Drive (TV series)

Drive
Genre	Drama Action
Created by	Tim Minear Ben Queen
Starring	Nathan Fillion Kristin Lehman Mircea Monroe Riley Smith Kevin Alejandro J. D. Pardo Dylan Baker Emma Stone Rochelle Aytes Taryn Manning Melanie Lynskey
Opening theme	"Can't Stop the World" by Gavin Rossdale
Composer(s)	Keith Power
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	6 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Tim Minear Ben Queen Greg Yaitanes
Running time	42 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Fox
Picture format	480i (SDTV) 720p (HDTV)
Original run	April 13, 2007 (2007-04-13) – April 23, 2007 (2007-04-23)

Drive is a short-lived American action drama television series created by Tim Minear and Ben Queen, produced by Minear, Queen, and Greg Yaitanes, and starring Nathan Fillion, four episodes of which aired on the Fox network in April 2007. Two unaired episodes were later released directly to digital distribution.

The series is set across the backdrop of an illegal automobile road race with the central focus being on the unwitting competitors and, as the plot develops, the unseen puppet masters who sponsor the race. Minear has described the show's thematic tone by saying "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]

Firefly and Serenity star Nathan Fillion, a longtime friend of series creator Tim Minear, plays the lead role of Alex Tully. Ivan Sergei played Tully in the unaired pilot.^[2]

The show premiered on April 13, 2007 on CTV in Canada.^[3] 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 canceled Drive only after four episodes had aired.^[4] As of 2010 the series has not been released to international markets (with the exception of Canada) or on DVD.

Cast and characters

The cast of Drive

Main article: List of Drive characters

Actor	Role	Vehicle	Notes
Nathan Fillion	Alex Tully	1972 Ford F-100 (tan) 1972[5] Dodge Challenger (black)	Protagonist
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 partner and half-brother
Dylan Baker	John Trimble	1999 Ford Taurus (silver-blue)
Emma Stone	Violet Trimble		John Trimble's partner and daughter
Michael Hyatt	Susan Chamblee	Land Rover LR3 (light blue) Ford Focus (red)
Rochelle Aytes	Leigh Barnthouse	Pontiac Solstice (black)	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 partner and wife
Wayne Grace	Jimmy Cousins	Harley Davidson touring motorcycle (black)
K Callan	Ceal Cousins		Jimmy Cousins's partner and 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

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 space shuttle launch.
Rome, Georgia	Each driver was given a red ticket stub with instructions to go to Rome, "After sunset, before dark." NOTE: in the ticket was written "ADMIT".	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.
Unknown	Alex Tully received the address to the next checkpoint on a slip of paper after arriving at The Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.	The slip of paper is passed hand-to-hand, and the checkpoint is never revealed in the six produced episodes.

Episodes

A total of six episodes of Drive were produced, four of them were aired prior to its cancellation. The series premiered on April 13, 2007 in Canada and on April 15, 2007 in the United States.

#	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Production code[6]	U.S. viewers (millions)
0	Unaired Pilot	Greg Yaitanes	Tim Minear & Ben Queen	Unaired
1	"The Starting Line"	Greg Yaitanes	Tim Minear & Ben Queen	April 13, 2007 (2007-04-13) (CTV)	1AMP01	6.04[7]
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.
2	"Partners"	Greg Yaitanes	Tim Minear & Tom Szentgyorgyi	April 13, 2007 (2007-04-13) (CTV)	1AMP02	6.04[7]
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.
3	"Let the Games Begin"	Marita Grabiak	Eoghan Mahony & Ben Queen	April 16, 2007 (2007-04-16) (Fox)[8]	1AMP03	5.66[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.
4	"No Turning Back"	Elodie Keene	Lauren Schmidt & Craig Silverstein	April 23, 2007 (2007-04-23) (Fox)[10]	1AMP04	4.60[11]
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.
5	"The Extra Mile"	Paul Edwards	Salvatore J. Stabile & Juan Carlos Coto	July 15, 2007 (2007-07-15) (Online)	1AMP05	N/A
Alex, Corinna and the Salazar brothers are faced with the ramifications of their jump-start; Leigh gets a new partner; and Ivy puts Sam in danger.
6	"Rear View"	Michael Katleman	Kristen Reidel & Scott M. Gimple	July 15, 2007 (2007-07-15) (Online)	1AMP06	N/A
Alex risks everything to find Kathryn; Violet picks up a hitchhiking Ivy; Wendy hurries to save Sam from her husband; and the military finally catches up with Rob.

