Hello Michael

On Feb 17th, NBC is bringing "Knight Rider" back into our homes. Can you believe it? Man, I used to love that show.

One of the most important roles is of course the voice of the car, Kitt. It can make or break the show and it's vital that the right person does it. So, who did they choose? Drum roll please...........it's Val Kilmer! He's replacing Will Arnett, who had actually filmed all his parts as the car’s voice, but then had to pull out due to contractual reasons. What was the problem? Well, Arnett does voiceover work for GMC Trucks, and because KITT is a Ford Mustang, GM asked the actor to step down. ”I was very excited at the prospect of playing the part of KITT in the new Knight Rider movie,” Arnett said. ”However, because of a long relationship with General Motors as the voice of GMC Trucks, I had to respectfully withdraw from the project.”

The new Knight Rider centers on Mike Tracer (Justin Bruening), Michael Knight’s son he never knew he had. David Hasshelhoff, who played Michael Knight in NBC’s original 1980s TV series, will reprise his role for the movie. The story follows Tracer, recruited by his childhood best friend, Sarah Graiman (Deanna Russo), and her physicist father, Charles (Bruce Davison), as he joins the Knight Foundation, a group committed to mitigating damage done by private, covert military contractors. To help them achieve their goals, Charles creates a second-generation talking KITT car, which a shady millionaire tries to steal.

NBC will air the two-hour telepic on Feb. 17 as a pilot, and if successful, the network could pick it up as a series.