NBC PULLED THE SHOW????

[marty1981]

I have read today 6th march 09 that nbc has pulled the plug on knight rider, bascally said due to poor ratings and cost cutting they decided not renew knight for a secound season

as anyone yet heard anything or please tell me that i read wrong.

i felt the show was never given the chance, and they should have not changed the show at the beginng, rather then having the ssc and alex they shud hve kept it as 1 man and his car.

but hey its just entertainment

[neps]

We've spoken with several sources at Knight Rider and the show has NOT been canceled. That doesn't mean that it wont be, but the axe hasn't come down yet.

We also have a thread on this already: viewtopic.php?f=1046&t=14005" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Mr.Marcus]

Nothing official. But I dispute the argument that the "show wasn't given a chance" Most shows are not given a chance and canceled fairly quickly. But KR was given 3 different creative presentations the tv film, initial series episodes, and the retool.

The series in particular was given a fair number of episodes, 17 which is almost a full season, to build an audience. Also it was consistently aired on the same night and time when the usual pattern for an ailing show is for the network to keep switching it around the schedule placing it on different nights and times. Creating confusion as to when it airs which inevitably loses viewers in the process.

Some argue that ads were non-existent and that's the reason why people didn't tune in. I think this is being given too much credence. KR was on the same night and time through its run and was placing 2nd-3rd in the weekly ratings. So people were watching the show albeit not with high enough numbers. Ads weren't magically going to change this. KR was given a solid chance to become very successful and people weren't interested. The flaw doesn't lie in the time slot, day of the week, advertising. It lies with the actual show which was creatively challenged since its inception and even its best episode is inferior to the worst episode of shows like Sopranos, Mad Men, Dexter, Rome, etc.

[Solid Snake]

Being given a shot and actually full out supported and promoted by a Channel are different things, I think KR did not have the latter for the most part.

[Shapeshifter]

Nothing official. But I dispute the argument that the "show wasn't given a chance" Most shows are not given a chance and canceled fairly quickly. But KR was given 3 different creative presentations the tv film, initial series episodes, and the retool.

The series in particular was given a fair number of episodes, 17 which is almost a full season, to build an audience. Also it was consistently aired on the same night and time when the usual pattern for an ailing show is for the network to keep switching it around the schedule placing it on different nights and times. Creating confusion as to when it airs which inevitably loses viewers in the process.

Some argue that ads were non-existent and that's the reason why people didn't tune in. I think this is being given too much credence. KR was on the same night and time through its run and was placing 2nd-3rd in the weekly ratings. So people were watching the show albeit not with high enough numbers. Ads weren't magically going to change this. KR was given a solid chance to become very successful and people weren't interested. The flaw doesn't lie in the time slot, day of the week, advertising. It lies with the actual show which was creatively challenged since its inception and even its best episode is inferior to the worst episode of shows like Sopranos, Mad Men, Dexter, Rome, etc.

I don't think it's fair to compare KR to the shows you mention. They represent the best of modern TV series, which are arguably the best TV ever. KR08 was a re-do of a series from another time, and as such had different criteria as far as what it's objectives were. The original show could not hold a candle to the shows you mention as far as realism, acting, plot and character development. On the other hand, none of those shows featured a talking car.

[Luke_windstyle]

KR had low views because of the mamoth american idol

[KITT]

everything that ran against american idol had lower ratings.

[weeezl]

everything that ran against american idol had lower ratings.

Very true, Idol annihilates every show in it's timeslot. KR has at least remained consistent despite the fierce competition.

[Shapeshifter]

I'm a little tired of the American Idol excuse. A popular show should be able to do better than 5-6 mil against Idol. This is a KR problem, not an AI problem. (well, and an NBC in general problem...)

[PunkMaister]

I'm a little tired of the American Idol excuse. A popular show should be able to do better than 5-6 mil against Idol. This is a KR problem, not an AI problem. (well, and an NBC in general problem...)

And most here are even more sick and tired of the alleged official cancellation threads and the haters constantly posting them.

[chiefsfankc]

I have been viewing the posts for a few months now. I have posted a couple comments but I figured it was time that I really give my honest opinion of Knight Rider 2008-2009.

First off, I believe everyone is entitled to their opinion. I grew up watching TOS when I was 12 years old. I even have a diecast of KI2t with working scanner light and own the DVD's. I have liked KR 2008 since the 2 hour movie in Feb 2008. I made my plans around TOS and KR2008. I wish we would get a second season. Do I think NBC will grant us that, NO. If NBC thinks it costs too much money for the ratings it got I can see them canceling it and put on a cheaply made reality show which I am getting sick of. I am crossing my fingers and hoping we get a second season but until NBC says something we cannot just guess if it is canceled or not.

I thought all the episodes were great but I also went into the mind set that this was not going to be TOS. I was just happy to have a black talking car and Knight Rider with the name on it. Granted things could always be done better but why knit pick and just enjoy the show. If you want TOS watch it on DVD.

I put in my name on the petition hoping it helps.. If we get a second season great I will be watching, but if we dont I really hope NBC knows that they have another viewer that wont be watching their station anymore.

[KITT]

you can call it an AI excuse, but it's just fact.. AI gets upwards of 20 million viewers. that doesn't leave much for other shows. however, biggest loser ran against it on feb 25, and was able to get 8 million.

but on the season finale of knight rider, it came second to AI, with nearly 6 million.

