Rob Huddleston

The wait is almost over.

I’m not sure if Knight Rider technically counts here, seeing as how it sort of premiered last winter with its TV movie, but I guess it’s still considered a “new show” and hey this is my blog and I get to make the rules …

So I should begin with a disclaimer: I liked the original. I think most boys may age probably did. I mean, a cool dude (and yes, there really was a time with David Hasselhoff was cool) driving around in a fast, black car that freaking talked? That was the bomb. I can still conjure up the theme song, although I try not to since it will usually get lodged in my head for a few days when I do.

The new show is trying hard to stay true to the old, while of course updating things quite a bit. There’s the now-required Grand Mythology of the show – something about Michael’s past in Iraq and a government conspiracy and maybe the people he works for aren’t quite as much on his side as he thinks. And there’s a new stronger role for the female lead – in this case, Sarah, who is the daughter of KITT’s creator and a once-and-possibly future love interest for Michael. (The first point – the conspiracy – I could do without. The second I have no problem with, just for the record.)

Otherwise, it really does feel a lot like the old show. Each episode will somehow involve Michael saving some lesser-fortunate person in such as way as to require the almost-constant use of his car. The new Michael Knight (who (SPOILER ALERT) is the son of Hasselhoff’s character) is about as clueless as was the original.

So then why can’t I find myself really liking the show? Well, for starters, there’s one unfortunate instance of celebrity stunt casting: Val Kilmer is the voice of KITT. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with that – Kilmer actually has just about the right voice and cadence for the job – the relative unknowedness of William Daniels, the original voice, helped bring me into the action. I can’t help but picture Kilmer (usually dressed as Batman) whenever KITT talks, and that just kills the suspension of disbelief.

A bigger problem, though, is that the show is just a little too happy with its effects. Don’t get me wrong: I’m all about cool special effects. But I prefer my effects to enhance the show, not be the show. So now KITT can, at will, transform from a normal Dodge Charger to some completely pimped-out Charger in “combat mode” to – get this – a Dodge pickup. (Dodge paid handsomely to be sure that KITT was one, or as it turns out, several of their cars.) So is this Knight Rider or Transformers? Then whenever KITT is in his hanger, he sits on a weird platform where several of those robot arms – the ones you see in documentaries that they use to assemble cars – shine bright green lasers all over him. Why? Well, it appears that they do it because it looks cool. And that’s enough reason to do something in a show, right? Because it’s cool? Never mind that I practically completely ignore the show whenever it happens because I can’t help but sit there and wonder why in the hell KITT has these lasers shining on him. Just like every time he transforms, I expect Optimus Prime to come running into the scene.

So while the show does have some good elements, the overdone effects are just too much, and will keep it from becoming a must-see show on my list. I’ll watch it if I happen to have the time, but no more than that, at least until the producers decide to spend as much time, energy, and budget on the writing staff as they do for the effects guys.

I have found the first truly awful show of 2008: Do Not Disturb. It’s supposed to be a work-place sitcom about a bunch of people working in a hotel. Instead, it’s a run-of-the-mill sitcom where apparently the writers simply rely on the Big Book of Sitcom Clichés to piece together their “scripts”. Seriously, either they hired the least talented writers in Hollywood, or the laziest. I usually give a show three episodes to prove itself; with this pile of filth, I could only barely force myself through one.

(To be fair, it is worth noting that the whole work-place sitcom about a hotel staff has already been done in Fawlty Towers, and given that that is what I believe to be one of the two funniest TV shows of all time, it does set the bar pretty high for Do Not Disturb. But I’m pretty sure that Disturb would suck even without the Towers comparison.)

The Mentalist, like Disturb, also provides a strange sense of déjà vu, seeing how the story – a fake psychic uses his real powers of observation to help solve crimes – is eerily similar to Psych, one of USA network’s better shows. However, the two have one important difference: Psych is most likely technically classified as a dramedy and refuses to take much of anything seriously, The Mentalist is very dark. It appears that over the course of the season, the story will revolve around the characters (led by Simon Baker and Robin Tunney) solving weekly crimes while being haunted by a serial killer who murdered Baker’s character’s family years ago. The show isn’t one of the best things on TV, but it’s not horrible either – it’s at least worth watching.

We watched Fringe last night. It’s the new entry from J.J. Abrams, the guy who created Alias and then let it get lost in its own mythology, then want on to Lost (and almost did the same thing there).

Joshua Jackson (Pacey from Dawson’s Creek) is the only guy I recognized the show. The lead actress, Anna Torv, is basically new. There are a few somewhat recognizable faces from other Abrams shows, but this has got to have the least star power of any new show this season.

The plot centers around Torv, an FBI agent, and Jackson, a stereotypical “loser/genius”, who will apparently be investigating supernatural-type weirdness each week. Huh. The FBI investigating the supernatural … somehow, that sounds familiar …

So that’s the big mystery to me about Fringe: how is it not going to just be a remake of X-Files? Sure, there are differences: only one of the protagonists is an FBI agent; at least so far, it appears that the gross badness (and the pilot definitely had its share of grossness) will be terrestrial: they set up an Evil Corporation in the pilot; and … uh … well, I guess we’ll have to wait and see from there.

Overall, I didn’t hate Fringe, but I didn’t love it, either. I’m willing to give it a chance – Abrams has shown that he can create compelling TV, and as long as he doesn’t let the mythology of the show (the first hints of which have already been introduced) overwhelm it, it has a lot of potential.

One last quick note: we watched the second “preview” episode of Hole in the Wall last night as well, and I paid more attention this time (to the clock, not the show) so I can confirm that if you skip the commercials and all of the contestant intros and whatnot, it is about 10 minutes long. It’s still far and away the dumbest show on TV, but it is also still entertaining.