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" What&amp;#039;s old is new again--it&amp;#039;s a common expression used these days to describe the state of the American automotive industry. To sell more cars in an economic downturn, every top manufacturer seems to be resurrecting a classic nameplate--the Dodge Challenger, Chevy Camaro, even Ford Taurus--in hopes of pulling at the public&amp;#039;s heartstrings (and purses). There&amp;#039;s another way of saying that, though: Been there, done that. In the midst of the television writers&amp;#039; strike six weeks ago, NBC took a page out of Detroit&amp;#039;s playbook and brought back the cult classic Knight Rider (you know, the show that made David Hasselhoff a household name). The made-for-TV movie crept along like a snail with noisy tailpipes, and was panned by new viewers and old fans alike, plus critics across the board. But it attracted 12.7 million viewers and rocked the crucial 18-to-49 demographic--not surprising given how the campy drama ruled the airwaves from 1982 to 1986. Based on those ratings, NBC this week tapped Knight Rider for its expanded 2008-2009 lineup. So how can the network geniuses shift gears to make lemonade out of this lemon? I refreshed my gearhead memory recently with a marathon side-by-side replay of Knight Rider pilots new and old, and the fix is pretty simple: Get back to doing what worked the first time around--pack every episode with as much action and cool (and maybe even lo-fi) tech as possible.  The script for the original pilot wasn&amp;#039;t exactly Shakespearean--&amp;quot;Looks like Darth Vader&amp;#039;s bathroom,&amp;quot; riffs Hasselhoff&amp;#039;s Michael Knight when he first sits in K.I.T.T., his Pontiac Trans Am sidekick. But there were plenty of car chases, a demolition derby and a jailbreak to boot, during which K.I.T.T. actually drives through a reinforced cement wall. The snarky Trans Am even flies through the trailer of an 18-wheeler blocking the roadway.  Sure, it was cheesy--it was the 80s for crying out loud. But the original writers (one of whom returns for 2008 after dabbling into Battlestar Galactica) did an incredible job working K.I.T.T.&amp;#039;s special features into the script without making it feel forced. Michael and K.I.T.T. even bicker over which pressure gauge to flip on for the driver&amp;#039;s-side ejection seat--you know, for a soft rooftop landing. It&amp;#039;s brilliantly stupid stuff.  The new hacks, however, incorporated as little tech talk as possible while flashing high-end F/X ... for TV, anyway. The best a 21st-century Mustang GT armed to the nines can do is change colors, hit 200 mph and block some bullets? Come on. We got a first look at the eye-popping virtual spec sheet for K.I.T.T. 2.0, but hardly any of the special features got in on the action. In the end, the made-for-TV &amp;quot;event&amp;quot; looked more like a commercial for Ford than a major prime-time possibility. The new Knight Rider had the weakest car chase I&amp;#039;ve ever seen, on celluloid or in hi-def (Ronan tops my list, hands down): An underpowered 2008 Ford Edge matches up against a 2009 Shelby Mustang piloted by a supercomputer, and the mid-size SUV almost catches the pony car? Puhleeeze--that&amp;#039;ll do nothing more than get fans of the original show breaking flat-panels across the globe. It&amp;#039;s a good thing, then, that the new pilot&amp;#039;s writer has been pushed aside, and Knight Rider&amp;#039;s new show runner is actively hiring writers and promising to focus more on that tricked-out Shelby. Here&amp;#039;s my list of demands: better, big-time car chases (some product placement is fine, but shameless taillight shots are just nauseating); increased campiness (these characters shouldn&amp;#039;t take themselves too seriously--it ain&amp;#039;t no drama); more gadgets in the story line; the return of turbo boost; and, I beg of you, an explosion or two. Got K.I.T.T. demands of your own? Go crazy in the comments section, gearheads ...   RELATED STORIES * FIRST LOOK: Comparing New High-Tech K.I.T.T. Mustang to 80s Trans Am   (Photograph courtesy of NBC) "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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