Knight Rider - Season One

This 1982-83 Season of KNIGHT RIDER DVD is excellent as well as the season that made this show made David Hasselhoff a sex symbol and superstar as well as the season that made this show an over-the-top phenomenom and an instant smash back in the Fall of 1982 when this show was in its honeymoon phase along with the fact that KNIGHT RIDER was creator(Glen Larson's) most phenomenal show ever made at the time on top of that which wiped everything out in the ratings between the Autumn of 1982 and the Summer of 1983 just like Glen Larson had explained on one of the bonus material episodes on this DVD.KNIGHT RIDER's First Season is also the season that started it all and the season that tells us how the reclusive Michael Knight(David Hasselhoff) and KITT got started and how they became partners and how Michael went from being an ex-undercover cop nearly killed in the line of duty in a Nevada desert outside Las Vegas to a freelance crime-fighting investigator with an over-the-top supercar with capabilities beyond imagination that specialized in impossible situations built by dying eccentric billionaire creator Wilton Knight(Richard Basehart)to combat criminals who worked above the law that nobody else would dare to touch, including the police.This DVD includes a summary on each episode, including their original air-dates, Closed Captioning subtitles, plus each episode is complete and uncut just like they were originally shown during KNIGHT RIDER's whole 4-year run on NBC without any deleted scenes or commercials, unlike they were on Cpzi-TV, USA, WGN, The Sci-Fi Channel, TV Land, and all the other local television stations showed them in reruns.For instance, the original air-dates for each of these 1982-83 Season episodes were9/26/82-KNIGHT OF THE PHOENIX(aka The Pilot Episode)10/1/82-DEADLY MANEUVERS10/8/82-GOOD DAY AT WHITE ROCK10/22/82-SLAMMIN' SAMMY'S10/29/82-JUST MY BILL11/5/82-NOT A DROP TO DRINK11/12/82-NO BIG THING11/19/82-TRUST DOESN'T RUST11/26/82-INSIDE OUT12/3/82-FINAL VERDICT12/10/82-A PLUSH RIDE12/17/82-FORGET ME NOT1/14/83-HEARTS OF STONE1/21/83-GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH1/28/82-THE TOPAZ CONNECTION2/18/83-A NICE INDECENT LITTLE TOWN2/25/83-CHARIOT OF GOLD3/4/83-WHITE BIRD3/11/83-KNIGHT MOVES4/29/83-NOBODY DOES IT BETTER5/6/83-SHORT NOTICETherefore, when I watched each episode on this 1982-1983 Season DVD, it was almost like seeing each episode for the first time again, since it was the first time I've seen the episodes complete and uncut since NBC cancelled that show back in 1986 with the exception of being commerical-free on these DVDs.Therefore, watching each episode with deleted scenes on cable TV and anywhere else like they were shown on USA, WGN, TV Land, and the Sci-Fi Channel doesn't even compare.This KNIGHT RIDER-Season 1 DVD also brings back my childhood memories of when KNIGHT RIDER was new and on NBC's Friday night line-up starting with THE POWERS OF MATTHEW STAR at 8PM followed by KNIGHT RIDER at 9PM, which was of course before KNIGHT RIDER was moved to Sundays at 8PM after NBC had announced in the Summer of 1983 that KNIGHT RIDER was jumping to a new day & time on Sunday August 28, 1983 to help reel in more viewers since Fridays are usually family night as opposed to Sunday nights since most people have to work or go to school on Mondays which gave more people more time to devote to this show and not have to wait as late to tune in for it either.The 1982-1983 Season also takes me all the way back to memory lane when KNIGHT RIDER was shown on NBC during the same time slot as DALLAS on CBS's Friday night line-up at the time along with the fact that KNIGHT RIDER was stealing a lot of viewers from both the DUKES OF HAZZARD and DALLAS, especially since David Hasselhoff(Michael Knight) was like eye-candy to the ladies especially since David was already known well by a lot of women as the sentimental Snapper Foster on THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS, including DALLAS fans and since KITT had brought in the guys since KITT become the hottest car on Friday nights instead of the General Lee since the Knight 2000 had outclassed the General Lee and was a lot more upgraded and way more advanced than the General Lee ever was since KITT was able to do numerous other things that the General Lee couldn't do, which unfortunately made the General Lee look pale by comparison on top of that since KNIGHT RIDER basically beat the DUKES OF HAZZARD to a pulp.In addition to that, KNIGHT RIDER's 1st Season was probably the most phenomenal year of that show throughout KNIGHT RIDER's whole 4-year run on NBC, since it wiped just about every show out in terms of it's ratings between late 1982 and early 1983, since KNIGHT RIDER was ranked in 2nd or 3rd place nearly wiping everything out in the ratings along with the fact that KNIGHT RIDER's First Season was probably the strongest most successful season of them all.Something else I noticed about KNIGHT RIDER's 1982-83 Season was this was the only season when KITT had a red blinking voice box on the mouth of KITT's dashboard instead of his voice modulator and when the Foundations semi had a white trailer instead of the black trailer with the Foundation logo on it, but then the mouth on KITT's voicebox on his dashboard was revised and