2 posts tagged “drive”

Well, that sucks... So Drive has already been cancelled?

I can't help but think that, of all the sad cancellations that have happened in the last few years, this one was maybe the most premature... And maybe was a pre-emptive attempt to anticipate a Lost/Heroes backlash. I know Drive's initial viewing figures weren't great, but as premises go, it would seem to have a lot more commercial potential than Firefly or Studio 60... people like car chases, after all, and it's apparent that people like mysterious characters, but it's AS apparent that they don't like it when those characters are too mysterious, or for too long.

Drive was fast enough, dumb enough and slick enough to have broad appeal, but smart, sharp and well presented enough that I think it would have quickly dragged in the more patient or articulate (probably not the right word, but you know what I mean!) audience that persists with Lost (which isn't to say that all of the Lost audience is either of those things!). I don't know how it's been marketed in the US, but I can't help but think that if it wasn't finding a big enough audience by week four to sustain it to at least the end of one season, then there was either something drastically wrong with it's marketing or scheduling, or else there was something really up with how much the whole thing cost, compared to how much it made. It LOOKED like they were doing a lot with a relatively small budget, but I guess my perception could be wrong on that score...

So we've watched the first three episodes of Drive, and I have to say, I'm really impressed... what they've essentially done is they've stripped down the "unfolding mystery" element that has enervated some modern shows since Twin Peaks and later, The X Files really took advantage of it, and made it something that doesn't dominate the concept in the way that it does as a matter of course in a show like Lost or Heroes. Those shows are so concerned with misdirection, obfuscation and interconnected secrets that if a major piece of hidden information isn't dropped every episode, less patient viewers start to get fidgetty. But Drive only really has one dominating mystery, which is all about the organisation running the race, and in some ways can be ignored for weeks at a time, because you don't really NEED to know it to enjoy the frenetic action and self-contained nature of the episodes.

Of course, each character has their secrets, but they aren't the focus of the show, and we're already finding out lots about them, which is refreshing when we spend so much time rivetted week after week to Heroes and Lost, grateful for scraps. Unravelling these characters IS an important part of the fun, but so far Drive seems more concerned with where the players are going as much as where they have been... The race bits are a lot of fun, the fairly basic detective work involved with each car working out that day's destination is engaging and light, so the exploration of the protagonists' backgrounds and motives are just little pockets of data that inform the decisions that they make, rather than being the core of the text.

Both Heroes and Lost do the same thing, but the ratios are shifted around in Drive, so that where those shows are focussed about 20% forward/80% back (and of course, by using time-travel, Heroes manages to fudge that further, so that actually even the 20% forward is also filling in backstory!), Drive is 80/20 the other way.

Plus, the major crash at the beginning of the second episode of Drive is one of the most impressive things I have ever seen on a tv screen... It was such a cool example of taking movie sensibilities and production values into a tv setting, in the way that BSG used to do in every single episode, and the way Lost does every time they revisit the actual plane crash, but at the same time, it genuinely felt like something that we had NEVER seen quite like that before. For me, it was like the first time I saw the plane being ripped apart in Alive, or further back, when the failing aircraft rips through the other plane, spilling occupants, in Memphis Belle. Horrific, intense and chillingly authentic all at the same time.

Also, thus far, the cast and scripts are very good indeed...

And by the way, if you are one of the people on IMDB who keeps complaining about the re-use of locations, or the fact that it's obvious that they're just reusing the same stretches of road, well, you're an idiot. I'm not going to tell you that you should have low expectations of your entertainment, but at the same time, this is tv, with tv budgets. If the choice is between telling a cool story but making reasonable compromises to practicality and cost, or not telling that cool story at all, I'll always choose the opportunity over the resignation. I'll suspend disbelief, because my imagination's strong enough to take the cast all over the US, even if the budget can't.