'Las Vegas' creator to helm 'Knight Rider'

A sequel to 1980s show Knight Rider has been given a series order and Gary Scott Thompson has been hired to run it.

The Las Vegas creator will executive produce and run the show under a two year deal with producer Universal Media Studios.

NBC confirmed it would get a full series yesterday, following the ratings success of a two-hour pilot in February.

UMS president Katherine Pope said she was delighted to have secured Thompson, who also wrote movie The Fast and the Furious.

"We definitely wanted to stay in business with Gary, who has proven himself on Las Vegas," she said. "If you think what the series would be, it's The Fast and the Furious meets Las Vegas."

NBC decided to end Las Vegas after five years during the writers' strike.