Also this show appears to have a somewhat sexually-charged atmosphere,and almost everyone,right from KITT himself to other characters in the show such as that repulsive.geeky looking engineer,who professes to have "degrees in physics,advanced physics and discrete maths etc(go figure)" never waste an opportunity to make crude and irritating.quips related to sexual fantasies/situations etc that are very likely to make the viewer cringe really hard. Also this new KITT appears to be a bit more nosy and talkative than what would befit a sophisticated AI of his stature. Also this new KITT does not retain the sober,understated yet graceful look of the original-instead he had been embellished with a host of cosmetic addons(generated primarily using VFX),which makes him appear more like a "pimped out hotrod" than a singular AI driven vehicle built using cutting edge technology.
This is not only implausible but also utterly ridiculous-so much so that this characteristic alone makes it the prime candidate for being the laughing stock of the show. My biggest gripe with it is the fact that in this latest installation of knight rider,he had been imbued with the ability to transform or "shape-shift" readily from one form to another,a-la the transformers! Thus the new KITT has the ability to change his structure at will,altering to something like a pickup truck(and quite a few other vehicular forms depending on the situation) from his regular coupe like appearance at a moment's notice to confuse or throw off his pursuers. Another,and perhaps one of the most important reasons why this show managed to alienate and put-off a large section of the fanbase of the original Knight rider was the new KITT itself. Although his predecessor,David Hasselhoff who drove the original KITT was not marvelous at his role by any stretch of imagination,he was certainly a lot better than Mr Justin bruening here,whose shallow attempts at depicting the proverbial battle-scarred soldier,fighting for justice and glory in a world dominated by evil forces never really succeeds in leaving a lasting impression on the viewer's mind. Yet from the following episode onwards,her personality appeared to have undergone a complete change and she could be seen frequently accompanying the show's primary protagonist,Mike traceur(yet another one in a long list of insufferable characters in this show-more on that later) on all kinds of dangerous and potentially life-threatening missions in the capacity of some sort of combat-ready secret agent,which itself was totally out of character for someone,who was essentially an academician and had little to no connection with the realm of crime-fighting! Also perhaps in a brazen attempt to make her appear more alluring/edgy to pre-pubescent teens,she is often shown wearing skimpy or risque outfits,speaking openly about the bucket list of the things that she had always wanted to do,which included "making love to someone while.lying on a tropical beach and listening to pugini (massive face-palm!) "-if this is not the recipe for a bonafide cringe-fest,i dont.know what is! Also the main protagonist of the series(or the "hero",if you will),Mike traceur,apparently some iraq war veteran,hardly appeared to possess the charisma,personality or the.resoluteness of character to pull off a role like this.
For instance,in the pilot episode itself the female protagonist,Sarah Graiman.was depicted as a sort of nerdy/introvert individual who was striving to complete her doctoral program at Stanford-she was the epitome of a quintessential."geek" or a bookworm and didn't really appear to be the sort of person who could readily tackle any kind of high-risk situation all by herself. The reasons for its failure were tenfold,firstly what put many people off(myself included) was the fact that there were far too many cringey moments in the show and a whole lot of ridiculous/annoying storylines and plot-holes than what most fans of the old school knight rider were willing to put up with. While the effort itself was a commendable one,in the end it culminated in arrant failure,which was very disappointing to say the least.
2008's knight rider was an attempt to bring the classic 80's show(on which its based) into the modern era and update it with all the technological trappings and sci-fi elements of the 21st century.