Epitaph for "Drive"

[spatch]

"Drive" was a show broadcast on the FOX Network.
It starred Nathan Fillion and was produced by Tim Minear.
Previously, Nathan Fillion was on a FOX show that the network ignored into oblivion.
And Tim Minear had produced a show for FOX that was cancelled four episodes into its run.

So when the two got together for a FOX show of their own, the network behaved exactly as you'd expect: It ignored the show, then cancelled it four episodes into its run.

I am reasonably sure there are high-level broadcast executives who never even knew this show existed.

Comments

[zhym.livejournal.com]

I saw all four episodes. Nathan Fillion was...well, pretty much he was Captain Tightpants with a truck instead of a spaceship, but it's a fun character, so that was okay.

But I couldn't suspend disbelief if I'd had a heavy construction crane. So, guy's wife disappears, seems kidnapped, and to get her back...he has to join a $32 million illegal secret road race that somehow has been going on for decades without anyone noticing? (what)

Cannonball Run was fine. I've been known to indulge in It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World on occasion. Both those movies realized that they were about car chases and wacky comedy. They didn't try to work in a heavy drama deep motivation angle where the hero was trying to SAVE HIS WIFE and people who don't win tend to die. People racing each other cross-country to find the Big W and get rich? I can buy into that. It's just good old-fashioned greed. But as the only way to save the hero's devoted wife? Um.

Besides, the non-Fillion plotlines were straight out of Central Casting Understudies. The father who gets to know his daughter! The Sons of Wealth! One Bad, Both Pissed! The Abused but Psycho Mother! The Soldier and his Girl Who Doesn't Want Him To Get Hurt! Take a Drink!

The writing -- which is supposed to be the whole reason to watch a Whedon^WMinear show in the first place -- suffered massively in any of the side plots. Besides, was there any question who'd win, if the show lasted long enough?

I did like Mr. Bright, though.

[lno.livejournal.com]

It wasn't high-concept art, to be sure. I wondered from the very beginning why the only "real" police officer we saw was in the first episode. So you've got cars flying down the interstate at 100+ mph, and no one calls 911 about a reckless driver? No spike strips, no roadblocks?

Still, it was Captain Tightpants, and I watched it religiously for that.

[annilita.livejournal.com]

Obviously you have never driven in Arizona where drivers like that are not uncommon at all, and seeing roadside stops is extremely rare. I had no problem believing that part. ;)

All I really wanted resolved from that show was where The Abused but Psycho Mother's child was. The Race Overnight Camp for Infants? At first I thought it was sorta kidnapped, but they gave her a number to check in with him, but then she turned around to get him in the last episode, so was it Foster care? No idea what was going on there.

[lno.livejournal.com]

Some sort of daycare run by a friend of hers that her husband didn't know about, I guess.

And the worst part is, I picked up on the clue in the last episode pretty early, and I got to feel smart. Now I don't get to feel smart any more!

[skatiemom.livejournal.com]

I thought it might be a safe house for children/wives of abusers.