Is There a Statute of Good Taste on Re-Imaginings?

It saddens us to relay this information, but Variety is reporting that Doug Liman will be producing an oh-so-gritty-and-presumably-ironic rework of—brace yourselves—Knight Rider for NBC. Back-door TV movie pilot to be followed by full-fledged series in fall 2008. Details are sketchy, but we’re assuming an extremely significant product-placement opportunity here for the new K.I.T.T., most likely in the form of a talking Chevy Volt squaring off against the very best petroleum-chugging, smog-spewing, axis-of-evil set of wheels the Iranians have on hand (perhaps the Khodro Samand LX with the fatwa package?). The burning question: Who will voice the dashboard? Given Liman’s track record, we figure even money between Vince Vaughn and Angelina Jolie. Expect overwhelming CGI, and of course Transformer-esque vehicle battles tweaked for the small box.