The show comes from the mind of Tim Minear, who's been involved with a string of quirky, short-lived genre shows on Fox (Firefly, Wonderfalls, The Inside) as well as the WB's Angel, and has tons of geek cred. He packs Drive's large ensemble cast full of recognizable character actors, most notably Firefly and Serenity star Nathan Fillion as Alex Tully, a devoted husband who finds himself in the middle of a secret, illegal cross-country race after being coerced by shadowy forces who may be holding his missing wife. He's just one of dozens of people in the race, most of whom appear to be there voluntarily.
The cross-country race is an instant hook, and Minear and Co. turn in what one might think of as a serious version of Cannonball Run, or a dramatic take on The Amazing Race, but juiced with the twisty serialized storytelling that's all the rage these days. Except unlike such popular shows as Lost and Heroes, Drive isn't at all self-serious; it's completely silly, and it knows this, embracing its genre roots in the same way that Lost and Heroes downplay theirs.
It's not that Drive is brilliant television; there's plenty of clumsy, exposition-heavy dialogue, and the acting is sometimes a little hammy. But alongside Fillion are familiar faces including Dylan Baker, Taryn Manning, Kristin Lehman and Charles Martin Smith (as the avuncular-yet-sinister administrator of the race), and they give their slightly stock characters appeal and definition. There are plots twists a-plenty, delivered with such brio that it doesn't really matter whether they're startling or completely nonsensical. Minear also gives the whole affair a winning sense of humor that was missing from his last show, The Inside, but has otherwise been a hallmark of his best work.
The road-race setting gives the show a natural, er, drive that guarantees new scenery and new situations each week, and although Tully was clearly the main character in the one episode available for review, future installments will each focus more prominently on different members of the ensemble while advancing the stories and situations of them all. The ongoing mysteries are intriguing enough to make you want to find out what happens next, but there isn't so much import placed on them that the search for answers will end up too maddening. Just seeing how this crazy collection of characters makes it to the next stop on the race is reason enough to tune in.
Drive only airs six episodes in this initial run, ending May 7, before summer really starts. Assuming it's not a failure, the show's remaining seven first-season episodes will air at a later time. A return right around mid-July, perfect road-trip season, would do nicely.