Season 1, Episode 20
Date of airing: April 29, 1983 (NBC)
Nielsen ratings information: 12.74 million Households, 15.3 rating/25 share in Households
Written by: David Braff
Directed by: Harvey Laidman
”I have no intention of engaging in a game of Space Cadet.”
“Why not?”
“Cause I fail to understand the attraction of such a frivolous pastime.”
It's 1983, and people were already getting invested in computer games. As a casual gamer myself, it was interesting to see the early-1980s view of the future billion-dollar market, and how it was essentially seen as a surefire way to make yourself a quick millionaire. It's a bit of a shame that the episode never knew where to go with the technological aspect of its backstory. At first, it was about corporate espionage, where one programmer sold code to another company so that they could publish a particular game first, but then the whole story went away from that, included a private investigator, a possible cheating storyline, and even murder. Plus, the writers didn't particularly care for the tech part of it all, and this after K.I.T.T. is one of the most technologically advanced programs in the show's existence. Just imagine when someone at the Foundation starts to invest in corporate espionage to sell K.I.T.T.'s secrets to another company...
The writers probably didn't know much about gaming or the tech involved in creating games, hence the creation of the story of Julian cheating on his wife, and a private investigator getting involved. The script needed to be filled with something to fill time, so an actual crime story took charge while the tech aspects were thrown out.
Plus points for K.I.T.T. finally driving in the rain for a change. I think this is the first episode that showcased the car's windshield wipers, and even David Hasselhoff looked like he was walking in the rain for a bit before he tried talking to Julian's wife. The weather must have been nasty during the production of this episode...
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