Production notes

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.^[12]

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."^[13] 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. 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

• Gavin Rossdale - "Can't Stop the World"
• The Doors - "Roadhouse Blues (Crystal Method Remix)"
• Bloc Party - "Kreuzberg"
• Nine Pound Hammer - "Radar Love"
• X - "The Hungry Wolf"
• Lunatic Calm - "Leave You Far Behind"
• Ghost in the Machine - "King of My World"
• Yonderboi - "Soulbitch"
• The Rhones - "Quitter"

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.^[4] 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. All six episodes of the show have been made available for purchase and download from the iTunes Store^[15] and Amazon Video on Demand exclusively for United States residents.^[16]

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.^[17] The two remaining episodes were posted online on July 15, 2007. Executive producers Tim Minear and Craig Silverstein subsequently gave an interview that described what might have happened if the series had continued.^[18]

Awards

Drive, while short-lived, is the first series to be nominated for an Emmy Award under the organization's new "broadband" eligibility guidelines. The show's title sequence had originally been submitted for consideration in the category of "best outstanding visual effects in a drama series". However, Emmy regulations require a series to air at least six episodes in order to be eligible, whereas Drive had only aired four episodes prior to its cancellation. After the sequence was posted for streaming on the Internet, it became eligible under the new "special visual effects" category.^[19]

In popular culture

• 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."^[20]

References

1. ^ "The Tim Minear Interview". The Drive News Blog. 2006-07-01. http://www.whedon.info/Tim-Minear-Drive-Tv-Series-Pilot.html. 
2. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (December 15, 2006). "'Drive' time for Fillion at Fox". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 4, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070104045228/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i0123c6f82e9d75a960daf0920816a410. 
3. ^ "CTV adds 'Drive' to schedule, premieres April 13". CTV.ca. http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Entertainment/20070409/drive_show_070409/. Retrieved 2011-02-21. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Schneider, Michael (2007-04-25). "'Drive' runs out of gas". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117963779?refCatId=14. Retrieved 2007-04-26. 
5. ^ 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.
6. ^ "DRIVE". FoxInFlight.com. 20th Century Fox. http://www.foxinflight.com/tv/44/. Retrieved October 16, 2010. 
7. ^ ^{a b} "WEEKLY PROGRAM RANKINGS FROM 04/09/07 THROUGH 04/15/07" (Press release). ABC Medianet. April 17, 2007. http://abcmedianet.com/web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=041707_06. Retrieved October 16, 2010. 
8. ^ "(DRV-103) "Let the Games Begin"". The Futon Critic. http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings.aspx?id=20070329fox01. Retrieved June 23, 2007. 
9. ^ "WEEKLY PROGRAM RANKINGS FROM 04/16/07 THROUGH 04/22/07" (Press release). ABC Medianet. April 24, 2007. http://abcmedianet.com/web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=042407_06. Retrieved October 16, 2010. 
10. ^ "(DRV-104) "No Turning Back"". The Futon Critic. http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings.aspx?id=20070410fox01. Retrieved June 23, 2007. 
11. ^ "WEEKLY PROGRAM RANKINGS FROM 04/23/07 THROUGH 04/29/07" (Press release). ABC Medianet. May 1, 2007. http://abcmedianet.com/web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=050107_08. Retrieved October 16, 2010. 
12. ^ Adalian, Josef (2006-10-30). "Fox springs into 'Drive'". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117952974?refCatId=1300. 
13. ^ Miller, Gerri. "Inside "Drive"". HowStuffWorks. http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/drive.htm. Retrieved 2011-02-21. 
14. ^ Bauder, David (2007-04-17). "Ratings: NBC Sinks; Fox's 'Drive' Stalls". Forbes. Archived from the original on October 15, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20071015230645/http://forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/04/17/ap3622233.html. Retrieved April 18, 2007. 
15. ^ "Drive, Season 1". http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewTVSeason?id=251903353&s=143441. Retrieved August 17, 2007. 
16. ^ "Drive: Unbox Video". http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000PH2DUI/. Retrieved August 17, 2007. 
17. ^ "Drive: Fox Hijacks Last Two Episodes". TVSeriesFinale.com. 2007-07-06. http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/drive-fox-hijacks-last-two-episodes/. 
18. ^ "Drive: What Would've Happened on the Cancelled Series". TVSeriesFinale.com. 2007-07-11. http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/drive-what-wouldve-happened-on-the-cancelled-series/. 
19. ^ Michael Schneider (2007-07-20). "'Drive' makes primetime Emmy history: Fox show the first broadband nominee". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117968898?refCatId=14. Retrieved 2008-03-03. 
20. ^ David, Peter (w). Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man v2, 22 (September 2007), Marvel Comics

External links

• Drive at the Internet Movie Database
• Drive at TV.com