Drive (2007 TV series)
| Drive | |
|---|---|
 Drive intertitle | |
| Created by | Tim Minear Ben Queen |
| Starring | see below |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 6 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Tim Minear Ben Queen Greg Yaitanes |
| Running time | approx. 42 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | FOX |
| Release | April 13, 2007 – April 23, 2007 |
Drive is a short-lived Emmy nominated American television series created by Tim Minear and Ben Queen and produced by Minear, Queen, and Greg Yaitanes. It aired on the FOX network in the United States, and on CTV in Canada.
The series is set across the backdrop of an illegal automobile road race with the central focus being on the competitors and eventually on the puppet masters behind the race. Regarding the tone of the show, Minear has described it as "a secret, illegal, underground road race can be anything from Cannonball Run to The Game to North by Northwest to Magnolia-on-wheels. Ours is all those things."[1]
Fox greenlit series production on Drive in October 2006. In addition to the series pilot, another twelve episodes were ordered as a midseason replacement for spring 2007.[2] Firefly and Serenity star Nathan Fillion, a longtime friend of Drive creator Tim Minear, plays the lead role of Alex Tully in the series. Ivan Sergei played Tully in the unaired pilot.[3]
The show premiered on April 13, 2007 on CTV in Canada.[4] It debuted in the United States on April 15, 2007 on FOX, and moved into its regular time slot on Mondays the next day; in that slot it faced stiff competition from NBC's Deal or No Deal and ABC's Dancing with the Stars. On April 25, FOX cancelled Drive after four episodes had aired.[5]
FOX initially announced that the final two episodes would air on July 4, 2007. The network rescheduled them for July 13 and later pulled them entirely.[6] The two remaining episodes were posted online on July 15, 2007.[7] Executive producers Tim Minear and Craig Silverstein subsequently gave an interview that described what might have happened if the series had continued.[8]
Cast and characters
| Actor | Role | Car/Partner/Other Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Nathan Fillion | Alex Tully | 1972 Ford F-100 (tan), 1972 Dodge Challenger* (black) |
| Kristin Lehman | Corinna Wiles | Partners with Alex Tully |
| Kevin Alejandro | Winston Salazar | 1964 Chevrolet Impala lowrider (gold) |
| J.D. Pardo | Sean Salazar | Winston Salazar's half-brother |
| Dylan Baker | John Trimble | 1999 Ford Taurus (silver-blue) |
| Emma Stone | Violet Trimble | John Trimble's daughter |
| Michael Hyatt | Susan Chamblee | Land Rover LR3 (light blue), Ford Focus (red) (deceased) |
| Rochelle Aytes | Leigh Barnthouse | Pontiac Solstice (black) (was originally partners with Susan Chamblee and Ivy Chitty) |
| Melanie Lynskey | Wendy Patrakas | Dodge Grand Caravan SXT (silver) |
| Taryn Manning | Ivy Chitty | Originally partners with Susan Chamblee and Leigh Barnthouse, then partners with Wendy Patrakas, then steals the Trimbles' Ford Taurus |
| Riley Smith | Rob Laird | 1979 Pontiac Trans Am (white) |
| Mircea Monroe | Ellie Laird | Rob Laird's wife |
| Wayne Grace | Jimmy Cousins | Harley Davidson touring motorcycle (black) |
| K Callan | Ceal Cousins | Jimmy Cousins's wife |
| Brian Bloom | Allan James | 2007 Dodge Charger (black), 2002 Chevrolet Impala (red) (not a race participant) |
| Richard Brooks | Detective Ehrle | Not a race participant |
| Charles Martin Smith | Mr. Bright | One of the race organizers (not a race participant) |
| Katie Finneran | Becca Freeman | Alex Tully's sister (not a race participant) |
| Amy Acker | Kathryn Tully | Alex Tully's wife (not a race participant) |
*Note: While referred to in the show as a 1972 model, the vehicle's distinctive front and rear mark it as a 1970 model, markedly different from the 1972-1974 models.
Route
The following are the checkpoints passed, clues and/or instructions before arrival, and the specifics regarding them.
| Checkpoint | Clue/Instructions | Specifics |
|---|---|---|
| Key West, Florida | Text message: "Mainland Go" (announced the start of the race, not a destination) | The starting line of the race. |
| Jupiter, Florida | Text message: "Fly to Jupiter and find the red eye." | The Jupiter Inlet lighthouse. |
| Cape Canaveral, Florida | Text message: "Kennedy killed in '73." The message is accompanied by a countdown clock. | In 1973, Cape Kennedy was renamed to Cape Canaveral, thus "killing" the name "Kennedy." Drivers met at the Kennedy Space Center, where the countdown corresponded with a shuttle launch. |
| Rome, Georgia | Each driver was given a red ticket stub with instructions to go to Rome, "After sunset, before dark." | After Sunset drive-in movie theater. |
| Appomattox Court House, Virginia | Text message: "Surrender, America" | Appomattox Court House was where Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union general Ulysses S. Grant, thus ending the Civil War. |
| Cleveland, Ohio | Most of the racers received two hot candies, while Alex, Corinna, Sean and Winston, who had taken advantage of their head start, received a note reading "Great Balls of Fire: The Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame - Cleveland" | The Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. |
Episodes
A total of six episodes of Drive were produced prior to its cancellation. The series premiered on April 13, 2007 in Canada and on April 16, 2007 in the United States.
