Knightwatch
Encyclopedia
Knightwatch was a television drama aired by ABC
as part of its fall 1988 lineup
. It had been promoted as an original series in light of summer reruns continuing into the fall due to the 1988 Writers Guild of America Strike
.
Knightwatch centered around the activities of the "Knights of the City", a volunteer group set up to assist law enforcement. It was largely made up of ex-gang members (and was obviously modeled after a similar real-life group, the Guardian Angels
); the program focused on its charismatic leader, Tony Maldonado (Benjamin Bratt
). Operating out of donated space in the basement of a church, the group practiced martial arts
and other unarmed techniques since they were not commissioned police officers and did not use firearms. Keeping young people with violent pasts from reverting to this pattern in their new-found calling was a constant challenge to Tony, as were the interpersonal relationships constantly developing among his young colleagues.
Knightwatch was a Nielsen ratings
failure, undoubtedly due to being forced to compete with NBC's The Cosby Show
and A Different World and CBS's 48 Hours
. It was cancelled after only 3 months on the air.
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
as part of its fall 1988 lineup
1988-89 United States network television schedule
This was the television schedule on all four networks for the fall season beginning in September 1988. All times are Eastern and Pacific, with certain exceptions, such as Monday Night Football.New series highlighted in blue....
. It had been promoted as an original series in light of summer reruns continuing into the fall due to the 1988 Writers Guild of America Strike
1988 Writers Guild of America strike
The 1988 Writers Guild of America strike was a strike action taken by members of both the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West against major United States television and film studios represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers...
.
Knightwatch centered around the activities of the "Knights of the City", a volunteer group set up to assist law enforcement. It was largely made up of ex-gang members (and was obviously modeled after a similar real-life group, the Guardian Angels
Guardian Angels
The Guardian Angels is a non-profit international volunteer organization of unarmed citizen crime patrollers. The Guardian Angels organization was founded February 13, 1979 in New York City by Curtis Sliwa and has chapters in 15 countries and 144 cities around the world.Sliwa originally created the...
); the program focused on its charismatic leader, Tony Maldonado (Benjamin Bratt
Benjamin Bratt
Benjamin Bratt is an American actor. He is most famous for his role as Rey Curtis on the TV series Law & Order; and his appearances in the movies Blood in Blood Out, Miss Congeniality, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Traffic, and Piñero.-Early life:Bratt was born in San Francisco, California,...
). Operating out of donated space in the basement of a church, the group practiced martial arts
Martial arts
Martial arts are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat, practiced for a variety of reasons, including self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, as well as mental and spiritual development....
and other unarmed techniques since they were not commissioned police officers and did not use firearms. Keeping young people with violent pasts from reverting to this pattern in their new-found calling was a constant challenge to Tony, as were the interpersonal relationships constantly developing among his young colleagues.
Knightwatch was a Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
failure, undoubtedly due to being forced to compete with NBC's The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show is an American television situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992...
and A Different World and CBS's 48 Hours
48 Hours (TV series)
48 Hours is a documentary and news program broadcast on the CBS television network since January 19, 1988. The program originally presented documentaries of various events related to a particular subject occurring within a 48-hour period, and is credited as one of the first to air a "reality show"...
. It was cancelled after only 3 months on the air.
Cast
- Benjamin Bratt as Tony Maldonado
- Don Franklin as Calvin Garvey
- Paris Vaughan as Leslie Chambers
- Joshua Cadman as Jason Snyder
- Ava Haddad as Casey Mitchell
- Calvin Levels as Mark 'Burn' Johnson
- Samantha MathisSamantha MathisSamantha Mathis is an American actress. The daughter of actress Bibi Besch, Mathis made her film debut in Pump Up the Volume , opposite Christian Slater...
as Jacquline 'Jake' Monroe - Harley Jane KozakHarley Jane Kozak-Life and career:Kozak was born Susan Jane Kozak in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Dorothy , a university music teacher, and Joseph Aloysius Kozak, an attorney. She has seven siblings: brothers John, Joseph, Peter and Andrew and sisters Dorothy, Mary and Ann. Harley is the youngest of...
as Barbara 'Babs' Shepard