Shows: Drive
This new series from Fox has hit the scene with a huge amount of advertising, so it will be interesting to see if it lives up to the amount that they are spending on it.
The cast is decent - though it's a large ensemble cast, Nathan Fillion seems to be taking the lead with his portrayal of Alex Tully, a contractor who receives a call one day that his wife has been kidnapped and he needs to show up for a race in order to win her back. Implausible, perhaps, but it seems to be a bit interesting.
Tully is joined by a number of other characters, including Melanie Lynskey, formerly of Two and a Half Men, a mother who apparently received a similar call, but she doesn't seem to have anyone missing - she just appears to be in it for the money.
In fact, most of the other participants look like they are in it for the money, which is completely understandable, but it's odd that "they" would be able to organize something so quickly, with blackmail being such a central theme, if only one major character (Tully) being in it for something other than money.
There are others in it for their own reasons, including a woman who witnessed the end of a similar race as a child, when apparently her parents were trying to get to her - only they crashed as it ended, so she's been seeking vengeance ever since. It's not quite explained, but maybe it will be one day.
The effects are decent enough, with an almost CSI-like effect of cars sliding past one another and engines kicking into gear. There's also a promise of plenty of illegal activity (and not just speeding) to come, with participants apparently having to take out each other, rob banks and who knows what else to get to the finish line.
Update: Then again, perhaps not. After just three episodes, Fox has pulled the plug. Rumor has it that those episodes already filmed will air later this summer, but there won't be any more episodes ordered. Odd, for the amount of marketing muscle that they seem to have put behind it - a lot of money for something that won't happen. I'd have to imagine that it's because of the quasi-illegal nature of the event (that, and the fact that it must not have done well in the ratings). Oh well.
