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| Fifth Column |
| Hollywood Incapable Of Learning Its Lesson With Anti-Military Themes - Now On TV Shows |
| 2007-12-12 |
| NBC has set Feb. 17 as the premiere date for its two-hour “Knight Rider” revamp and announced that Will Arnett (“Arrested Development”) will provide the voice of the new KITT car. NBC also has released official images of the crime-fighting super-vehicle (thankfully, NBC’s latest product placement-mobile is a Ford Mustang, not a Nissan Rogue). The movie stars Justin Bruening (“Cold Case”), Deanna Russo (“NCIS”), Sydney Tamiia Poitier (“Grindhouse”) and Bruce Davison (“Close to Home”). Yes, David Hasselhoff will make a cameo in his original role of Michael Knight. He’s billed in the press release as a “Special Guest Star,” an ‘80s-rific term. The new KITT car will have some “Transformers”-like shape-shifting abilities (the story’s scientific explanation: “nanotechnology”). Thus, three cars will be used: The “KITT Hero” (a Ford Mustang Shelby GT500KR playing the “everyday Hero car”), the “KITT Attack” (a high-speed version of the Hero car) and a “KITT Remote” (a driverless version). Dave Bartis (“The O.C.”) and Doug Liman (“The Bourne Identity”) serve as executive producers. NBC has ordered “Rider” as a stand-alone movie. The network will gauge viewer reaction to the event and decide whether to order a full “Rider” series. Haunting this plan: “Bionic Woman”—NBC’s other revamp of a campy action series that premiered this season. If “Bionic” was judged solely on its towering premiere numbers, heavily populated by the curious and nostalgic, the network would have thought it had a hit on its hands. Then again, one assumes (always dangerous, but let’s go with it) that NBC has learned a thing or two from its unique “Bionic” production troubles. Here’s the “Rider” movie’s plot summary from the release: “Sarah Graiman (Russo) is a 24-year-old Ph.D. candidate at Stanford University, following in her genius father Charles’ (Davison) footsteps. But when men attempt to abduct her, Sarah receives a mysterious call from KITT warning her that he’s a creation of Charles, who also invented the first KITT 25 years ago—and that her father is in serious danger. Sarah and KITT track down her best friend from childhood, Mike Tracer (Bruening), a 23-year-old ex-Army Ranger, whom Sarah hasn’t seen since he left home at 18. Having served in Iraq, Mike is now jaded and lost and initially resistant. Eventually he agrees to help Sarah and the two set out to discover who’s behind the attempt to procure KITT and find Charles.” A bitter Iraq War veteran behind the wheel of KITT? Heck, that dialogue writes itself: “If only we had some shape-shifting Ford Mustangs in Fallujah, the insurgents would have never wiped out my unit.” |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #18 4.6 ford v-8s are overhead cam. The writers, directors, stagehands, actors, hangers-on, etc. would ABSOLUTELY not know that fact or much else about the real workings of anything. (Disconnected from reality and all that) Case in point: A television show a few years ago (supposedly based in Chicago) had one of the characters going ice-fishing with a six-foot pole and open-faced spinning reel. Heck, even my non-icefishing wife knew that was wrong. (I figured some poor prop guy just went to the local Hollywood sporting goods store and bought a fishing pole. My wife said that he probably couldn't figure out why somebody would be 'fishing for ice' anyway) |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2007-12-12 22:21 |
| #17 I support the screenwriters' strike, and I want them to strike until hell freezes over. Even if they win, they need to stay on strike. Stick it to da Man, kind of thing. I watched Discovery Health last night. They were digging into the abdominal cavity of a construction worker who got crushed. Took out his ruptured spleen and one bashed kidney. Close up and personal kind of reality video, right there. And the Dirty Jobs show of the pig farmer off the Las Vegas strip having this rube goldburg type of pig ranch, cooking up big tanks of leftover Strip buffet food with the damnedest machines you ever saw, or the pigs getting drunk on fermented left over ice cream. Who needs all this Hollywood crap, especially from NBC, when there is plenty of other stuff, if you have the hankerin for a bit of TV. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2007-12-12 22:08 |
