History Trivia / KnightRider

* YouThoughtItWouldFail: Edward Mulhare was convinced it would be gone ''very'' quickly.

[[AC:Series/TeamKnightRider]]
* TheOtherDarrin: Plato and Kat were replaced by more realistic motorcycles without explanation, and an even sillier looking HSPV resulted. Also KITT and Michael Knight in the series finale.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: Averted. Back in 1982 a car hitting 200 MPH was the realm of Formula 1, although production car companies like Ferrari and Porsche did break the 200 MPH barrier a few years later. Even now, while KITT's acceleration is still pretty startling - if the speed of the ticking digital speedometer is anything to go by - its assumed top speed (300 MPH/480[[superscript:km]]∕[[subscript:h]]) is still above hypercar standards, with even the likes of the Bugatti Veyron (252MPH/407[[superscript:km]]∕[[subscript:h]]) unable to surpass it.
** Played straight with the K.I.T.T. AI, which is stated in one episode to have a memory capacity of 1000 megabits. That's under 128 megabytes, which by the start of the 2020s can be stored on a memory card the size of your thumbnail and bought for pocket money.

** The success of the ''{{Film/Transformers}}'' movie was a major influence on [=KR08=]'s pilot movie, and the subsequent show borrowed a lot of design elements (including the transformation style), culminating in bringing Creator/PeterCullen back as the voice of KARR, and making KARR itself capable of becoming a TransformingMecha.

* StarMakingRole: Creator/DavidHasselhoff. He was primarily known for his role on Series/TheYoungAndTheRestless at the time.

* TheWikiRule: [[http://knight-rider.wikia.com/wiki/Knight_Rider The Knight Rider Wiki]].

** Robert O'Reilly (Better known as [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Chancellor]] [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Gowron]]) appears twice as two different characters. As Jake Simpson in "A Good Knight's Work" and Snyder in "[=KITTnap=]".

** ''Knight Rider'', however, wasn't the first series about a sentient talking car. That honor would go to none other than notorious one-season sitcom ''Series/MyMotherTheCar'' (also aired on Creator/{{NBC}}), although whereas that car was haunted, KITT was a computer AI.

** ''{{Series/Airwolf}}'', ''Series/BlueThunder'', ''Series/StreetHawk'', ''The Highwayman'', and arguably ''Series/{{Automan}}'' were all [[TravelCool cool vehicle]] shows spawned in the wake of KR's success. The first two were also obviously DuelingShows that were ''also'' following ''Film/BlueThunder'''s cinematic lead, and ''Automan'' was following two leaders, KR and ''{{Film/Tron}}''. Notably, all but ''Airwolf'' [[ShortRunners died early deaths]].

** In "Merchants Of Death", Deborah Allison plays that week's person-in-need-of-help Camela Clermont and her mother Amelia. (And gets "[[AndStarring And..]]" billing in the process.)

** ''Knight Rider'', however, wasn't the first series about a sentient talking car. That honor would go to none other than ''Series/MyMotherTheCar'', although whereas that car was haunted, KITT was a computer AI.

* YouLookFamiliar: Robert O'Reilly (Better known as [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Chancellor]] [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Gowron]]) appears twice as two different characters. As Jake Simpson in "A Good Knight's Work" and Snyder in "[=KITTnap=]".

* TheOtherDarrin:
** Peter Cullen voiced K.A.R.R. the first time. Paul Frees did the voice of K.A.R.R. the second time (albeit uncredited, leading some to speculate that it was actually Cullen).
* TheOtherMarty: Larry Anderson plays the part of Michael Long [[https://www.nbc.com/classic-tv/knight-rider-original/video/knight-of-the-phoenix-part-1/n3667 at the start of the pilot]]. He's seen briefly for a few scenes, though Michael's face is hidden by shadow when he's shot- this was due to the casino scenes being filmed much later as a way to explain the plot (Hasselhoff initially filmed the shooting scene with his face obscured by shadow). The initial airing had Anderson's own voice, later copies had Hasselhoff dub over the lines.
** Will Arnett was replaced as the voice of the Knight 3000 by Val Kilmer during production of the 2008 TV movie, due to his reputation as the voice of GMC car commercials and KITT being portrayed as a Ford Mustang.

* ActingForTwo: Look! It's David Hasselhoff, with a funny voice and very cheesy looking goatee (as Garthe Knight). Justified in-universe as Garthe Knight was the estranged biological son of Wilton Knight. Wilton deliberately reconstructed Michael Long's face via MagicPlasticSurgery to resemble Garthe's (because at the time Garthe was in prison somewhere in another country).
** In "Merchants Of Death", Deborah Allison plays that week's person-in-need-of-help Camela Clermont and her mother Amelia. (And gets "[[AndStarring And..]]" billing in the process.)

** ''Knight Rider'' however wasn't the first series about a sapient talking car. Series/MyMotherTheCar has that honor, although whereas that car was haunted, KITT was a computer AI.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Earlier drafts apparently had the movie connected to the series' continuity, with KITT now as a female. One detail that was carried over into the TV movie while everything else was changed involved the driver of a Knight Industries' vehicle replacing the car's standard AI with a virtual copy of his recently deceased girlfriend's personality.

* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Edward Mulhare expected it to be [[ShortRunner axed within weeks]] (not an unreasonable prediction given the setup and its primary timeslot competition was only [[Series/{{Dallas}} one of THE biggest shows of the decade]]).