[KITTman]

nbc will of course use the poor ratings excuse if they cancel the show,even though the ratings system has always been inacurate.but the real reason is they didnt promote it at all,or make any products,by now there should be everything from model cars and t shirts to knight rider toilet paper lol.and also like they did with Star trek 40 some years ago,they didnt give it the money it needed,and the economy is no excuse because im sure that even 1 nbc exec could have financed the entire series with probably less than an eighth of his weekly paycheck.but anyway,i got all that anger off my chest.i loved the series from the start,and i think tv needs at least i car chase action show,because im really sick of court room dramas,hospital dramas,reality shows,and all 150 versions of csi and all the copies of csi.so if it is canceled,i will of course,not be watching anything on nbc.feel free to yell at me if you want,but thats my opinion about all this.

[PHOENIXZERO]

you can call it an AI excuse, but it's just fact.. AI gets upwards of 20 million viewers. that doesn't leave much for other shows. however, biggest loser ran against it on feb 25, and was able to get 8 million.

but on the season finale of knight rider, it came second to AI, with nearly 6 million.

It came in second in total viewers and in the 18-49 age bracket but then got spanked by America's Next Top Model in 18-34. It wouldn't have even got that if CBS's two sitcoms weren't reruns.

There is a lot of excuses being made here though, first it was Dancing With the Stars, then it was Bones, if not those then it's the CBS sitcoms or now it's American Idol...

[KITT]

hey i'm just looking at the numbers.. people obviously like reality shows better then dramas right now.

[weeezl]

People seem to like reality shows more period, god knows why?

[chiefsfankc]

Besides reality shows can anyone think of any series that had a great first season?

[Shapeshifter]

Besides reality shows can anyone think of any series that had a great first season?

Are you talking artistically or ratings-wise?

Artistically, sure. Sopranos, Dexter, Mad Men, 24, House...just off the top of my head.

Ratings wise, I'm not certain, but all these shows did well enough (or were good enough) to warrant more seasons.

[FLAGCEO]

While I too support the show and am a huge fan, we can't blame the ratings failure on American Idol completely.

The first episode of AI this season was on January 13, 2009 (according to IMDB). According to the graphical image of the ratings posted by others (and re-posted here by me), we took the biggest hit in ratings after the Obama pre-election special in the last week of October (remember election day was Nov. 4), where we dropped from 7.23 to 5.15, and then have stayed in the 5-6 million viewers range (after the elections, the next highest was for Exit Light, Enter Knight at 6.10).

While I agree that AI probably kept a lot of viewers in February when KR came back from its 6 week vacation, the biggest loss was in November - corresponding only to a single week's hiatus. I can't help but to think that people felt that Hard Day's Knight was so bad an episode that people didn't want to tune into it again after the election (I actually kinda liked that episode).

Most people I know who stopped watching did so early on - within those first five episodes. Frankly, I can't say that I blame them - if I wasn't so much of a die-hard KR fan, I would have dumped it after Knight of the Living Dead. But I stuck with it. That's what killed the show. It got 150% better after I wanna Rock and Roll all Knight, but the viewers had already moved on to other things. THEN came Idol, and there was no way to reclaim our viewership.

Still, I hope NBC keeps it ultimately, if for no other reason than to see how the new retooled versrion will hold up in the fall lineup, perhaps on a better night as suggested in that article Neps linked to yesterday.

I hate this crappy ratings system. There's gotta be a better way.

[KITT]

well neilson is the only ratings system out there, so until someone invents something different, that's all they have to go on.

[PHOENIXZERO]

Besides reality shows can anyone think of any series that had a great first season?

Are you talking artistically or ratings-wise?

Artistically, sure. Sopranos, Dexter, Mad Men, 24, House...just off the top of my head.

Ratings wise, I'm not certain, but all these shows did well enough (or were good enough) to warrant more seasons.

Well, for NBC there was Heroes, where it was huge in its first season but then near the end started to falter creatively which lead to the shortened but abysmal second season where ratings dropped and now with the messy, desperate third season where they were trying too hard at being "shocking" with an excessive amount of twists and turns that it just got stupid to the point it made people care even less.

Dark Angel on Fox in its first season was pretty big too, the second season for the most part was quite weak from a creative aspect and the change in tone due supposedly due in part of 9/11 which might explain some of the excessive use of the nomalies and virus angle as well as some of the other stupidity/comic relief. Jensen Ackles was pretty much the saving grace of it though it still had some good episodes in season two. It didn't help it but Fox moving it to Friday for no reason other than a certain person(s) in charge wanting it to fail because of personal vendettas and also justification to cancel it in favor of FireFly, which didn't happen because other high ups didn't like what they saw until it was reworked and DA was going to be renewed, up until pretty much the last minute (entertainment trades were all reporting Dark Angel was picked up) when they got the "improved" FireFly back and decided to go with it. Of course then they went and screwed that up and that person left not long after IIRC and went to screw up some other networks, including more petty crap.

I typed a lot more there than I intended and it too even longer still to write it and trying to remember it all. >_<

Anyhow, a lot of shows have great first seasons, it's what gets people hooked into them.

[ozikool]

I hate these words : Knight rider canceled . I signed the petition like 10 times every day (I do this to help)
It might get canceled but the chances of that are like 40 %

[KITT]

signing the petition 10 times a day does a lot more harm then good. they assume 9,000 individual people have signed the petition. if you sign it 10 times a day, then that means there might only be 5,000 individuals that signed it, thus making it invalid and worthless. please only sign these petitions ONCE with your REAL name.

[ozikool]

signing the petition 10 times a day does a lot more harm then good. they assume 9,000 individual people have signed the petition. if you sign it 10 times a day, then that means there might only be 5,000 individuals that signed it, thus making it invalid and worthless. please only sign these petitions ONCE with your REAL name.

I have an english name and an lithuanian name.
I signed with both of em
Well what i really ment i sign 1 time a day

[KITT]

you mean you signed once, and that was it?