TELE-FOLKS BLOGGIN' - KNIGHT INDUSTRIES TWO THOUSAND

'THE CAFE'

"THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME"

When a black Porsche pulled up outside Cyril's (the seaside cafe in Weston), Stan Astill was suitably impressed.

"Oooh, who invited Knight Rider?"

By 2011, the existence of the Knight Industries Two Thousand car (otherwise known as KITT) and its partnership with Michael Knight were well known by the citizenry of Toobworld.  

My crossover comrade Brad Mengel has more information... information... information about that:

Knight Industries and The Foundation for Law and Government were both well known, FLAG organised a peace conference in one episode and a legal defence for some ranchers whose water rights were under threat. In 'Knight Rider 2000' the Knight Industries Four Thousand was going to take Knight Industries out of near bankruptcy - I can't say off the top of my head that a supercomputerised car was public knowledge in 'Team Knight Rider' (1997) or in the 2008 'Knight Rider'.

Thanks, Brad!

It could be that what the general public knew about Michael and KITT came from a cover story cloaked in a fictional TV series created by UNReel.  The characters in these following shows definitely watched that series, either during its first run or years later in syndication or on DVD:

• 'Psych'
• 'Everybody Hates Chris'
• 'Punky Brewster'
• 'Sabrina The Teenage Witch'
• 'Malcolm In The Middle'
• 'The Office' (USA)
• 'Community'
• 'The Big Bang Theory'
• 'House of Lies'

But not everybody was fooled.  Some TV characters knew the Truth.  For instance, Larry Sanders may have met Michael Knight and KITT at some Hollywood function or interacted with them on an actual case.  (A foiled kidnapping of the talk show host, perhaps?)  Not that the human/car team made much of an impression - Larry had Michael Knight confused with Angus MacGyver, whom he probably met at a charity fund-raiser under-written by the Phoenix Foundation.  As far as Larry remembered, MacGyver was the guy with the talking car.

Perhaps because he was a vampire, Spike had found ways to gather information for future use.  Although in the case of Knight Industries and its most top-secret project, he was surprised to find out that most people never even heard of it:

"You never heard of Knight Rider? Knight Industries 2000? KITT?"

The aforementioned UNReel is that secret organization I created to help splain away how so many TV characters might know about other TV characters who should have remained secret (The men from UNCLE, James Bond, the Doctor.)  And sometimes UNReel would draft outsiders from the entertainment industry - writers, directors, studio heads, the actors who closely resembled the subjects who needed such a cover story - to help them with these projects.  

One of these industry professionals was NBC executive Jack Donaghy, but he got out of control with his knowledge of the 'Knight Rider' reboot project.  Without authorization, he offered Tyler Brody the chance to be the voice of KITT in a movie version.  And when he was probably reprimanded for that, Jack threatened to remake the show using the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile as the new KITT.

At any rate, whether it shows up on TV ever again or not, 'Knight Rider' will exist as reality in Earth Prime-Time long after I'm gone and the Toobworld concept is just a memory.

We know this because in 2032, Knight Industries will still be in business as an automaker - a poster for a classic car show that year advertised that Knight Industries would be featured.....

OTHER SHOWS CITED:

'The Larry Sanders Show'

'Angel'

'SeaQuest 2032'

'30 Rock'

'MacGyver'

BCnU!