Knight Rider approved as a series- HUZZAH!

February's television film revival of Knight Rider may have been dramatically turgid and tragically short on "Turbo Boost," but it soared high in the ratings. So the return of Knight Rider as a series doesn't really count as a surprise. Expectations are that most of the cast introduced in the television film, including Val Kilmer as the voice of KITT and Justin Bruening as KITT's human companion, will return. Also likely to return are a whole passel of Ford Mustangs done up in Shelby GT500KR drag to portray KITT itself. Hopefully David Hasselhoff will also return as Michael Knight to regularly Hassel and Hoff up the action.

According to reports in both Variety and The Wall Street Journal, Knight Rider will be one element in NBC President Ben Silverman's plans to produce more original programming during the 2008-'09 season. That may mean that more than one will appear in one time slot. So if this fall Knight Rider returns to its old Friday 9:00 PM slot, it may share that slot with other action-adventure series so viewers get more new episodes and fewer reruns.

Rumors are that NBC's schedule will also rely heavily on escapist fare when it is unveiled on Wednesday. And if there's one thing Knight Rider has always been, it's escapist.

Our advice to the Knight Rider producers and writers is simple: Turbo boost. Turbo boost. Turbo boost. And then put in some more turbo boost.

What this means to you: The intriguing questions about character and motivation raised by the TV movie will be allowed to gracefully play out over the course of the series. — John Pearley Huffman, Correspondent