Prime-Time Preview

by Neil Pond
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Knight Rider
Wednesdays on NBC, 8-9 p.m. ET
Premieres Wed., Sept. 24

It’s been more than two decades since the original Knight Rider, which starred David Hasselhoff and a high-tech, talking, crime-fighting car named KITT, ended its successful four-year TV run on NBC. The new series moves the storyline 20 years down the road with new characters played by Justin Bruening, who portrayed “Jamie Martin” on All My Children, and Deanna Russo, “Logan Armstrong” on The Young and The Restless. They roar off each week in a new-generation KITT, a supercharged Ford Mustang Shelby GT500KR that combines brain and brawn with an onboard supercomputer, an arsenal of weapons and the capability to morph.

“KITT can transform into pretty much anything we need,” says Russo. “It’s the star of the show. That’s what everyone is going to be watching.”

The series also stars Sydney Tamiia Poitier, daughter of award-winning actor Sidney Poitier, and Bruce Davison, who portrays KITT’s scientist creator.

The new KR takes everything from the original series and cranks it up—way up, says executive producer Gary Scott Thompson. “It’s not enough to be what the old Knight Rider was,” says Thompson, whose resume includes serving as executive producer and/or screenwriter for the action-thriller movies The Fast and The Furious, its sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious, and the NBC series Las Vegas. “We really jump forward with incredible visual effects, incredible graphics, incredible action, incredible storytelling and everything that goes with it.”

Bruening, who wasn’t yet into his teens when the original Knight Rider went off the air, has fond memories of the old show. “I had a Knight Rider lunch box,” he says. “I remember it vividly: It had a red handle and David Hasselhoff’s face was embossed on it with the car in the background.” Russo grew up watching Hasselhoff and KITT with her older brother after the original series went into syndication. “I don’t remember the plots,” she says, “but I do remember the big, sexy man in a leather jacket driving around in the coolest car ever.”

“I read last year that they were thinking about making a new Knight Rider,” adds Bruening. “I just flipped out, thinking ‘That’s going to be amazing! Even before I auditioned and got the part, I knew I’d be watching it. It’s going to be an amazing show.”

My Own Worst Enemy
Mondays on NBC, 10 p.m. ET
Premieres Monday, Oct. 13

In this modern twist on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Christian Slater plays a character with a split-personality double life. He’s Henry Spivey, a humdrum suburban dad. But he’s also Edward Albright, an international super spy. Edward knows about Henry, but Henry doesn’t know about Edward. But Henry’s about to find out—and when their very different worlds collide, things get pretty wild.

“The device that’s been planted in Henry’s head is starting to misfire a little bit,” says Slater. “He ends up discovering a lot of things about himself that he didn’t know existed, and then he’s got to learn to live with this other personality who’s his polar opposite.”

Slater’s acting roles span more than two decades of movies and television, including the films Heathers, True Romance, Broken Arrow, and Bobby. He’s clearly jazzed about playing two different characters that happen to share the same body.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited and motivated,” he says. “This one has got me all charged up. One person learning to deal with a different side to himself—the possibilities are endless. It’s going to be exciting!”

Heroes
Mondays on NBC, 9-10 p.m. ET
Premieres Mon., Sept. 22, 9-11 p.m. ET

The super-powered characters in Heroes—ordinary people who discover their extraordinary abilities—can fly, read thoughts and see the future, among other dazzling abilities. But last winter, they encountered something against which they were completely powerless: the Hollywood writers’ strike, which cut the series’ 2007-08 season in half.

“Kind of like being in a movie theater and the projector cutting off after 40 minutes,” says the show’s creator and executive producer, Tim Kring. Fans frustrated by the interruption will be rewarded with the third season, he promises. “There’s a fasten-your-seatbelts quality to this season,” he says. “We’re dealing with the unleashing of some very bad people into the world, and we need to save the world from them.”

“This season is all about heroes versus villains,” says Masi Oka, who plays Heroes’ Hiro Nakamura, a Tokyo office drone who discovers he can travel forward and backward through time and even “freeze” time in its tracks. “We don’t know for sure who the heroes are, and who the villains are. We’re going to mix things up and find out who’s who.”

Viewers have taken passionately to the show, which became a ratings blockbuster for NBC after its launch in the fall of 2006.

“In those kind of troubled times, people always look to heroes,” notes Oka. “They want to know that there are people out there trying to make a difference in the world. I think the symbolism in our show and the message of hope that we have through our stories have struck a chord with lots of people.”

Kath & Kim
Thursdays on NBC, 9:30–10 p.m. ET
Premieres Thurs., Oct. 9

Molly Shannon and Selma Blair star in this new American-ized version of a slice-of-life comedy adapted from an already proven hit sitcom in Australia.

“It’s about a dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship,” explains Shannon, best known for her comedic roles on six seasons of Saturday Night Live. She plays Kath, a single mom living in the suburbs of Sarasota, Fla. “My daughter has finally gotten married and out of the house, and I’m excited to just focus on myself and get on with my life, and she ends up moving back in. I get sucked back into her drama.”

Blair, who previously starred in the movies The Fog and In Good Company, and co-stars in this summer’s Hellboy II, plays Kath’s daughter, Kim. “She’s self-absorbed and thinks she’s a princess,” describes Blair. “She wants to be Paris Hilton.”

In fact, both mom and daughter in Kath & Kim are obsessed with celebrities, can’t keep their noses out of the tabloids and see the world through hilariously Hollywood-tinted glasses.

“They’re certainly not rich, but they think of themselves as having this fabulous life,” says executive producer Michelle Nader. “At the end of every show, there’ll be a scene we call ‘Wine Time,’ with Kath and Kim sitting out in their backyard in lawn chairs, reading US Weekly and discussing the celebrity news of the week—and if it happened to Jennifer Anniston, it’s like it happened to one of their friends.”