converted to a voice modulator and the Foundations semi became all black in the second half of this season starting with the "Hearts Of Stone" episode back in the Winter of 1983.This KNIGHT RIDER-SEASON 1 DVD also has a commentary with David Hasselhoff & creator(Glen Larson) explaining in one piece that when David Hasselhoff had auditioned for the role of Michael Knight, 3 people, including MIAMI VICE's Don Johnson had also audioned for the part of Michael Knight too, but since Don Johnson was rejected since they obviously decided to hire David Hasselhoff to play the role of Michael Knight before KNIGHT RIDER made it's debut on NBC in September of 1982, although I'd have to say that Don Johnson probably wouldn't have ended up making too shabby of a role of Michael Knight, but I'm still glad that David Hasselhoff got the part of Michael Knight instead of Don Johnson, since David Hasselhoff was better looking anyways and seemed to fit the Michael Knight character and profile better.Fortunately, Don Johnson ended up getting the part of the sexy Sonny Crockett on MIAMI VICE 2 years later when Universal had MIAMI VICE make it's debut on NBC in the Fall of 1984 when KNIGHT RIDER kicked off it's 3rd Season.The commentary by Glen Larson and David Hasselhoff also adds that all the Trans-Ams used to run the show in this season were the first few 1982 Pontiac Trans-Am models that General Motors came out with on the market before General Motors even started selling any '82 Trans-Ams to the public, since General Motors was able to make a special deal with Universal before KNIGHT RIDER even made it's premiere on NBC in the Autumn of 1982.In fact KNIGHT RIDER made its debut on NBC on Sunday September 26th, 1982 which coincidentally happened to be on the same night the detective drama MATT HOUSTON made its debut on ABC.So I would have to say that this 1982-83 Season was probably KNIGHT RIDER at it's peak, since the ratings in KNIGHT RIDER's last 2 to 3 seasons of this show weren't as high or as phenomenal as the first season was, but this season was the year that no other show was able to compare to KNIGHT RIDER, since KNIGHT RIDER basically K.O.'d everything else on television between the Fall of 1982 and the Summer of 1983, since this show was the ultimate bomb back then.Therefore, the ratings on KNIGHT RIDER had skunked the DUKES OF HAZZARD in the Nielsen ratings K.O.ing the Dukes and nearly causing the DUKES OF HAZZARD to cancel in 1983, since the Knight 2000 was way more upgraded and a lot hotter than the General Lee ever was, which therefore contributed to the DUKES OF HAZZARD losing a lot of viewers through KNIGHT RIDER along with the fact that the DUKES OF HAZZARD took a big nose-dive in the ratings when Bo & Luke Duke were replaced by the new Dukes Coy(Byron Cherry) & Vance(Chip Mayer)which was due to a salary dispute that John Schneider(Bo) & Tom Wopat(Luke) had with Warner Bros., but I think CBS was able to save the DUKES OF HAZZARD from cancelling when they brought the old Dukes(Bo & Luke) back in the Spring of 1983 and when NBC had moved KNIGHT RIDER to Sundays at 8PM after the Summer of 1983, which therefore helped keep the DUKES OF HAZZARD to stay afloat the following year, since KNIGHT RIDER and the DUKES OF HAZZARD weren't on the same night anymore, despite the fact that KNIGHT RIDER had already stolen the Dukes thunder practically ruining them.But if NBC hadn't moved KNIGHT RIDER from Fridays to Sundays in the early Fall of 1983; the DUKES OF HAZZARD probably would've ended up cancelling in it's 5th Season or it's 6th Season, since the DUKES OF HAZZARD kind of started losing it's touch and started slumping in the ratings when it got to it's 5th Season on CBS, especially when KNIGHT RIDER joined the Friday night line-ups, which especially gave KNIGHT RIDER even more leverage against the DUKES OF HAZZARD during KNIGHT RIDER's 1st Season since KITT could do 10 times what the General Lee could ever do.In addition, I think they used more '82 Pontiac Trans-Am stunt cars in this season more than they did in the last 3 seasons of KNIGHT RIDER, since I noticed that in about half the scenes of each episode in the 1982-83 Season that in some parts, KITT had regular steering wheel that showed in front of the dashboard, which obviously wasn't the main KITT with the fancy dashboard and fancy steering wheel, but something I know now that I didn't at the time was they had used 4 Pontiac Trans-Ams to do the show, not just one, because according to David Hasselhoff the producers of KNIGHT RIDER would frequently replace the outershell of each Trans-Am with a newer outer shell underneath kind of like peeling the skin off an onion since each Trans-Am they used for the stunt scenes on this show would frequently get banged up and would sometimes even break in half doing a stunt.It's also neat that the voice of KITT was done by William Daniels who played Dr. Mark Craig on ST. ELSEWHERE and Mr. Feeney on BOY MEETS WORLD, since William Daniels had a fantastic voice, despite his snotty arrogant character on ST. ELSEWHERE.Therefore, they would try to make all 4 of the KITT Trans-Ams to do each episode of the show, in order to prevent too much damage from happening to the popular so-called famous Knight 2000, just like they did with the General Lee on the DUKES OF HAZZARD by using