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Posted Feb. 12 at 3:54 pm by Damon Agnos

Yesterday brought the bad news that Will Arnett, known to his fans as Arrested Development's G.O.B., is being replaced by Val Kilmer as the voice for KITT in the Knight Rider TV movie. The movie has the potential to turn into a series, so the casting change is particularly disappointing.

Nevertheless, the reason for the switch does provide something of a silver lining: Arnett can't take the role because KITT is a Ford and Arnett the official voice of GMC trucks. (General Motors wasn't cool with this sort of swinging.)

Now, I can't be the only sports fan who feels a little dumb when the truck commercials come on. This is who they think I am? Apparently, my demographic supplements its manhood with oversized chrome and lives in a world of barren landscapes and construction sites. It's a world populated by white men (and a token brother or two) with deep voices, broad backs, and narrow waists—a bentback mountain of overwhelming but unsexed masculinity; a David Brooks salt-of-the-earth mash-up of Hoosiers, the Born in the USA tour, and your local professional linebacking corps. In this world, if your car breaks down a few miles from the Field of Dreams, NFL Hall of Famer Howie Long swings by and gives you a ride. If you just happen to have a few steel beams and concrete slabs with you, don't worry: Howie's machine can handle it!

For an amusing spoof of tough guy truck ads, check out the Simpsons' Canyonero commercial.

But I'll be damned if I'm not going to enjoy these commercials now that I can picture G.O.B. booming the offscreen narration. Imagine the feckless George Oscar Bleuth Segwaying into the studio in a $4,000 suit and ruining a recording by accidentally releasing a dove from his trenchcoat, its manic flapping into the microphone sending sound engineers scrambling to remove their headphones. Imagine the surprise appearance of Franklin, diversifying at least the ad's studio cast, and making Don Imus look like a model of restraint.

Truck commercials just got a whole lot cooler.

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Posted Feb. 5 at 10:46 am by Damon Agnos

"Watch with Kristin" at E! Online is reporting that Ron Howard and MItch Hurwitz, producers of that apotheosis of TV comedy, Arrested Development, have begun contacting cast members to gauge their interest in making a movie based on the show. While nothing is guaranteed, this is wonderful news.

Did somebody say *wonder*?

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