Fox Puts the Brakes on Drive

Twists, turns, and literal speed bumps plague the reluctant players of a crucial road race to the finish line in Fox's new teaser series, "Drive". In this fast-moving, edge of your seat series, seemingly everyday people find themselves participating in a life or death race to the end. Comparable to CBS's "Amazing Race" series, the racers must decipher clues to find their way to the next checkpoint. Rewards are plentiful for the first vehicle to the destination, while the last finds themselves in the driver's seat of a do-or-die challenge in order to continue.

Alex Tully (Nathan Fillion) is a landscaper who finds his wife Kathryn missing on their anniversary. Tully is led to believe that, in order to find his wife, he must win the race. At first, it appears only a sick individual would force such a "normal" person into this cruel game, but Tully, like most people, has secrets from his past that appear to be pushing him toward the end of the race, or the end of his life. Along the way, Corinna Wiles (Kristin Lehman) stalks Tully until he allows her to become his partner. Corinna reveals that, as a child, she watched her own parents perish attempting to win the same race.

As the new mother of a beautiful son named Sam, Wendy Patrakas (Melanie Lynskey), takes part in this dangerous event to escape her abusive husband and start her life over with her new baby. In a bizarre twist of events, Wendy takes on the rude and mouthy Ivy Chitty (Taryn Manning) as her partner after being in last place at the first checkpoint. Ivy's former teammates, fellow Hurricane Katrina survivors and heroes, Susan Chamblee (Michael Hyatt) and Leigh Barnthouse (Rochelle Aytes) choose to trudge on alone, both discussing how they will share their portion of the supposed $32 million prize for winning the event.

An ailing astrophysicist named John Trimble (Dylan Baker) embarks on this adventure with his teenaged daughter Violet (Emma Stone) in an attempt to regain the lost father-daughter relationship between them before he dies. Sean Salazar (J.D. Pardo) joins the race to rebel against his controlling father after learning that the robber in his living room is really his half-brother, Winston Salazar (Kevin Alejandro) that he never knew existed.

A soldier who is initially oblivious to his AWOL status, Army Specialist Rob Laird (Riley Smith), finds out that his wife Ellie (Mircea Monroe) hid his deployment status and obtained a spot in the competition to prevent him from returning to the war in Iraq. Mr. Bright (Charles Martin Smith) is the mysterious guide to the finish line for the participants.

Unfortunately, for the already devoted fans of "Drive," Fox decided the ratings were low enough to drop the series after a meager eight days. The final two episodes of this short-lived series will run consecutively on July 4, 2007. While several committed followers are in the process of petitioning Fox to keep "Drive" on the air, the outlook for this insane fight-for-your-life show seems very dismal at this point.

With only two hours of airtime left, it is questionable how it will all end, and if the finish line will be crossed at all. Predictions abound on the Fox message boards, yet it seems that few people agree on how it will end. A select few believe that the race is a rip-off of "The Truman Show" and the racers only think that the race is secret. It is most likely that the scheme behind the race will be revealed, eliminating the need to continue on, and everyone will be reunited in harmony, with no prize money of course. Tune in on July 4, 2007 to debunk the myths and uncover the facts before the untimely cancellation of this great show.