by Rajan Khanna

After watching the craptacular mess that was the Knight Rider television movie earlier this year, I found myself wondering exactly why I was planning to watch the first episode of the ongoing television series. Was I really that interested in new content for the site? Did I really want to go beyond series I found interesting?

Apparently, the answer is yes.

Five minutes into the premiere of the Knight Rider series, I questioned that decision. The production values of this show seemed less than network. I wondered if maybe most of the budget was spent on special effects and Val Kilmer's salary (Kilmer is the voice of KITT in the new version). And the lead, Mike Traceur (Justin Bruening) has the charisma of a head of lettuce. But what almost completely destroyed my tenacity was the part where KITT, normally a Ford Mustang, transforms into a pick-up truck, seemingly generating new parts and mass through an orgiastic display of computer animation. I had the remote in my hands, my finger poised over the stop button.

In the end, however, I let it play. Sometimes we all like to watch train wrecks.

Knight Rider, an update of the 80s series, is about a guy and a car. Really. There's a lot more thrown in, but it basically comes down to that. For this series, the guy and the car in question work for a government agency. It's all very 24 with a team of analysts and agents who offer support to the guy and the car in a high-tech secret headquarters complete with lots of computer screens and computer simulations that can be manipulated with the flip of a hand.

The emphasis here is on action with fistfights and car chases and, in the pilot episode, a missile attack which results in a flaming high-speed car. The stakes in all of this action tend to get lost with vague references to packages and data. But there are plenty of dramatic expressions and dialogue to emphasize that it is important.

Additionally, this episode also introduces an element for Mike Tracer, namely the ever so rarely used mysterious past. It seems that Mike doesn't remember large parts of his military past and that proves to be fodder for a subplot that will likely stretch at least this whole season.

Sadly, I will never discover the nature of that past because frankly, one episode is all I could take. If, however, you like big explosions and flashy effects and don't really care about logical plots, character motivations or believable and likable characters, Knight Rider should be exactly what you want.

Knight Rider airs Wednesday nights on NBC.