| # | Title | Original airdate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | "The Starting Line" | April 13, 2007 | |
|
An illegal cross country race is being run. Contestants in the race are not all there by their own choice--Alex Tully is searching for his missing wife; a mother is somehow involved for her baby's safety--others may simply be after the 32 million dollar prize. | |||
| 02 | "Partners" | April 13, 2007 | 0102 |
|
The race continues in Jupiter, Florida, where Tully, Wiles, and the other racers prepare for the next clue. Wendy Patrakas prepares to kill Ivy Chitty to stay in the race. Corinna's interest in the race is revealed. | |||
| 03 | "Let the Games Begin" | April 16, 2007[9] | |
|
The race continues on the next stage. Alex meets an old acquaintance after getting in trouble with the police while Wendy gets a new co-driver. | |||
| 04 | "No Turning Back" | April 23, 2007[10] | |
|
Alex and Corinna are offered a chance to move ahead of the other racers; Corinna is unsure of how safe the move would be. Susan and Leigh wish to stay in the race even after their betrayal by another. Wendy fears for her baby's safety. Susan and Leigh are eliminated from the race. | |||
| 05 | "The Extra Mile" | Online July 15, 2007 | |
|
Alex, Corinna and the Salazar brothers are faced with the ramifications of their jump-start; Leigh gets a new partner; and Ivy accidentally puts Wendy's baby in jeopardy. | |||
| 06 | "Rear View" | ||
|
In the final produced episode, Alex risks everything to find Kathryn; Violet picks up a hitchhiking Ivy; Wendy hurries to save her baby from her husband; and the military finally catches up with Rob. | |||
Production notes
Filming locations
Drive was shot in the Los Angeles area, using road footage and green-screen technology. According to Tim Minear, "because of technology, we can actually create a cross-country road race and shoot it all in Santa Clarita."[11] This led to geographic inconsistencies in the series, including mountains and desert settings visible during highway scenes set near Gainesville, Florida, when there are no actual mountain ranges or deserts in that area.
Highway scenes were shot on Interstate 210 in Rialto, California on the finished but unopened portion between Alder Ave. and Linden Ave.[12] The exit for Alder Ave can be seen as the exit in most of the freeway scenes. In the first episode, the Alder Ave. sign for the exit is clearly legible. Scenes at the "Kennedy Space Center" were filmed at the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, California.
Music
- Can't Stop the World - Gavin Rossdale
- Roadhouse Blues - The Doors/Crystal Method Remix
- Kreuzberg - Bloc Party
- Radar Love - Nine Pound Hammer
- The Hungry Wolf - X
- Leave You Far Behind - Lunatic Calm
- King of my World - Ghost in the Machine
- Soulbitch - Yonderboi
Notes
- In the September 2007 issue of Marvel Comics' Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Peter Parker comments that "ever since FOX cancelled Drive, it's been one piece of bad luck after another."[13]
Cancellation
The two-hour premiere of Drive in the United States, broadcast on April 15, 2007 at 8:00 pm, was watched by six million viewers.[14] The program did not deliver the ratings FOX desired, and on April 25, 2007, the network announced that it had cancelled Drive.[5] The final two remaining unaired episodes of Drive were made available for online streaming on FOX ON DEMAND beginning Sunday, July 15 2007, in addition to the previously aired episodes.[15] The first four, but not the final two, episodes of the show have been made available for purchase and download on Apple's iTunes[16] and Amazon's Unbox.[17]
References
- ^ "The Tim Minear Interview". The Drive News Blog. 2006-07-01.
- ^ Adalian, Josef (2006-10-30). "Fox springs into 'Drive'". Variety.
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (2006-12-15). "'Drive' time for Fillion at Fox". The Hollywood Reporter.
- ^ "DRIVE: About the show". CTV.com. Retrieved 2007-07-24.
- ^ a b Schneider, Michael (2007-04-25). "'Drive' runs out of gas". Variety. Retrieved 2007-04-26.
- ^ "Drive: FOX Hijacks Last Two Episodes". TVSeriesFinale.com. 2007-07-06.
- ^ "Fox's Drive". MySpace.com TV.
- ^ "Drive: What Would've Happened on the Cancelled Series". TVSeriesFinale.com. 2007-07-11.
- ^ "(DRV-103) "Let the Games Begin"". The Futon Critic. Retrieved 2007-06-23.
- ^ "(DRV-104) "No Turning Back"". The Futon Critic. Retrieved 2007-06-23.
- ^ Brokaw, Francine (2007-03-30). "Drive Races Into High Gear on Fox". Movieweb.
- ^ "'Drive' Takes Viewers on a Bumpy Ride". ETOnline.
- ^ David, Peter (w). Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, vol. 2, no. 22 (September 2007). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Bauder, David (2007-04-17). "Ratings: NBC Sinks; Fox's 'Drive' Stalls". Forbes.
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