[Televisionary]

Oh, you poor fans of Drive , I really do feel for you. After announcing that it would burn off the two remaining installments of failed action/mystery series Drive with a two-hour send-off this Friday, FOX has recanted its statement, yanking Drive from the schedule once again. The network has instead scheduled a repeat of Bones for Friday at 8 pm and a new installment of fellow failed drama Standoff at 9 pm. It had previously scheduled the two-hour "finale" of Drive for last week but pulled a switcheroo at the last second there too, opting to air feature Anger Management in its place. (Talk about misplaced anger for the remaining fans of Drive .) As for when--if ever--FOX will air those two remaining Drive episodes, your guess is as good as mine. It's still possible that they'll get burned off during some Friday this summer, especially with Standoff wrapping up at 18 episodes instead of the planned 19. No word on whether the missing Drive episodes will be str

Looks like FOX has pulled Drive onto the shoulder. After announcing that it would take the rather unusual tack of intentionally breaking up Drive 's 13-episode run into two chunks (thus limiting any momentum the series would have built up), FOX has now announced that it is in fact benching the series for the entirety of May sweeps . Four hours of the freshman series, about an illegal underground cross-country race, have already aired. FOX will fill Drive 's Mondays at 8 pm timeslot with (you guessed it!) repeats of House . While there's been no official word of the c-word (that would be cancellation, people!), it's not a good sign for a series that's already had its share of odd scheduling and plummeting ratings. Oh well. It's not as if I didn't already make the turn for the exit ramp last week .

Sometimes I am a glutton for punishment, especially when it comes to a television show that I really do want to like but, for whatever reason, just doesn't meet my expectations. I know I shouldn't keep watching, but I keep giving the program in question one more chance to lure me in and win me over. Such is the current battle I'm engaged in with FOX's new drama Drive . More than anything, I really did want to like this freshman series, even after announcements that FOX would be splitting the season into two puzzle pieces. After all, it has an amazing cast, populated by some of my favorite actors: Nathan Fillion ( Firefly ), Amy Acker ( Angel ), Melanie Lynskey ( Heavenly Creatures ), etc. And it was co-created by Tim Minear, a longtime Joss Whedon collaborator who has brought us some memorable--if short-lived--series such as Firefly and Wonderfalls . Right? Right? After seeing various versions of the pilot over the past few months (the original with Ivan Sergei in the

FOX continued to tweak its late spring/early summer schedule today, with a number of scheduling-related announcements that would seem to confuse even the most seasoned TV viewer. But the most, er, intriguing development has to be that the network has opted to split the 13-episode run of upcoming drama Drive , starring a slew of familiar faces including Nathan Fillion and Amy Acker, into two sections. Drive kicks off on April 15th but, due to the series' "tight production schedule," FOX will only air the first six episodes of Drive for now, wrapping its five week run on May 7th. Subsequent episodes will then air at a to-be-determined date later in the season. (Read: summer burnoff.) Due to the fact that On the Lot , Steven Spielberg's reality series ode to student filmmakers, is set to inherit the series' Mondays at 8 pm timeslot on May 28th (following a repeat of House on May 14 and the second half of 24's 2-hr finale on May 21st), some sort of arrangement

Looks like the Whedon-verse is starting to come together again. Sort of. Actress Amy Acker, best known for her roles as scientist-turned-monster hunter Winifred "Fred" Burkle and monster hunter-turned-ancient goddess Illyria on Angel (and a recurring stint on the final season of Alias ), has joined the cast of FOX's midseason drama Drive . Drive , of course, is the brainchild of Tim Minear, who created Firefly with Joss Whedon. Whedon is himself currently shooting an episode of NBC's The Office to air during February sweeps. (Here's hoping that Pam's ex-fiance Roy, ably played by David Denman, will have a part to play in the episode. After all, he did recur as the demon Skip on Whedon's Angel .) Still with me? Here's the best bit: Acker will play Kathryn, the wife of landscaper Alex Tully, whose kidnapping by a shadowy syndicate forces Alex into the illegal (and very dangerous) underground race that propels the plot of Drive . And Alex is played by

That noise you hear? It's the collective sound of Firefly fans gasping for air as Captain Tightpants himself reunites with Firefly executive producer (and Joss Whedon collaborator) Tim Minear. FOX has announced that Nathan Fillion has been cast as the lead in the midseason drama Drive , about an illegal underground race across America (think The Amazing Race on crack and throw in some violence and you get the idea). He'll play Alex Tully, a landscaper who is coerced into joining the race in order to track down his wife, who has been kidnapped by a mysterious syndicate. Fillion replaces Ivan Sergei, who played Alex in the original pilot and who will next appear in the pilot for USA's dramedy To Love and Die in L.A . According to Fillion, he was originally approached by Minear to participate in the pilot but had to turn it down thanks to scheduling issues (he was filming feature White Noise 2 ), but the two former co-workers met up at a summer barbeque and Minear again bro

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 Ca