The Idiot Lantern

We're here to talk about TV. Not just recapping, although there will be some of that too. But the impact also. The why's and what's of what we're watching.
I'm a bit of a geek. In geekdom, like in America in general, there are lots of common threads.
Growing up, I remember my family being enchanted by "Who shot J.R.".
It was all the rage of the day.
I remember watching the last episode of MASH, along with millions of others.
The Thrill of Victory on Saturday afternoons.
Walt Disney on Sunday Nights.
It's fun to remember those times...and compare today to them.
Of course, some of TV makes comparisons easy....natural.
Like tonight. Tonight I watched the reborn version of Knight Rider.
I watched the two hour made of TV movie last year. It was ok. I thought it was interesting and had a ton of possiblities.
I also LOVE Val Kilmer's voice as KITT.
However, the TV show that was spawned by that movie doesn't really seem to live up to the potential. Nor does it live up to the original.....at least so far.
The biggest problem I have with it is that the writers lean WAY to heavy on technology that is (actually) too cool. Blasphemy I know...but seriously.
For example. There was a scene where Mike and his hotty partner were going to steal a car. To do this, they apparently needed keys. I'm from the Detroit Area...we know better. Anyway, they thought the needed a key. So, they asked KITT to do it. And he did.
He looked deep into his database and somehow found the appropriate key pattern. Possible. Then he used his BUILT IN 3 DIMENSIONAL FABRICATION UNIT to actually REPLICATE ONE!!!
UM....check me if I'm wrong Sandy, but replicators don't come along to sometime after the death of one James Tiberius Kirk. That, boys and girls comes along around the 24th century.
This is my problem with Knight Rider. It rely's heavily upon technology for things it REALLY doesn't need to. The nanotech, skin changing, advanced AI stuff is all cool....but it really shouldn't be used as a crutch.
That said...I'll probably give it a few more weeks...after all, the car has a replicator.