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

[luckimunki.livejournal.com]

Despite Tim Minear & Nathan Fillion, everything I saw about this show suggested that it was, well, stupid. I'll admit that I didn't actually see the damn thing, but the premise in and of itself was ridiculous. I don't think this is one I'll mourn.

[spatch]

but the premise in and of itself was ridiculous.

But it's like The Cannonball Run... but... with... SUVs.

Ok I got nothin.



Still, I think history repeating itself is pretty funny.

[28bytes.livejournal.com]

But it's like The Cannonball Run... but... with... SUVs.

And without Daisy Duke.

[spatch]

Nor were there any high-larious outtakes during the closing credits!

[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.

[skatiemom.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed Drive. It was turn-off-my-brain entertainment, and I feel it would've done better as a summer series. I also think the kidnapped wife was a mistake. Having Alex Tully being blackmailed by the organizers with his past would've been good enough. But, I'm not a network executive and nobody asked my opinion.

[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.

[cursethedark.livejournal.com]

I think I heard an ad for this show, once. Sounded kinda fun.

But then again, I too am a fan of "It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World." Haven't seen enough of Cannonball Run, though.

(I did, however, once catch the end of Speed Zone. ...yeah.)

[annilita.livejournal.com]

You have GOT to be kidding me!!

I was totally loving on that show!! WTH?!

[annilita.livejournal.com]

I think if they hadn't taken her, she probably would have convinced him the right thing to do would be to turn himself in instead of engaging in an illegal, high-speed, cross-country race.

[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.

[annilita.livejournal.com]

Of course it was stupid and rediculous. Most of TV is! Still, it was better than about half the shows out there that were allowed to live.

[vanguardcdk.livejournal.com]

I managed to hit all 4 episodes (thanks in part to it airing opposite stupid stuff). I thought it was ok. Having one of the stops be a drive-in movie theater was inspired. :)

I'm a little worried about Nathan Fillion tho. The last three starring roles I've seen him in (Firefly, Slither and Drive) he's played the exact same character. I like that character, I really do. But c'mon...
(side note..he was also the jerk ex-boyfriend in Blast from the Past, and that time he did actually give a different performance)

[skatiemom.livejournal.com]

I don't think she needed to be a character at all. It was an un-needed wrinkle. However, I liked that she was played by Amy Acker; she does seemingly fragile but actually strong quite well.

[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!

[saint-buddha.livejournal.com]

He also played the boyfriend of the girl on Two Boys and a Girl and a Pizza Place and Joey on One Live to Live.

Nope, I didn't even have to look that up.

[skatiemom.livejournal.com]

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

[malconstant.livejournal.com]

I liked Wonderfalls, but I am not the least bit surprised it didn't make it. It was too weird for American television. It was one of the first things I found on BitTorrent, though.

I think they might have actually released it on DVD. With all the amazingly shitty shit that gets put out on DVD, they damned well better have.

[jicama]

E and I watched the first two eps of Drive. I liked seeing Captain Tightpants again, and enjoyed the hoodlum brother's acting, but most everything else about the show was just shoddy. I'm not sorry to see it go.

Can I have Firefly back now? Please?

[spatch]

Ever watch The Gumball Rally? Well... maybe that's not the best suggestion, but it's basically The Cannonball Run but not Burt Reynolds & Dom DeLuise In The Cannonball Run.

But as Brock Landers (who organized the real-life Cannonball races in the 70s, and who wrote the aforementioned Reynolds/DeLuise vehicle) didn't have anything to do with The Gumball Rally, he was pretty pissed about it.

[spatch]

The entire run of Wonderfalls is indeed out on DVD, as well as both seasons of Dead Like Me, which had just started hitting some sort of stride.