So, NBC is celebrating its return to iTunes with some free offerings that actually seem worth trying to get.

The network is offering, for free, some season and even series premieres of its shows weeks before they air. One of the programs they are showcasing is the new and supposedly improved "Knight Rider."

I say supposedly because I downloaded the first episode and watched it in high-def through the genius of Apple TV, but I have to say, I am not totally impressed. While I think the action is much better than what it was in the backdoor pilot we saw last spring, the thing is, what can't this new KITT do?

I am not going to give away anything ... if you want to know what happens in the first episode, then simply download it on iTunes. But all I can say is that KITT is starting to remind me an awful lot of Superman -- pretty much capable of doing anything, with only one little stupid thing that can defeat him. And if you're a longtime reader on some of my views of comic book characters, then you already know that I don't have a very high opinion of Superman already.

That's the thing, though. Decades ago, audiences would've embraced an all-powerful hero like Superman or even the original KITT, but I believe audiences have become far more sophisticated than that now. They want characters and situations that are closer to reality than not -- even when it comes to the more spectacular worlds found in science-fiction.

My preference in the comic book world has always been Batman, someone who has no real super powers, but uses his mind and training -- something that any of us could do if we really set out to do it -- to become a sort of vigilante with a heart. A bullet would hurt him. He gets into binds. He may not always have a trick up his sleeve that had just been conveniently added to his arsenal to get through a rough patch. That is much more like the character of William Boone, played by Kevin Kilner in "Earth: Final Conflict," who was shoved into a situation, and despite having abilities and tools that may have been greater than his average foe, he still was human, and could still die -- as he did after the first season.

Replacing him was Liam Kincaid, an alien-human hybrid played by Robert Leeshock that seemed to have some powers that are superpowers ... meaning there was never any clear definition of them. They would just conveniently do whatever the writers needed it to do.

I don't want to see KITT become that. But showrunner Gary Scott Thompson already showed his hand. In the first act of the Season 1 premiere, we find out that both Mike Traceur and Sarah Graiman are in trouble ... yet, they have just the thing to save them, only because Sarah (conveniently) uploaded a new program to KITT, as if she had some sort of psychic ability to predict the tools that they would need just in time.

If this is what we have to look forward to in the new "Knight Rider," then it can go right back to the 1980s where it belongs.

SyFy Radio

Next week we welcome musical great Bear McCreary, the man behind the music of shows like "Battlestar Galactica," "Eureka" and "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles." After that, on Oct. 1, we bring on Shalim Ortiz, who played Alejandro in the second season of "Heroes" before being killed off by Sylar.

Make sure you listen each and every week!

SyBits

Send your letters to mhinman@airlockalpha.com, and maybe you'll hear them on SyFy Radio, complete with my arcane responses.

Do you like to chat about the SciFriday columns you see here? Then join our message board discussions by clicking here.

Don't forget to listen to me host SyFy Radio, every Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET (and available to download for free at your leisure after the fact) by visiting www.blogtalkradio.com/syfyradio. You also can subscribe to us for free at the iTunes Store. Simply log in to iTunes, type in "syfy" in the search engine, and ou'll be connected directly to the show's archive.

If you're not yet a member of our free breaking news/headlines mailing list, then it's not too late to sign up. Simply send a blank e-mail to syfyportal-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and enjoy the latest in science-fiction and fantasy entertainment straight to your e-mail box with breaking news and headlines. I promise you you won't regret it!

Rabid Doll is now online! Visit it at www.RabidDoll.com. We also have a mailing list going for that, which you can join by simply sending a blank e-mail to rabiddoll-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Have a great week, and don't be a stranger!

Michael Hinman, a cult leader twice awarded "Best Kool-Aid Drinker," is the founder and site coordinator for Airlock Alpha, writing out of Tampa, Fla. He can be reached at mhinman@airlockalpha.com