Deanna Russo and Justin Bruening, Knight Rider
If there was any hope for a new Knight Rider series (premieres Wednesday, Sept. 24 at 8 pm/ET, NBC) to meet the expectations of today's entertainment consumer, Gary Scott Thompson is the man you want behind the wheel. Last spring, after NBC put in gear a TV-movie reboot of the '80s series, the former Las Vegas boss was tapped to look under the hood and figure out how this baby could purr on a week-to-week basis. "I did see every episode of Knight Rider as a kid, so I felt, as the viewers and the press did, 'Ah, they missed a few things [with the movie]," Thompson tells us. "NBC told me, 'We don’t know what the series is. Do you?' I did, and I really haven’t deviated from that."
First up was finding ways to make today's viewer ooh and ahh at a series that used to impress us with a talking car (gee, th
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Josh Duhamel and Molly Sims by Mitchell Haaseth/NBC
Right now, Gary Scott Thompson, as the show runner for NBC's Knight Rider series (premiering Sept. 24), is focused on turning K.I.T.T. into an even leaner, meaner crimefighting machine. But sharing some bandwith with that mission is the idea of giving closure to the Las Vegas fans who saw their series hurried off the air as a casualty of the WGA strike. Has the ship sailed as far as hope for that goes? "I don’t think so, as far as myself and some of the cast members are concerned," Thompson told me during a detour from an in-depth look at the new Knight Rider. "We're actively trying to figure out how to do something."Thompson says that Josh Duhamel and Molly Sims are particularly interested in spelling out what became of Danny, Delinda and their baby. "I talked to them both the other day, and they said we should do something. It was their characters that were really left hanging, and they were very upset by it."While one possible fix would find Thompson, Duhamel and Sims simpl...
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KITT by Mitch Haddad/NBC Photo
Gary Scott Thompson, who gave us Las Vegas but also (and more relevant to this particular situation) penned Fast and the Furious, has inked a new two-year deal with NBCU, as part of which he will get behind the wheel at Knight Rider. Serving as show-runner, Thompson will executive-produce alongside Doug Liman, David Bartis and Dave Andron (who penned the backdoor pilot). With action and effects being a major part of the rebooted series, it is hoped that Thompson and his Fast experience can ramp up the quality seen in the TV-movie. Now if he can just recruit Vanessa Marcil to give K.I.T.T. a soapy wash every week, I'm in! — MWM
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Las Vegas by Mitchell Haaseth/NBC
You think you're upset that Las Vegas is ending its five-year run on a frakkin' cliff-hanger? Imagine how the show's creator, Gary Scott Thompson, feels. Actually, there's no need to imagine since I just hung up with him! Not surprisingly, he had lots to say about Vegas' unceremonious axing, the cast's reaction, and the possibility of a two-hour movie to tie up all the loose ends.How are you doing?Gary Scott Thompson: I've had better weeks.When did NBC inform you that the show was toast?Thompson: I got the official word last Wednesday. What do you think happened?Thompson: We were probably the first victim of the strike. The strike did us in. We had three more episodes to shoot for the season, which we didn't get done. And the "To be continued… " was actually supposed to be the first part of a two-parter. But that's as far as we got. We had four or five scripts in different stages that we didn't complete. So you fully expected to return after the strike to complete those three e...
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Eric Balfour with Marisol Nichols, 24
In the end, it was love that did Milo in. In Monday night's episode of Fox's 24, CTU's Internet protocol manager (played by Eric Balfour) took a bullet to the head from the Chinese terrorists as they raided CTU. By claiming that he was in charge, he saved Nadia Yassir (Marisol Nichols), the real chief. "Milo was basically in love with Nadia and so, afraid the Chinese would hurt her, he put his life on the line," says Balfour, who sounds weirdly chipper about his alter ego's execution.It turns out the actor asked to die. "About two months ago, I got an offer to do a CBS cop show that sounded really exciting, and I felt it was a golden opportunity," he says, referring to
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Las Vegas creator Gary Scott Thompson says the decision to bid adieu to both James Caan and Nikki Cox came so last-minute that Friday's season-ender — which boasts an explosion and a shooting, to name but two big events, and was purposely designed to coerce NBC into greenlighting a fifth season — not only might not pave the way for Ed's and Mary's exits, but actually has the writers in a bit of a pickle. "The season finale had already been written," Thompson tells TVGuide.com, "so it's going to be challenging to get us out of the situation I put us in." For Thompson's latest take on why Caan is leaving Las Vegas, see the fresh Ask Ausiello.
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When NBC's Las Vegas left off last season, Ed (James Caan) looked worried as Danny McCoy (Josh Duhamel) was recalled to the Marine Corps for a mysterious intelligence mission. Just before leaving Sin City, Dan the Man finally made love to his childhood best friend, Mary (Nikki Cox). (Jackpot!) But will the dapper Duhamel be MIA when Season 2 begins tonight at 9 pm/ET?
"We've had so many fans asking if Josh Duhamel is leaving the show," says creator Gary Scott Thompson. "No, he's not! Danny is back in Vegas in the season opener. He will have completed his mission off screen over the summer."
It's not that simple, though. Danny will struggle with post-traumatic stress. "Much like real soldiers returning from Afghanistan after watching their buddies get killed," Thompson says, "it's going to be a difficult adjustment back to normal life." On the (kinda) bright side, Ed and Danny "will be more simpatico" now that they share psycholog
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