five '69 Dodge Charger cars and with Colt Seavers pick up on the FALL GUY by using at least 3 different GMC trucks to do the stunts, since KITT, the General Lee, and the Fall Guy's truck used to get damaged a lot doing impressive stunts, which also resulted in serious damage in real-life while filming on the set, which I found quite intriguing and I think this review should be helpful to anybody who watched KNIGHT RIDER religiously every Friday night on NBC from the Fall of 1982 thru the Summer of 1983.I also loved seeing guest stars in this 1982-1983 Season like*Morgan Woodward in the "Knight Moves" episode during his co-starring days on DALLAS*Jean-Bruce Scott in the "A Nice Indecent Little Town" episode before her co-starring days as Caitlyn O'Shaunnesy on AIRWOLF & during her co-starring days as Maggie Poole on MAGNUM, PI*Bruce Gray in the "Just My Bill" episode after his co-starring days on ALL MY CHILDREN*Vince Edwards in the "Knight Of The Phoenix" episode after his co-starring days on DR. KILDARE*James Whitmore, Jr. in the "Knight Moves" episode before his co-starring days as Hunter and McCall's dorky fellow officer(Sgt. Bernie Terwilliger) on the police drama HUNTER*Tina Louise in the "Topaz Connection" episode after her co-starring days on GILLIGAN'S ISLAND*Gail Edwards in the "Nobody Does It Better" episode before her days on the sitcom IT'S A LIVING*Judith Chapman in the "Inside Out" episode before her co-starring days on YOUNG & THE RESTLESS and DAYS OF OUR LIVES*Lance LeGault in the "Knight Of The Phoenix" episode before his co-starring days as the hard-nosed(Col. Decker) on THE A-TEAM*Anne Lockhart in the "Good Day At White Rock" episode after her co-starring days as Sheba on BATTLESTAR GALACTICA*Richard Basehart in the pilot episode after his co-starring days on VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA*Richard Anderson in the "Knight Of The Phoenix" episode after his co-starring days as Oscar Goldman on THE BIONIC WOMAN and THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN*James Callahan in the "Good Day At White Rock" episode before his co-starring days as Walter Powell on CHARLES IN CHARGE*Bill Sanderson in the "Trust Doesn't Rust" episode during his co-starring days on NEWHART*Bill Lucking in the "A Plush Ride" episode before his co-starring days as the overzealous nemesis(Col. Lynch)on THE A-TEAM*Don Stroud in the "Good Day At White Rock" episode before his co-starring days as Capt. Lussen on the police drama THE NEW DRAGNET*Phyllis Davis in the pilot episode after her co-starring days on VEGAS & before her co-starring days as Cleo on MAGNUM, P.I.*Edmund Gilbert in the "Knight Of The Phoenix" episode after his co-starring days on THE HARDY BOYS*David Hasselhoff's first wife(Catherine Hickland) in the "White Bird" episode before her co-starring days on ONE LIFE TO LIVE*Hebert Jefferson, Jr. in the pilot episode after his co-starring days on BATTLESTAR GALACTICA*Ken Tigar in the "Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death" episode before his co-starring days on DAYS OF OUR LIVES, DALLAS, & DYNASTYAdditionally, KNIGHT RIDER was also the show that made me fall in love with the 1982 Pontiac Trans-Am, especially since I didn't like the shape and design of the '82 Trans-Am at first, especially since 1982 was the year that General Motors had changed the shape and design of the Pontiac Trans Am from the body style that they used in SMOKEY & THE BANDIT I and 2 to the body style that KITT was.Therefore, after getting hooked on this show, I really got to like the '82 Pontiac Trans-Am a lot and I even ended up liking the '82 Trans-Am better than all the previous years and bodystyle of the Trans-Am, including the Trans-Ams they used in the first 2 SMOKEY & THE BANDIT movies, but the Trans-Am that they used in SMOKEY & THE BANDIT PART 2 was my favorite Trans-Am prior to KNIGHT RIDER.As a matter of fact Universal had used a black '82 Pontiac Trans-Am like KITT in SMOKEY & THE BANDIT III and watching Jerry Reed(Cletus)driving that '82 Trans-Am in the movie reminded me so much of KNIGHT RIDER since it looked almost identical to the Knight 2000, hubcaps and all, except KITT had the red Pontiac triangle logos on his wheelcovers painted over with black, a spruced up front end with a red scanner light with fog lights, a spruced up grid in the taillights area along with a fancy dashboard and pilot type steering wheel unlike the Bandits car in SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 3.This season also takes me all the way back to memory lane when NBC's motto was "Just Watch Us Now" since that was their slogan on NBC from September of 1982 thru August of 1983 and reminds me when we had all those budgets cuts going on from the recession we had back in 1981-1982 when Ronald Reagan was the president.The one thing I don't understand is in the "Knight Of The Phoenix" episode a.k.a. the pilot episode is why were guest stars Bill McKinney, Dennis Fimple, Charles Napier, John Quade, Red West, and Herbert Jefferson, Jr. all uncredited for in that episode even though they were all obviously guest stars in the series premiere episode of KNIGHT RIDER.By the way, I just got word that the Shout Factory will be releasing the short-lived series STREET HAWK with Rex Smith(Jesse Mach)out on DVD on Tuesday July 13th, 2010.

