Fox Puts Drive Into The Garage

April 30, 2007

Sadly, Fox Television has parked its cross-country driving drama after just two weeks on the air. "Drive" is (was?) an action-fueled drama following a group of Americans competing for their lives (or the lives of their loved ones) in an underground cross-country road race.

In its first night online, the two back-to-back episodes of "Drive" were stuck in the slow lane, and averaged only a 2.6 rating among adults 18 to 49, according to preliminary Nielsens. Its next regular one-hour show, which aired the following night, only received a 2.4 rating. (Ratings courtesy tvweek.com)

According to an article at cnn.com " 'Drive' never clicked with viewers, and its two low-rated airings on Mondays seemed to hurt its leadout, "24," which posted its lowest adults 18-49 rating for an original episode in more than three years." It can difficult for anything to click with anybody if you only allow them two weeks -- or four episodes - to connect.

I admit, I didn't feel strongly about it at first either, but by the fourth episode things were beginning to get interesting and I was looking forward to the next installment. The situations were becoming intriguing -- what with the fanatical racer who heard God speaking to her, right up until she died after being crashed off the road by a menacing monster truck; the unusual gift of a 1972 Dodge Challenger (an homage to the famous vehicle from the movie "Vanishing Point"?) to replace the gardener's beat-up work truck and put him waaaaaaay ahead of the other competitors; or how about the proclamation by one of the contestants that she didn't even know how to drive? It's clear there were lots of twists and turns remaining on the show's roadmap.

CNN says it's not clear when or how the remaining nine episodes of "Drive" will air, though the website suggests that streaming the episodes on Fox.com or offering them as downloads through iTunes may be among the possibilities. For now, the 8-9pm Fox timeslot will be occupied by repeats of "House."

If you missed the premiere episodes, Fox is still offering them online at www.myspace.com/driveonfox

By Brandy Schaffels
Contributing Editor and Disappointed "Drive" watcher