| #16 Interesting - dare HAPPY DAYS + AIRWOLF be next, but this time wid using a Russ BLACKSHARK Helo [Americanized] + more "ethnic" minority actors, etc. in the name of righteous Internationalism-Globalism??? *Iff I remem correctly, SNL? back in the late 1970's did a very funny skit of STAR WARS where all the characters spoke in INDIAN [e.g. New Delhi] dialects - SKIT WAS HILARIOUS BUT ALSO NOT RACIALLY INSULTING/OBSCENE. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-12-12 20:59 |
| #15 Come on people this is too easy: "Mike returns to his partner where he find another man has taken his place. Despite his injuries he motors atouns in his Prius solving Gay/Bi/Tranny hate crimes for the Hillary Administration." |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2007-12-12 20:36 |
| #14 Mike is now jaded and lost and initially resistant Could me lots of things. He might have returned home to San Francisco and saw the protests and wondered what the hell he was fighting for. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2007-12-12 19:57 |
| #13 Almost famous, but much beloved, Sgt. Mom. :-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-12-12 19:50 |
| #12 (deep, wounded sigh) Another round of this flavor of krep? You know, I wrote the original version of "To Truckee's Trail" as a movie treatment. It would be a wonderful movie or miniseries, and the rights are available. Really, they can be purchased for a comparative pittance and it would make a movie that would put every revisionist wankfest of a so-called Western in the shade. Failing that, just buy the book. Sorry, Fred, another shameless plug. It's coming up on Christmas and Baby still needs a pair of shoes. So does Mom, come to think on that. OTH, I've got a signing at Berkmans' Books in Fredericksburg, Texas - Friday evening from 5-7. I expect to be underwhelmed, but if you're around, drop in and say hi-dee. I'll be the one in the corner, looking as if I have something to do. Ohh, cleaned out my internet files and would up with a nick of "Cholugum Darling of the Danes8397"! I'd keep it, but I'm already almost-famous as Sgt. Mom! |
| Posted by: Sgt. Mom 2007-12-12 19:32 |
| #11 Gee, I can't wait for the A-Team remake... With Barack Obama as Accroding to imdb, a movie is in pre-production. |
| Posted by: Abdominal Snowman 2007-12-12 19:18 |
| #10 I pity the fools! |
| Posted by: Jonathan 2007-12-12 18:43 |
| #9 Gee, I can't wait for the A-Team remake... |
| Posted by: Pappy 2007-12-12 18:38 |
| #8 The writers are on strike, but afaict they just produce works-for-hire, until you also fire the producers and managers you're still going to be stuck with the same pile of sewerage we've been getting for the past thirty years. |
| Posted by: Abdominal Snowman 2007-12-12 18:13 |
| #7 Wait... I thought the writers were on strike. Strike will stop when they either go broke, or the studios get real writers, either way we benefit. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2007-12-12 17:50 |
| #6 Ummm, 4.6 ford v-8s are overhead cam. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2007-12-12 17:45 |
| #5 They're making KITT a Ford Mustang? A car with a live axle rear end and a pushrod V-8 is supposed to be the latest thing in nanotechnology? |
| Posted by: Mike 2007-12-12 17:36 |
| #4 "jaded and lost and initially resistant" Yep, that is a fair description of liberal Hollywood for you. All they have left are their fantasies they inject into their movies and TV's shows. |
| Posted by: www 2007-12-12 17:06 |
| #3 Wait... I thought the writers were on strike. Why are we still getting this anti-american anti-war anti-military shit shoved in our faces? Oh yeah, hollyweird entertainment. Have fun tanking in the ratings. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-12-12 17:01 |
| #2 How come KITT's not a Prius? Having served in Iraq, Mike is now jaded and lost and initially resistant. That's okay. Maybe they'll make him gay... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-12-12 16:55 |
| #1 Another TV show I'll never watch. Dang, that list is looooooong.... |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2007-12-12 16:49 |