MovieChat Forums > Knight Rider (1982) Discussion > Are GM and William Daniels kicking thems...

Are GM and William Daniels kicking themselves?

posted 13 years ago by bpilling
8 replies | jump to latest

William Daniels, didn't want to down play his role as Dr. Mark Craig on St. Elsewhere, so he went uncredited as KITT. Meanwhile, after the first season, GM got so tired of people coming in and asking for the KITT version of the Trans Am, they told the show, they couldn't use the name Pontiac or Trans Am in the show.

And now Pontiac is gone, and William Daniels went uncredited for one of his most iconic roles. Bet you 100 bucks, today, more people know the character KITT than Dr. Mark Craig.

Not that Daniels didnt have a good idea at the time. He did want to get type cast as the talking car guy.

But Why would GM, when people specifiaclly were coming into Pontiac dealerships, to buy Trans Am's, because of Knight Rider, want to distance themselves from that show? Hmm, you have one of the most popular TV shows on the air at the time, basically giving a you a free hour long commercial for one of your high end vehicles, and you tell them flat out, in the show, when people ask what kind of car it is, you want the script to say, "a black T Top", rather than, "A Pontiac Trans Am?"

Dare I say, its that kind of thinking, that made Pontiac as a brand go away, and GM almost go out of business.

"R.I.P. Harry Kalas"

[–] gluserty 13 years ago

Good question; I guess GM figured they were above a television program advertising for them. Funny, since nowadays companies wants both free handout AND free publicity.

[–] misgatex 13 years ago

William Daniels is fine with it. He knows that all true fans of the series know who he is and he did the voice. He was more known for other roles in his career as well, but when visiting schools and children’s hospitals, he only talked about Knight Rider.

I understand your question about the Trans Am. From what I understand, I suppose Pontiac got tired of fielding calls about the Knight Rider Trans Am. Fans of the show became very disappointed when they found out that they could not buy a KITT model. It was distracting Pontiac personnel from other duties because the demand was so large for a product that did not exist.

[–] valordracul 13 years ago

If the execs. at Pontiac had any brains, they would have made a KITT version for the public instead of telling Knight Rider execs. they didn't want any more free publicity from them. What a bunch of idiots.

[–] misgatex 13 years ago

Agreed. They would have sold so many KITTs, Pontiac would still be thriving today I bet.

[–] ghostfan 12 years ago

From what I have read, Daniels was never upset about downplaying his role. I remember back in the day, I watched the pilot because I heard Edward Mulhare, one of my favorite actors was going to be in it. I kept listening to WD's voice and thought, "I know that voice!" and finally he said a word with just the right infliction, and I knew who it was (I'm a big 1776 fan).

I read that when Daniels got tapped for chairity events, some involving children and kids, and he would completely downplay Doctor Craig and upgrade KITT because he knew what the kids liked.

Also read that he considered it the easiest money he ever made - kinda like the celebrities doing voiceover work in movies now. Back then, they sent him the scripts, he had a tape recorder, read his lines into the recorder and the editing people did the rest. He only had to show up for publicity tours and charity events.

Interestingly enough, Daniel's appeared in an episode of The Ghost and Mrs, Muir, which starred Edward Mulhare.

I remember even back then I had two prayers for Knight Rider -

1-that Daniels would get to be a guest star on one of the KR episodes, even as a bad guy. Guess he was too busy filming St. Elsewhere...

2-that Hope Lange, who starred with Edward Mulhare in GAMM, would show up as a guest star (like an old love of Devon's) on the show.

Neither happened.

[–] avortac4 (3504) 3 years ago

"and finally he said a word with just the right infliction, "

Surely you don't mean 'infliction', but 'inflection', right?

However, you probably mean 'intonation', after all, don't you?

"Intonation is the rise and fall of the voice in speaking, while inflection is a change in the form of a word that reflects a change in grammatical function. "

[–] avortac4 (3504) 3 years ago

Hard to disagree with this - I mean, it's only common sense. You find a product people want, you can easily make it, they would've sold _SO_ many cars, it boggles the mind. Who the heck would say 'no thanks' and try to limit this free exposure and advertising??

[–] MaximRecoil (4090) 2 years ago

A normal black T-top Trans Am with black "bowling ball" hubcaps and tan interior, like this one...

https://www.pontiactransamforum.com/data/seo_thread_images/qda_HE94gi.jpg

... already looked nearly identical to "KITT" on the outside anyway.

The distracting-to-other-drivers scanner bar in front and the blacked-out tail light panel in the back probably wouldn't have been street legal, and I doubt the steering yoke would have been legal either. The non-padded dash definitely wouldn't have been legal. Most of the various gizmos weren't even possible, and no car company is going to sell a new car with a TV prop style dashboard full of buttons/controls/displays that don't actually do anything, not to mention that the big pointed protrusion on the dash to accommodate the video display(s) encroached heavily on interior space and was probably a violation of safety regulations as well.

They couldn't have even copied KITT's redesigned bumper/nose section, because it covered up the front parking lights / blinkers, plus it was designed to accommodate the probably-illegal scanner bar, and would have looked weird without it.

"You find a product people want, you can easily make it, they would've sold _SO_ many cars, it boggles the mind."

Well, they couldn't easily make it because some of it was definitely illegal, some of it was probably illegal, and some of it just didn't make any sense on a production car (see above). Also, I doubt they would have sold many, if any, more of them than their normal black Trans Ams, which were already close enough for most people who wanted a car that looked like KITT.

Keep in mind that the main fan base of the show was comprised of kids who weren't in the car market yet at all. If you rounded up every last person on Earth who owns or has owned a KITT replica, I'd wager that nearly all of them were kids when the show originally aired. Most people who were in the new car market back then (i.e., adults) thought the show was cheesy, which it was.