Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines.FOX has ordered 12 episodes of midseason drama Drive, on top of the pilot, which was shot over the summer outside of the normal production calendar. The 13 episodes are scheduled to launch this spring, possibly using American Idol as a lead-in. (Not such good news for the space-themed drama Beyond, however, which was also in contention for a spring slot and will not be moving forward.)
From the minds of Tim Minear (Angel) and Ben Queen (Century City), Drive revolves around an ensemble cast as the participate in an illegal cross-country race, a la The Amazing Race. Only there's no Phil Keoghan waiting at the pit stop and there's a twist that hasn't yet been revealed (I had a sneak peek at the script a few months back but my lips are sealed). Plus, this is one race in which all of the participants need to win, but there will only be one victor crowned at the end.
According to Minear, the hour-long drama will be a blend of Cannonball Run and The Game. (Um, the film with Michael Douglas, not the CW sitcom.) "I described it to Joss [Whedon] as Magnolia on wheels," Minear told Variety. "It's really about the people in those cars."
Those people will include Alan Ruck, Kristin Lehman, Melanie Lynskey, Shahine Ezell, Andres Saenz-Hudson, Emily Stone, and Ivan Sergei (who was himself recently cast in USA's pilot for To Live and Die in LA, opposite Shiri Appleby and Tim Matheson), among others. Uniquely, the series features a device by which the extended cast can expand or contract, according to the writer/producers' needs. In the meantime, FOX is expected to change some elements of Drive's pilot, which could include recasting some of the above actors, so don't be surprised if all of the above don't make it into the finished cut.
Additionally, the series will go on to explore the minds behind the race, or the "puppetmasters," as Minear calls them. Now that doesn't sound at all ominous, does it?
I don't know about you but I can't wait for Drive to rev its engines and tear up some pavement.
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