I love my old shows

Love it

All time classic, which I watched when I was a kid 2-3 decades ago! With the technology we have today, KITT looks ridiciluous. I am giving it a 5 because of its sentimental value!

i love this series, i have watched this on netflix, i love it ever since, this classic should live on forever more, stay alive K.I.T.T. this series is better than probably most at the time like Starsky and Hutch, DUKES OF HAZZARD you name it this in my top 3 favorite classics

Knight Rider my favorite tv show

When I first started watching I did so with my nostalgia glasses on. KITT and michael were so fun to watch together...then I realized how absurd it had become about half-way through. I started asking silly questions about why things were happening. You see I was thinking! The luster faded quickly for me as I'm 32 SEEING THIS FOR THE FIRST TIME!! I would have liked this better as a kid I think. I did like the message it started out with, "One man can make a difference."

This is the 1st season of Knight Rider I have on the DVD set, and it's a good season. I also have seasons 2, 3, and 4 of Knight Rider, and their also good seasons as well. I find that David Hasselhoff is a very good actor on this show, playing Michael Knight, wearing a black leather jacket, and driving the black car with the name K.I.T.T.. I remember when I first saw this show, I I liked it with David Hasselhoff and it became one of my favorite shows, and so was my great grandmother's. My great grandmother, who is now deseased, also loved this show and used to watch it with David Hasselhoff, and I believe that it was a great show for her to watch as well. I also remember when it used to come on TV and on Saturdays, she would always watch it, and I would watch it with her. And I thought it was an interesting show. This show Knight Rider is a show that brings back good memories of David Hasselhoff playing (Michael Knight), and it's the only show I would want to know and remember with him. At the time when I used to see this show come on TV with David Hasselhoff, I then noticed another show with him calledBaywatch, and that's a show I don't really like him in. I find that David Hasselhoff was alot on this show Knight Rider than he was in Baywatch, and he really did good playing the character as (Michael Knight). In my opinion, Baywatch is a show that David Hasselhoff didn't really fit in, and it's nothing like this show Knight Rider. And like I said, this show Knight Rider is the only show I would want to know and remember with David Hasselhoff. It's also a show I believe he's best known for anyway.