Now that the car's in its place, Knight Rider's Hasselhoff sees his show shifting into high
People Magazine

Hasselhoff just met KITT's know-it-all voice, Daniels (inset)
According to Knight Rider's David Hasselhoff, the car is no longer the star of the show. "In the beginning, the network [NBC] was really going with the car as an attention-getter. But I fought tooth and nail. I said, 'I don't want to be The Dukes of Hazzard. I don't want to just be going along for the ride.' Now Michael Knight is the real hero and the car is like Trigger."

Although he still finds problems with some of the scripts- "Today's hero! Tomorrow's car! Yesterday's dialogue!"- he feels vindicated in predicting the show's success early on, despite aimost universal panning by critics.

The day I knew Knight Rider was going to be a hit I told my manager to call Pontiac and get me a couple of Trans Ams (the show car, KITT, is a souped-up Trans Am) for my girlfriend and me. I now have two $18,000 Trans Ams sitting in my diveway, which I'm paying for by doing car shows in New York , Chicago, Detroit and L.A."

KITT's driver has succeeded with another campaign. After meeting deaf people who are fans of the show, he realized how much they miss by not hearing the voice of KITT. One of them gave me a letter to give to the producers, and as a result the show is going to be close-captioned."

Hasselhoff, of course, can hear the voice, but for months he didn't see the face that goes with it.

"I had never met William Daniels, who does the voice and who is also the star of St. Elsewhere, until the Christmas party. Before that, the voice was just a computer to me. I wish I'd never met him, because now every time KITT talks I see this little face with a little mustache in the dashboard. It's weird."