For our UK readers - at 8pm tonight on SCI FI you can see the first episode of the new Knight Rider, with Mike Traceur grasping the steering wheel of a new KITT (voiced by Val Kilmer). We've been printing reviews in our Spoiler Zone since the show started airing in the US last year, and here's our season summary. Beware: plentiful spoilers for the whole season!

A shadowy flight into the world of a naff but fun TV show. The special effects as KITT "transforms" into one of its various forms are gimmicky and the scurrying minions within the Batcave-style HQ look straight out of a spoof. It's incredible how many opportunities the characters find to lose their clothes, as in the first episode "A Knight In Shining Armor" (1.01) where the tone is set as Michael and Sarah strip to avoid overheating following a napalm attack. The original show was cheesy too so it's true to the source material, and once your brain accepts the 1980s Saturday afternoon vibe, it's enjoyable in a goofy way – this episode is a hodgepodge mix in which the Knight team rescues a scientist whose DNA holds an encryption key.

"Journey to the End of the Knight" (1.02) requires Mike to participate in illegal street racing to infiltrate a weapons-smuggling gang. It's followed up by "Knight of the Iguana" (1.03) in which Mike and Zoe – using the cover names "Devon" and "Bonnie" in a nod to the original series – slip into their trunks to uncover stolen rocket launchers at a surfer's beach in Mexico.

"A Hard Day's Knight" (1.04) is stronger: Mike is poisoned and has only a few hours to get the antidote by pretending to carry out an assassination. Predictable but genuine humour comes from the truth serum properties of the poison. Ongoing hints at a story arc about gaps in Michael's memory from his time in Beirut may possibly lead somewhere interesting, but Knight Rider mainly feels like pure "guilty pleasure" television, the sci-fi equivalent of Baywatch.

Is it wrong that I'm actually starting to look forward to each new episode of this? It's manifestly rubbish, but it's exuberantly old-school, right down to machine gun fire that fails to hurt anybody. And the excuses for getting people out of their kit continue: in "Knight of the Hunter" (1.05) Mike and a blonde MI6 agent must discard their wet clobber and cling together to avoid hypothermia. They've been investigating a right-wing training camp which is actually the cover for a bullion thief (hello, it's Paul the wife-beater from Dexter!). Question: how does Billy receive a black eye from one petty scrap with a bunch of videogamers, yet Mike withstands hours of paramilitary thrashing only to walk away scratch-free?

Sadly "Knight of the Living Dead" (1.06) isn't even dreadful in an amusing, nostalgic sort of way – it's rammed with the kind of inconsistencies, expedient pseudo-science and illogical dialogue that the show usually manages to hover just above. The Halloween-themed plot introduces the concept of the rogue machine, KARR, but it's clearly a penny-saver episode – all the "action" takes place within the familiar interior sets with only the regular cast on duty. Even the villain has conveniently disguised herself as Zoe! And how exactly do you isolate sound waves from previous conversations in a room – do they hang around like smells? The whole thing is unnecessarily daft, the only palliative being some unashamed geekery, including Billy dressing up as Torchwood's Captain Jack ("the timetravelling bisexual!"). Everything else in this episode would have been dismissed as atrociously clumsy writing even in the 1980s.

It's a shame this show is so puerile, because the characters are guilelessly likeable. In "I Wanna Rock & Roll All Knight" (1.07) , Mike and Sarah take KITT on the trail of anarchist teenagers but it's just an excuse for sexual tension on the highway. Everything is clumsily eked out, from multiple armed stand-offs to constant will-they-won't-they flirting. Jokes had at KITT's lack of understanding about courtship are getting repetitive, and the fact that one of the targets – a congressman's rebellious daughter – hacks into their mainframe from the recreation room just demonstrates how inept this outfit is. I can't help but smile watching this, but only because I've consciously switched off a vital part of my brain. From the way their recovery operation runs, down to the way couples banter with each other, it seems to have been scripted by children. Mike and Billy go to Vegas in "Knight Of The Zodiac" (1.08) which is better but still full of the kind of dating-farce moments that make me think Knight Industries has more in common with a youth club than a Pentagon contractor. Mike infiltrates a gang attempting to rob the Corsica casino, which inevitably involves stripping off for a pool party – even geeky Billy gets some action with a blonde lovely, then saves the day by arriving with KITT just as Mike's cover is blown. It's the first episode in a few with a decent mission, but it's contrived twaddle. Would less adolescent breeziness be too much to ask?

Initially Knight Rider felt like affable, guilty-pleasure entertainment but the producers must know they can't go on churning out vacuous ladies-and-laffs spy-fi episodes for ever. Some surprisingly watchable acting can't save "Knight Fever" (1.09) from its own clichés – including a self-destruct countdown that stops at 00:00:01. A nano virus infects KITT and dark moments ensue when he accidentally kills somebody. Zoe hooting "Total sci-fi moment!" dissipates the gloom, and you can't take a story seriously when, in the middle of a civilisation-threatening crisis, folks go dancing in a bar. But a new intro sequence – with glimpses of KARR blueprints – heralds slightly more noteworthy plotting in "Don't Stop The Knight" (1.10) . A laconic terrorist (played with a swagger by Rick Hoffman) kidnaps an African leader and blackmails Mike into locating parts of a bomb. Russian spy babes and a sub-plot about a temperamental robot are distractions, but it is better paced than usual. And the second instalment of this two-parter is actually pretty exciting: in "Day Turns Into Knight" (1.11) our heroes load KITT onto a plane to dispose of the bomb in the air. Sadly Sarah's father, Doctor Graiman, is killed as they try to return, while Agent Ruvai is invalided out of service. Mike entering a factory like an avenging angel is a highlight. It's an uncharacteristically punchy episode, perhaps signalling a change of tenor for the series. Did Knight Rider just become interesting again?

Halfway through the season we're treated at last to the battle with KARR, but it's too short – just an overly swift scrap with a CGI robot villain, voiced by Peter "Optimus Prime" Cullen. "Knight To King's Pawn" (1.12) ought to be awesome, but it's flimsy and hobbled by an over-reliance on technobabble. There's gravitas when we discover Michael's memories were wiped by the government following his part in the early KARR project, the fact that KITT was stored in the Indiana Jones warehouse was droll, and Agent Torres's last words are a Star Trekish: "KAAAAARRR!" But still, it's disappointingly throwaway.

"Exit Light, Enter Knight" (1.13) is the de rigueur bank heist episode. Mike stumbles into a hostage situation; it hits all the beats of a typical trapped-withgunmen scenario, but does very little that's original. The scenario is played for pace rather than tension, and once again the resolution happens too swiftly. They must be cycling through plot clichés because "Fight Knight" (1.14) is the Fight Club episode, as Mike investigates the death of an army contact in a fighting ring. It's demented and predictable, and it's followed by the schmaltzy and unconvincing "Fly By Knight" (1.15) . Mike has to dodge the DEA as he tracks a boy kidnapped by drug smugglers – too much soppy talking and contrived inter-team banter is punctuated by absurd new KITT powers. I'm starting to really warm to Justin Bruening as Michael Knight, but reboot or not, this show will win few plaudits. Then "Knight And The City" (1.16) is another predictable but affable episode which sees the gang defending a small bar where Mike used to hang out. Finally, in "I Love The Knight Life" (1.17) , the Foundation team attempts to recover a metabolic serum that makes people Hulk out. Daft, and a disappointing way to end the series.

You can find the official Knight Rider UK website here, and Wikipedia's episode list is here. Let us know what you think of the show in the comment thread below or over on our TV forum.