 2000 ................................299

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: KNIGHT RIDER 2010 ..................................311

  CHAPTER NINETEEN: GET READY TO RIDE ................................315

  CHAPTER TWENTY: ONLY THE SHADOW KNOWS. ....................323

  APPENDIX A: ABOUT GRASSROOTS COALITION ........................331

  APPENDIX B: BUILDING A K.I.T.T. REPLICA ..................................333

  APPENDIX C: A CRUSADE FOR IMMORTALITY:

  KNIGHT RIDER FAN FICTION ..............................................341

  APPENDIX D: KNIGHT RIDER MERCHANDISE ..............................345

  APPENDIX E: A GUIDE TO K.I.T.T.’S FUNCTIONS ........................349 ix

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  APPENDIX F: K.I.T.T.’S FUNCTIONS BY EPISODE ..........................357

  APPENDIX G: CODE OF VENGEANCE ..............................................371

  APPENDIX H: KNIGHT RIDER ON DVD AND VHS ........................375

  APPENDIX I: TEAM KNIGHT RIDER EPISODE GUIDE ..................379

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS ......................................................................409

  BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................413

  Glen Larson in 1982 [Photo courtesy of Glen Larson]

  FOREWORD

  By Glen A. Larson

  What began as a contractual obligation soon became a full blown labor of love. What at first appeared a highly formidable challenge became an almost effortless joy. Most of all, it was just pure fun. Fun for everyone involved in the creative process. Fun for the studio that needed a sale. Fun for the network that needed a hit. And most importantly, because the spirit was so pervasive, it turned out to be fun for the audience. I owed Universal Studios one hold-over project because they had let me out of my contract a few months early to develop a show for 20th Century Fox and ABC which would become The Fall Guy. Two years later, The Fall Guy was a big hit, and I was already on to other projects. I assumed everyone had forgotten about the commitment, or that they simply didn’t have any interest in pursuing it.

  Enter Richard Lindheim and Kerry McCluggage, former associates—if not protégé’s—from my days at Universal. They wanted an eight o’clock action show about a hot futuristic car and the
y wanted me to do it. Technically, it’s arguable whether their option on my services was still viable. My lawyer said I could get out of it, but there were a couple of things about that project that intrigued me.

  First, I was flattered that they thought I was the only producer in town who could pull this concept off (the stench of My Mother The Car still permeated network corridors), but I would have been sadly misguided had I agreed to do the project because of ego. I later discovered that every producer under contract to Universal had been approached to tackle this concept ahead of me and each had summarily turned it down. But, by the xiii

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  time I learned of this, it no longer mattered. Knight Rider was on its way to becoming a huge success, if not an icon.

  And when all was said and done, it had nothing to do with the kids, eight o’clock action, or even the great heroics, though these were all important ingredients of the show. The reason Knight Rider became the darling of the Nielson ratings from its first broadcast on, despite horrifying competition, had not been obvious to any of us in the beginning, though I later realized that it had to have been the underlying reason I took on the show. That reason, simply stated, was that America, men and boys in particular, have an ongoing love affair with automobiles. Even though the show starred David Hasselhoff and his partner in comedy, William Daniels (the voice of K.I.T.T.), and for just plain class, Edward Mulhare, the surprise star of the show was a sleek, wondrously futuristic Pontiac Trans Am which drove its way into America’s living rooms, splitting the fine line between plausibility and imagination. The math would add up beautifully. We know we’d get boys—we were doing a contemporary version of The Lone Ranger. We knew David Hasselhoff had a following with women from his soap opera days. This might cause a few defections from Dallas (though nothing we could count on). But men across the board?

  The morning after the first broadcast, my office was flooded with calls. Not calls from friends telling me how much their children loved this new eight o’clock action show, but from all of the professional people in my life: my doctor, my dentist, my lawyer, head of studios, agents, the mailman, the guy who cleans the pool. I learned for the first time how much automobiles mean to guys of all ages.

