KITT is back in a new Knight Rider TV series, which will premiere as a two-hour movie Sunday night, February 17, 2008. The movie is what people are calling a “back door” pilot — which basically means that if the movie scores well in the ratings, a TV series won’t be far behind. I’m guessing that this series is a Go anyway, because let’s face it, NBC needs another hit, and this show has hit written all over it. Here is our preview of Knight Rider.

Five new clips from the new Knight Rider TV series has appeared online. The new Knight Rider premieres as a 2-hour movie (or “back door pilot” as it’s being called) on February 17, 2008 on NBC. Mike Tracer, the knew Michael Knight, is a pretty good brawler. Check out Clip 4 as he goes mano-a-mano with a thug in a cramped hallway.

The Knight Rider backdoor pilot (set to premiere in less than two weeks on NBC) originally had Will Arnett as the voice of supercar KITT — that is, until car company GM found out that KITT was a Ford Mustang, and asked Arnett to pulled out. Being that voicing GM commercials is more lucrative than voicing a pilot for a possible TV show (I’m guessing, of course), Arnett agreed. Enter Val Kilmer, the new voice of KITT.

It took a while, but finally, promo images from the upcoming Knight Rider TV series have finally hit the net. These images showed up on io9, and shows the new lead, Justin Bruening as Mike Tracer attending some kind of funeral. Geez, I hope it’s not going to be a downer series. We got transforming cars here, folks!

Justin Bruening, the star of the new Knight Rider TV series, says his show has a little bit of “Transformers” in it, in that the new Kitt can morph “into different colors and actually morphs into an attack mode”. He goes on: “It grows a spoiler and becomes more aerodynamic than a stock Shelby Cobra.”

This is a pretty great 30-second spot for the new Knight Rider TV series. It shows the new Kitt on the street, and you hear a voice telling you all the usual stuff you’ll find in a fully loaded car. But then the voiceover starts adding things like access to military satellites and nanotechnology and you know you’re watching a Knight Rider commercial.

Say what you will about the upcoming Knight Rider reboot, but I’m kind of looking forward to it. So sue me, but I have a sort of affinity for the old show, although I can’t say as I’m a big fan of it, because I’ve only watched it on and off. Still, I’d like to see what they would do with a reboot of sorts, which NBC is planning.