Behind The Scenes....The Firing and Rehiring of Patricia Mcpherson

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <B><IMG SRC="09a97310.jpg" border=0 width="151" height="49" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <A HREF="id101.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="What is new at the Knight Rider Supersit"><U>WHAT'S NEW</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Knight Rider Cast"><U>CAST</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id86.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Knight Rider FAQ"><U>FAQ</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Knight Rider Multimedia Downloads"><U>DOWNLOADS</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id93.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Columbia House/Universal Playback"><U>KNIGHT RIDER ON VHS</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id117.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="KITT at Universal"><U>KITT AT UNIVERSAL 85</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id116.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="1910210KITT"><U>1-910-210-KITT COMMERCIAL</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id107.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Knight Rider German Covers"><U>GERMAN COVERS</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id108.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Knight Rider Collectibles"><U>COLLECTIBLES</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="USA TodayThis Knights Sun Has Set"><U>MAY 1986 USA TODAY ARTICLE</U></A></div> <div> I<A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Knight Rider Inconsistencies"><U>NCONSISTENCIES</U></A></div> <div>  <A HREF="id114.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Paint Shop Pro Artwork"><U>KNIGHT RIDER PSP ARTWORK</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id46.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Knight Rider Episode Guide"><U>EPISODE GUIDE</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Knight Rider Links"><U>LINKS</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The KITT KIT"><U>THE KITT KIT</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id43.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="David Hasselhoff Interviews about Knight"><U>DAVID HASSELHOFF RECENT INTERVIEWS ABOUT KR MOVIE</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Behind the Scenes of Knight Rider"><U>BEHIND THE SCENES</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Cast Interviews"><U>CAST INTERVIEWS</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Knight Rider Promotional Pictures"><U>PROMOTIONAL PICTURES</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Knight Rider TV Superstars"><U>TV SUPERSTARS</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id35.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="1982 TV Guide Review"><U>FALL 1982 TV GUIDE REVIEW</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Fifth Season KR Fan Fiction Guide"><U>FAN FICTION</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id40.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Knight Rider Album"><U>THE KNIGHT RIDER ALBUM</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id42.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="People Magazine 1983 Article"><U>PEOPLE MAGAZINE 83 ARTICLE</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id45.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Nintendo Entertainment Systems Knight Ri"><U>ACCLAIM NES KR GAME</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Everything I needed to know I learned fr"><U>EVERYTHING I NEEDED TO KNOW I LEARNED FROM KNIGHT RIDER </U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id41.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="What If?"><U>WHAT IF</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id36.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="KRAA"><U>KRAA</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Richies Home Page"><U>RICHIE'S HOME PAGE</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id47.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Knight Rider 2000 Cast"><U><B><IMG SRC="049644b0.jpg" border=0 width="100" height="75" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id47.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Knight Rider 2000 Cast"><U><B>KNIGHT RIDER 2000</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id60.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Knight Rider 2010 Synopsis/Promotional P"><U><B><IMG SRC="04b64370.jpg" border=0 width="100" height="55" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id60.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Knight Rider 2010 Synopsis/Promotional P"><U><B>KNIGHT RIDER 2010</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id67.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Team Knight Rider Cast"><U><B><IMG SRC="04d66370.jpg" border=0 width="102" height="55" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id67.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Team Knight Rider Cast"><U><B>TEAM KNIGHT RIDER</B></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> THE FIRING AND REHIRING OF PATRICIA MCPHERSON</div> <div> "ITS BONNIE WHO MAKES KNIGHT RIDER SO GREAT</div> <div> <IMG SRC="166fa750.jpg" border=0 width="250" height="373" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Those involved with Knight Rider tend to use such words as "great believability," "likable" and "a real pro" to describe McPherson, which is fine, but sometimes an actress may also wish to hear "glamorous" or "dazzling," which she didn't, at least for a long time. In fact, it was her supposed lack of sizzle that got her fired at the end of the first season. "We wanted to try something different, something glitzy," according to Foster, "and they hired a shapely redhead, Rebecca Holden. Hasselhofff is still angry about McPherson's firing and upset with his own reaction to it. "They let Patti go and I didn't have enough guts to fight for her because I was still fighting for myself. In the second year I really wanted her back. Both of us had survived against Dallas. I said,'Why are you breaking up this team?'" The producers decided they really didn't have a good answer and McPherson returned in triumph with an episode written to celebrate the reunion(Knight of the Drones). "It was a real emotional scene when she came back," Hasselhoff recalls. "What you saw on the screen was happening on stage." McPherson, 31, the only daughter of a retired Navy commander, took a degree in graphic communication at San Diego State and got a job as a magazine artist. She was probably lost to the printed page when, in jeans and flannel shirt, she posed for what became a famous cigarette billboard. TV commercials followed and then came Knight Rider, her first important role. As far as Rebecca Holden went, she was out of a job when the writers decided they wanted Patricia to return. Holden was not too pleased and felt that she deserved the chance to continue to play the character. The absence of Bonnie Barstow was never explained and was never introduced into the Knight Rider story line. Several key episodes might have been written differently in the 2nd season had Patricia continued to be KITT's mechanic. You have to admit thought that there are some scenes in Goliath Returns that Rebecca Holden did really great on (the one where she comes on to Garth to save Devon), but overall her performance lacked the playfulness that the Hasselhoff/Mcpherson pairing brought forward to the other seasons. Mcpherson had actually wanted a romance between Michael and Bonnie, part of the reason she wasn't around when season two went into production.On the issue of the first season, most fans can easily pick up the love between Michael and Bonnie. The scene which captures the most attention is in Whitebird, as Michael is leaning down on KITT and Bonnie is fixing KITT. Micheal tells her about Stephanie Mason after she wants to know why it is so important to him. The look that Mcpherson gave Hasselhoff provided the key to one of the most fundemental relationships on television. Michael did love Bonnie. He hit on her all the time in the first season, while Devon kept making remarks about Michael's constant vacations. In Knight of the Juggernaut, after KITT is crushed, Bonnie's look shows how much she cares for Michael. It's Bonnie's love that make Knight Rider so great.</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>