Hasselhoff (left) and KITT begrudgingly posed for this Knight Rider press photo immediately after exchanging insults following an on-set dispute.

KITT hated Hasselhoff from day one

"I think a lot of Knight Rider fans will be surprised to learn that although Hasselhoff and KITT had great on-camera chemistry, off camera their relationship was marked by creative disputes, personal resentment and flat-out jealousy," said Guy Morris, a spokesman for E! Networks. "During the show's run, NBC was able to keep a tight lid on the costars' behind-the-scenes feuding, but True Hollywood Story will show how their conflict propagated an unbearable production atmosphere that continually threatened to tear the show apart."

Included in the revealing one-hour special are interviews with cast and crew members who witnessed firsthand some of the disputes between Hasselhoff and the technologically advanced Pontiac Trans Am known as KITT.

"The truth is that KITT hated David [Hasselhoff] from the second it laid its infrared sensors on him at the first casting meeting," said Gino Grimaldi, who produced the popular weekly series throughout its five-season run from 1982 to 1986. "KITT had an ego that was every bit as big as you'd expect from a marvel of engineering technology harboring an intelligence twice that of its human creators. When David landed the role of Michael Knight, KITT complained to me that David was a half-witted punk with less talent than a Chevy coolant system. But at the same time KITT was also very paranoid that David might try to steal the spotlight away from 'the real star of the show,' as KITT put it."

According to Grimaldi, on-set disputes between Hasselhoff and KITT became commonplace within the first week of the show's production.

"Right off the bat David began trying to influence the cinematography and storylines to get more on-screen time than KITT," Grimaldi remembered. "Meanwhile, KITT was always trying to stilt David's performance by honking during his dialogue or accidentally running over his foot every once in a while during a scene. Of course, KITT would claim to be having mechanical malfunctions, but we all knew what was going on. Childish stuff for a hyper-intelligent, eleven million dollar super-car, if you ask me."

Grimaldi said as Knight Rider quickly garnered widespread popularity among television audiences, Hasselhoff's celebrity began to overshadow that of KITT's - a situation that fueled KITT's resentment of Hasselhoff.

"TV and magazine people started asking for interviews and photo shoots with only David, not KITT," said Jeffery Dorn, who produced the Knight Rider episode of True Hollywood Story. "This must've really got KITT's oil boiling, because as they were shooting the season one finale, KITT 'accidentally' activated the emergency ejection system during one of the driving scenes and nearly sent David to the hospital. [NBC President Brandon] Tartikoff came down to the set and threatened to sell KITT's contract to a demolition derby promoter. KITT's response was a typical one: do a bunch of doughnuts and storm off the set at about three hundred miles per hour. At that point NBC honestly didn't know if there would even be a second season."

Dorn said that the show's success put NBC executives under tremendous pressure to reunite the show's stars for a second season.

"At this point, David and KITT could barely stand to be in the same car together," said Dorn. "KITT was threatening to run David over the next time he wasn't looking and David started carrying around a bag of sugar as his own subtle threat. But when NBC offered to double their salaries for a second season, the two agreed to put aside their personal differences and go back to work."

It was at this time that NBC executives also chose to replace actress Patricia Macpherson - who played the role of technician Bonnie Barstow - as a precautionary measure, amidst rumors that she had been involved in off-camera romances with both stars during the first season.

A previously unpublished photo of Hasselhoff arguing with KITT through his wristwatch communicator in between takes.

Although these adjustments managed to quell the on-set quarrels between the stars, KITT's on-board CPU was now struggling to filter out the enormous matrix of temptations brought about by the sudden fame and fortune that accompanied the show's success.

By the end of the third season, Grimaldi said, the show's custom-built, two-door superstar was careening down a long, winding road toward self-destruction.

"Professionally speaking, KITT became about as reliable as a used Fiero," said Grimaldi, recalling how difficult to work with KITT had become by 1985. "KITT would roll in about an hour late - tires almost completely flat, covered with mud and with an engine that would barely idle, obviously having been out all night. Getting stunts out of KITT on those days was almost impossible. It's pretty hard to run a slalom on two wheels when you can barely drive a straight line on all four."

Grimaldi said he believes that it was during this time that KITT became addicted to a powerful fuel additive that would eventually end the Pontiac's television career.

"Most of the crew knew that KITT has started taking a hit of Techron Concentrate before shooting really demanding stunts," said Grimaldi, referring to an over-the-counter fuel-injector cleaning treatment that is typically mixed with fuel to achieve higher performance. "That kind of thing isn't all that uncommon in Hollywood when you're under pressure to nail a fifty-foot jump on the first take, so nobody really thought KITT using the stuff was any big deal. But by mid-way through the fifth season, KITT was using the stuff everyday, regardless of what kind of driving scenes were scheduled. That's when I knew KITT was developing a dependency."

With one of the show's stars spiraling deeper and deeper into addiction - and in fact no longer able to perform many of the difficult automotive stunts that had helped define the show - NBC decided to pull the plug on the hit show after five seasons.

"If we had pressed on with the show, it was only going to be a matter of time until KITT would be found dead on the side of a road somewhere, either having blown its gaskets out or activated its self-destruct mechanism or just having finally run out of gas, you know," said Grimaldi. "They were never going to find a car that could take KITT's place, so NBC decided to just end the show. It was for the best, I think."

July 2004