TV: Breaking News! GOB Out, Iceman in as New Voice of KITT for NBC's Knight Rider Remake

Arnett responds to the loss of the prized role of KITT...

In a conundrum worthy of his previous TV show Arrested Development, Will Arnett has had to drop the role of the voice of the talking car KITT on the new version of NBC's 80s cheesefest Knight Rider. The role will now be taken by Val Kilmer (!), himself no stranger to the 80s and/or cheese.

It turns out Arnett's automotive vocal talents were already spoken for -- by General Motor's GMC Trucks division. With Knight Rider now aligned with Ford (KITT is a Mustang now -- Pontiac no longer makes the Trans Am) it wouldn't do to have Arnett's distinct gravelly tones adorn a product with a competitor's logo.

Arnett had already wrapped his work on Knight Rider.

How's Kilmer's Voice? This cheesy, 80s scene from the underappreciated Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker comedy Top Secret has the answer:


Also, here's the intro for the original Knight Rider...in German! Dig the Nietzscheian sound of "...ein auto, ein komputer, ein mann..." And yes, series creator Glen A. Larson's theme song is one of the best TV themes ever. As friend-of-the-blog Joni pointed out, with this voiceover it sounds like a Kraftwerk song!

TV: Mr. Feeney Out, Gob in as TV's new K.I.T.T.

Arnett practices his voice throwing

Mr. Amy Poehler, also known as Will Arnett, will give voice to the new version of K.I.T.T. on NBC's sure to be crap-tastic TV movie revival of Knight Rider. He steps into the shoes of the formidable William Daniels, a.k.a. as Mr. Feeney on the sickly sweet sitcom Boy Meets World, fussy super surgeon Dr. Craig on medical drama St. Elsewhere from 1982-1988 and of course Benjamin's father in the classic film The Graduate. Still, his career highlight, as it will be for Arrested Development and Let's Go to Jail star Arnett, will be voicing a super crime fighting car.
Also changed is K.I.T.T.'s brand identity from Trans Am to Mustang. Oh yeah, Hasselhoff will appear as old Michael Knight.

Here's William Daniels in one of my favorite films, The President's Analyst:

TV News: Knight Rider Rides Again

Hasselhoff: "Are you staring at my belt buckle?"

Proof of the adage that no idea is too stupid to be done twice, NBC is looking to revive eighties David Hasselhoff cheesefest Knight Rider -- with that little dash of Transformers to make everything that much more derivative. NBC is tapping Go and Bourne Identity director Doug Liman to helm the TV movie with an eye to taking it to series. No word yet on whether "The Hoff" will cameo, whether the Jersey shore will be scoured for '82-'83 black Trans-Ams, or whether the folks at NBC have lost their freaking minds. Here's the juice from Variety's article on this:

"Success of "Transformers" had a role in inspiring NBC Entertainment chief Ben Silverman's decision to revive "Knight." The thinking is that smallscreen f/x have advanced to the point where it'd be feasible to have a weekly series in which cars shift shapes.
It's also likely the new show will explore the idea of "evil" cars to offset the heroic talking K.I.T.T. car of the original skein, which starred David Hasselhoff. That said, skein is expected to essentially remain focused on the story of a single man fighting for justice with the help of his superadvanced car."

Best case scenario:
Bruce Campbell gets the lead, the car is voiced by Jm J. Bullock, and the whole thing is played tongue-in-cheek.

Worst case scenario:
Zac Efron gets the lead, the show is "younged up", the car is voiced by Sinbad and is a Subaru WRX that can shape shift into a robot.