Despite its decent reviews, Drive did not perform well in its highly competitive Monday night niche. After airing four episodes, FOX decided to cancel its road-racing themed series.
In an attempt to feature another series with the same “hype” of Prison Break and 24, FOX opted to settle with a series, which explored the underground road race scene. Having this in mind, the network gave the go signal to produce Drive in October 2006. The two-hour series premiere on April 15 garnered an average of six million viewers, losing almost a million viewers by the end. Drive’s succeeding segments performed even more disappointingly, losing nearly half a million viewers per episode. The program did not deliver the ratings that FOX wanted, leading the network to pull the plug on the show on Wednesday, April 25. In place of Drive, the network will be airing reruns of House in the Monday 8 p.m. slot.
Created by Tim Minear and Ben Queen, the plot of Drive centered on a group of people forced to partake in an illegal cross-country race. The said series was intended to serve as a midseason replacement, featuring Nathan Fillion as Alex Tully, Kevin Alejandro as Winston Salazar, Rochelle Aytes as Leigh Barnthouse, Dylan Baker as John Trimble, and Brian Bloom as Allan James among others.
Although the news was unfortunate, many were not surprised with the fate of the show, based on the criticisms from various TV critics and entertainment websites. As for the remaining two episodes of Drive, Fox will release them online this summer.
-Kris, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: Variety
(Photo Courtesy of Fox)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
