Minear's Drive

Looks like there's another show coming down the turnpike that I'll have to turn my attentions to in the near future: the brillaint Tim Minear, writer on Angel and Firefly, and showrunner of the missed-something-wicked-by-me Wonderfalls, has got his next project lined up for this Spring. From Variety:

"Fox has greenlit series production on "Drive," an hourlong actioner from creators/exec producers Tim Minear ("Angel") and Ben Queen.

Net has ordered 12 episodes on top of the already-filmed pilot. Goal is to get the 20th Century Fox TV-produced show on the air in time for a spring debut, possibly taking advantage of the net's "American Idol" lead-in...

[The show] has been described as a sort of "The Amazing Race" on acid, focusing on an illegal cross-country race in which every participant needs to win, but only one can. Minear told Daily Variety the show also has elements of "Cannonball Run" and the Michael Douglas starrer "The Game."

"I described it to Joss (Whedon) as 'Magnolia' on wheels," Minear said. "It's really about the people in those cars."

Scribe said the tone of the show is "deeply action, deeply funny and deeply emotional," all at once.

"It (can) be as silly as 'Rat Race' or as scary and cool as 'The Game,' " he said. "It's a canvas on which we can do anything we want."

"Drive" features a large ensemble cast that Minear said can expand or contract at will. In addition to the drivers in the race, skein will eventually explore the people staging the race -- "the puppetmasters," as Minear calls them."

Members of that "large ensemble cast"? Well, from IMDb I see listed for the pilot all sorts of familiar names, including Alan Ruck from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Shawn Hatosy from The Faculty, Taryn Manning from Hustle & Flow, oh and a one-two punch of somewhat dated crushes of mine, Brian Bloom and Ivan Sergei, seen below when they were in top-form:


But most exciting, most thrilling, is Melanie effin' Lynskey, a little gal who endeared herself to me 12 years ago as Pauline, the other-murderous-teen, in Heavenly Creatures. Why Lynksey hasn't been cast in everything filmed in the past 12 years I don't know, but she shows up far-too-little on my radar, and hopefully she'll be an integral part of this show - Minear knows from good casting.
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