Monthy Archive: April 2007
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April 16, 2007

TV : Drive

I have commented before that television is fundamentally a writer's medium, and that while there are many indicators one can use to find TV shows that one might like, I believe the technique most likely to succeed is to note who writes for the shows you already enjoy and then find out what they write for next. This explains why I have been looking forward to the new show "Drive" on Fox for quite some time. It is produced by Tim Minear, who has yet to write a show I didn't like.

Having now seen the first 3 hours of the series, broadcast Sunday and Monday this week, I am comfortable that his record will remain intact.

On face value, "Drive" is about an illegal, cross-country road race with a thirty-two million dollar prize. Each episode certainly has enough fast cars and dangerous lane changes to keep any NASCAR fan happy.

Where Drive begins to diverge from the likes of "The Gumball Rally" and "Cannonball Run" is that the unseen organizers of this race are, from all early indications, quite evil. Many of the participants in the race have been coerced into participating – the lead character's wife has been kidnapped and it has been made clear to him that she will only be released if he wins the race. Likewise the driver who arrived last at the first checkpoint was told they had to participate in an "elimination round" to stay in the race – and was handed a gun and a picture of another driver and was told to eliminate them (I won't spoil what happens). Other characters participate willingly; but for reasons unrelated to driving and the prize. One man, whose life has been quite conventional, is dying and wants go out with a bang.

While it is too early to be sure, I can already see signs of the central metaphor. If my favorite show "Buffy" was about taking the statement "High School was Hell" literally, Drive is about taking the statement "Life is a Journey" literally. The race is a means to test the participants and show them who they really are. Some will rise about it, while others will succumb to temptations.

If all that sounds too serious, don't worry. As with all of Tim Minear's shows, there is plenty of humor mixed in with the drama and action. In Monday's episode there was a priceless sequence of a man's teen-age daughter teaching her father how to lie effectively (which she has apparently been doing quite successfully to him for years).

It is still opening week, and there's a long road ahead (sorry, that was a pun I couldn't pass up); but early indications are that "Drive" is going to be a keeper.

Posted by Steven at 10:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)