NBC's Knight Rider remake looks likely to earn a full series commission, after the 1980s show returned to US TV on Sunday night with almost 13 million viewers.
A two-hour Knight Rider TV movie special was watched by 12.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen preliminary ratings for Sunday.
Newcomer Justin Bruening is now the star of the show, although cult favourite David Hasselhoff made a guest appearance as Michael Knight.
The wise-cracking car, known as KITT, is now voiced by Val Kilmer and a black Ford Mustang has replaced the Pontiac Trans Am that featured in the original series.
NBC will confirm its new commissions in May but the network is expected to order a full series of Knight Rider following Sunday's figures. The show is returning after a 16-year break.
Knight Rider's comeback follows NBC's successful revival of American Gladiators, which attracted 7.3 million viewers for its series finale on Sunday night.
American Gladiators has already earned a second series on NBC and the entertainment format is also being revived in the UK by Sky One.
Also on Sunday night, CBS broadcast the first episode of serial killer drama Dexter, which has transferred from US cable network Showtime.
Dexter was watched by 8.1 million viewers in the 10pm hour on CBS, finishing third among the major US networks in that slot. However, this was CBS's best Sunday 10pm figures since December.
In its first series on Showtime, Dexter averaged 733,000 viewers. Showtime will broadcast the third series of Dexter later this year.
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