  Finally, to put the content of the show and the choices I made in its development into perspective, let me touch on my introduction to Science Fiction. I was first impressed by this genre as a boy in the waning days of radio. My two favorite shows were Dimension X and Two Thousand Plus. Then in high school, there was Robert Heinlein’s Red Planet, and finally after breaking into television professionally, those priceless hours I spent Foreword •

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  with Science Fiction’s greatest latter day prophet, Isaac Asimov, as we bounced around ideas for two of my earlier shows, Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rodgers.

  I mention this biographical background only to point out that my own intention in creating Knight Rider was not to piece together a groundless eight o’clock action show with the mindless musings of red necks chasing cars around a bucolic countryside as in The Dukes of Hazzard or even The Fall Gu y. I designed Knight Rider to venture thoughtfully, a few steps at a time into the future, embracing the relevance of 2001, with protagonists like Dave, the astronaut, duking it out with his often adversarial computer companion, HAL. The Knight 2000 was a platform for automotive possibilities, many of which have already come to pass, the balance likely soon to come…

  My commitment to Universal was to create and write the pilot and to help staff the show and supervise the first thirteen episodes. I cannot speak to how faithful the show remained to the values I tried to establish. That is for the audience to judge.

  I do know that for my part it was a labor of love, which is why I have accepted a second challenge, and that is to now evolve Knight Rider the television show into Knight Rider the motion picture. I hope we can come close to hitting the center of the target as often as we did with the series. Whatever the outcome, it will once again be a labor of love. When all is said and done, I guess I love cars too.

  Glen A. Larson, Bel Air, California

  June 24, 2002

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  The authors would like to graciously thank AJ Palmgren for his information, time, and friendship. Also, a special thanks goes out to Paul Sher, Jr. of Code One Auto (http://www.codeoneauto.com).

  The authors would also like to thank the following people: Scott Bainbridge, Linda Borchers, David Hofstede, Bob Munger, Suzanne Welsh

  Neil Epstein (http://www.knightrideronline.com)

  Scott Kirkessner (http://www.knightrider2000.com)

  Knight Registries (http://www.knightregistries.com)

  Natalie Marshall (http://www.davidhasselhoffonline.com)

  Sarah McGarr (http://www.dhasselhoff.net)

  Paul Nuthall (http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/007/315/index.htm) Laura Tenorio (http://www.knightridercollective.8m.com)

  Special thanks to Shotgun Jack at Q104, KBEQ, Kansas City. Also a special thanks to the people who shared their memories of working on the various series and movies related to Knight Rider: From Knight Rider:

  Larry Anderson, Burton Armus, George Barris, James Callahan, Sondra Currie, William Daniels, Robert Foster, Dick Gautier, Jack Gill, Robert xvii

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  Ginty, Tom Greene, Gino Grimaldi, David Hasselhoff, Rebecca Holden, Glen A. Larson, Anne Lockhart, Patricia McPherson, Richard Okie, Peter Parros, Don Peake, Stu Phillips, Peter Mark Richman, Joel Rogosin, Gerald Sanford, Michael Scheffe, Hannah L. Shearer, Pamela Susan Shoop From Knight Rider 2000 :

  Carmen Argenziano, Jan Hammer, Alan J. Levi.

  From Team Knight Rider:

  Rick Copp, David A. Goodman, Brixton Karnes, Steve Kriozere, Marcus Miller, Christine Steel, Kathy Trageser.

  INTRODUCTION

  Many people today remember a time when NBC dominated the television market with such great television shows like Miami Vice and The A- Team. However, before Don Johnson’s clothes and Mr. T’s gold became famous, there was a show that caught the attention of nearly every teenager in America. Whether you were a male or female, there was something about the show that appealed to you. If you liked cars and were looking for adventure, then this show was for you.

