Full sample project: https://github.com/jasonmitchell/aspnetmvc-knockoutjs-quickstart

ObjectExtensions.cs

using Newtonsoft.Json;
using Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization;

namespace Quickstart.Web.Extensions
{
    public static class ObjectExtensions
    {
        public static string ToJson(this object obj)
        {
            JsonSerializerSettings serializerSettings = new JsonSerializerSettings
            {
                ContractResolver = new CamelCasePropertyNamesContractResolver()
            };

            return JsonConvert.SerializeObject(obj, Formatting.None, serializerSettings);
        }
    }
}

Person.cs

using System;

namespace Quickstart.Web.Models
{
    public class Person
    {
        public string FirstName { get; set; }
        public string LastName { get; set; }
        public DateTime DateOfBirth { get; set; }
        public string EmailAddress { get; set; }
        public string PhoneNumber { get; set; }
    }
}

SampleController.cs

using System;
using System.Web.Mvc;
using Quickstart.Web.Models;

namespace Quickstart.Web.Controllers
{
    public class SampleController : Controller
    {
        public ActionResult SimpleModelLoading()
        {
            Person model = new Person
            {
                FirstName = "Jason",
                LastName = "Mitchell",
                EmailAddress = "contact@jason-mitchell.com",
                PhoneNumber = "0123456789",
                DateOfBirth = DateTime.Today.AddYears(-25)
            };

            return View(model);
        }
    }
}

SimpleModelLoading.cshtml

@using Quickstart.Web.Extensions
@model Quickstart.Web.Models.Person

@section scripts
{
    <script type="text/javascript" src="/Scripts/ViewModels/SimpleModelLoading.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript">
        var viewModel = new SimpleModelLoading(@Html.Raw(Model.ToJson()));
        ko.applyBindings(viewModel);
    </script>
}

<h2>Simple Model Loading Sample</h2>

<div>
    <label>First Name:</label>
    <input type="text" data-bind="value:firstName"/>
</div>

<div>
    <label>Last Name:</label>
    <input type="text" data-bind="value: lastName"/>
</div>

<div>
    <label>Email Address:</label>
    <input type="text" data-bind="value: emailAddress"/>
</div>

<div>
    <label>Phone Number:</label>
    <input type="text" data-bind="value: phoneNumber"/>
</div>

<div>
    <label>Date of Birth:</label>
    <input type="text" data-bind="value: dateOfBirth"/>
</div>

SimpleModelLoading.js

var SimpleModelLoading = function (data) {
    var self = this;

    self.firstName = ko.observable(data.firstName);
    self.lastName = ko.observable(data.lastName);
    self.emailAddress = ko.observable(data.emailAddress);
    self.phoneNumber = ko.observable(data.phoneNumber);
    self.dateOfBirth = ko.observable(data.dateOfBirth);
};