  Knight Rider lasted only four years, from September 26, 1982 until August 8, 1986. However, in that span of time, it captured the imaginations of millions. First, there was K.I.T.T., a talking car that received the thousands of fan letters per week, then there was David Hasselhoff , the former soap star with worldwide sex appeal. Glen Larson popularized the idea that one man and one car can make a difference.

  Why was Knight Rider so popular? It had a lot to do with K.I.T.T., as well as with David Hasselhoff and his interaction with the car. It is hard to picture an actor talking to a car and making the audience believe it, but Hasselhoff managed to bring it to a level that was realistic. Edward Mulhare and Patricia McPherson only added to the show’s quality, and William Daniels’ voice captured what we all wanted our cars to say and do. As automakers began to integrate some of K.I.T.T.’s features into their cars, the show redesigned the Trans Am each season as a way of staying one step ahead of reality. Knight Rider incorporated computers and ahead-ofits-time concepts to make the audience believe that a super-car like K.I.T.T. could actually exist. At a time when the desktop personal computer was in its infancy, Knight Rider managed to utilize computers at xix

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  every turn and to convince us they could also be portable. The idea of a Central Processing Unit (CPU) was brought to the nation’s attention as well as the idea of the Internet. K.I.T.T. could transfer data, tap into satellites, and be able to send information while in transit. Does not seem so far fetched now, does it?

  The Knight Industries 2000 [Courtesy Joe Huth]

  No other 1982 NBC premiere generated as much attention as Knight Rider did. While The A-Team
brought NBC out of the cellar in early 1983, Knight Rider gave the network a bona-fide hit on Friday nights. Over the course of the next four seasons, some of the storylines would be reused, but viewers could always rest in the fact that each mission would end successfully, that the villain would be caught and justice would be served. No wonder Team Knight Rider never made it past the first season—what a standard to live up to!

  Many Knight Rider fans still exist today. They enjoy riding around in their own K.I.T.T. replica and, thanks to modern technology, many of the Introduction •

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  features seen on K.I.T.T. can be installed in them. Although David Hasselhoff is widely known for saving lives as lifeguard Mitch Buchanon on Baywatch, many fans still see him as Michael Knight, a lone crusader for all. No other actor is fonder of his breakout show then Hasselhoff is about Knight Rider.

  Growing up, Knight Rider taught us that you can get out of almost any tough situation if you try, that computers are serious tools, and that even you can make a difference. We always listened to Bonnie’s advice to respect our equipment. That, and about 84 different ways of getting the message to Michael to be careful….

  CHAPTER ONE

  A SHADOWY FLIGHT…

  Paramount President Kerry McCluggage and Richard Linheim, looking to create a show that revolved around a car approached Glen A. Larson, the man responsible for some of the more memorable television series in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Although Larson had gotten out of his deal with Universal Studios a year early and moved to Fox, he promised Universal that he would develop one more show for them. “We actually ran the screen tests in my projection room at Fox,” Larson recalls. “I was flattered that they thought I was the only guy that could do something fresh with something involving a car. Years later, I had found out they had gone to everyone on the lot first, so I was the last one on their list.” In fact, eight producers turned the new series down, including Chris Crawl and Don Bellasario.

  The series’ conception came about as a result of Lindheim seeing a similar computer-laden super-car in Larson’s B.J. and the Bear. In that story, titled “Cain’s Cruiser,” a prototype super-car was being abused by a hot headed police chief, and B.J. had to get it back. That episode pre-dates Knight Rider as it was aired on September 17, 1979. Lindheim then told Larson to base the new series around a car similar to that one. Now signed to create the yet-to-be-titled series, Larson flew his wife and Kerry McCluggage to Honolulu where he wrote the pilot script over a period of ten days. “I’m in a dark room with one of the world’s first word processors and they’re out there on jet skis and tennis courts having the time of their lives. I knew I wanted to call the main character Michael Knight. I did not seek too many opinions on what the content 1