How much is the TV Addict enjoying DRIVE? So much so that I’m already making plans to super-charge my nine year old Volkswagon Golf just in case I receive a mysterious cell phone invitation to join the race. Okay, not quite, but I did design a nifty little bumper sticker to give me a built-in excuse to drive like a maniac on the higway! Check it out by clicking here. And I’ll see you at the finish line B*tch (sorry, that’s my DRIVE smack talk going a bit overboard).
Archives for April 2007
Amrie’s Take on TV: DRIVE
So I just got finished watching the third hour of Drive.
I have to say, I’m still really intrigued. I want to see what’s going to happen with these characters, and what it all means. One of our loyal readers commented today (hi Frank!) that he was more interested in the race than the goings-on in the lives of our racers. Or at least the life of Alex Tully (Nathan Fillion’s character). I have to say that on one level, I agree with him. Up until the last 10 minutes of tonight’s episode, as much as I love Fillion, I wasn’t interested in his character’s back-story as much as maybe I should have been (what, with him getting first billing, and all of that), but I’m completely drawn into his story line now, and I cannot wait to see what happens next week. It, of course, gets me thinking – what characters do I want to know more about, who am I rooting for?
Will Less Football Lead To More LIGHTS?
Could taking away the very thing around which FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS revolves — football — be the key to the drama scoring a second season? That’s how executive producers Peter Berg and Jason Katmis are thinking according to comments they made at a symposium last week. According to Variety, the pair admitted that they were “doing everything we can to distance ourselves from football,” declaring the sport to be “the least interesting aspect of the show.”
In fact, the execs admitted that the Dillon Panthers won the all-important championship game in the season finale so that a second season would not have to focus so heavily on the game. “Football will always be at the center of the show in terms of the obsession this town has,” Katmis was quoted as saying. “But I think we’ve earned the right to tell stories that have nothing to do with football. In fact, I think it’s a necessity.”
But can a show which is a critical darling maintain that status while losing a key element? And in the end, is critical support even important if the show can find and maintain an audience by refocusing its energies on the characters who are at the heart of the series?
theTVaddict Readers Respond to DRIVE
Critics be damned! Here’s what the only people that matter — the audience (specifically the brilliant and good-looking readers of theTVaddict.com) — had to say about last night’s premiere of DRIVE on FOX.
Flutie: Wow… that was some good television. I thought it had a good mix of action, comedy and drama…. really sets up nicely. I’m intrigued, and will definitely stick around for this race… That camera work was impressive, and the opening scene had me hooked.
DaSally: Alright, I’m hooked. I was pleasantly surprised that the show kept my attention throughout the two hour span.
Amrie: I’m really looking forward to tomorrow night’s episode. I love when a show has a great new premise!
Cathy: I tuned into this show solely to see Nathan Fillion, who I loved in Firefly. I stuck around for the whole two hours of the premiere because it was nicely done, very exciting and suspenseful. I love the shots that zero in from a satellite view to a specific spot on the Earth. I’ve enjoyed most of the characters so far as well. The solution of “eliminating one driver” was very satisfying — I probably would have quit watching right then and there if the girl had been killed instead.
Be sure to tune into the third episode airing in its regular timeslot, tonight on FOX at 8PM. Missed the premiere, you can catch it online at myspace.com/fox.
Death Rocks B&B!
Over the past few years, THE BOLD & THE BEAUTIFUL has developed a reputation for telling some of daytime’s most outrageously entertaining tales, nearly all of which have focused on the Forrester family’s tendency to marry one another’s former spouses and the long-running battle between matriarch Stephanie and her former daughter-in-law Brooke. Beginning tomorrow, the sudser will launch another stunner of a tale when a bullet fells one of the cast. And while it doesn’t take a genius to predict who will literally bite the bullet — could it be creepy stalker Shane, who suddenly reappeared last week after being absent for several months and happens to have a gun in his car? — look for several central characters to behave in a most shocking manner following tomorrow’s shooting. (Of course, if the show really wants to shock us, they might have Brooke marry — or at least date — someone who isn’t related to Ridge!)
Conan Takes on STUDIO 60
Check out LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O’BRIEN’S take on Aaron Sorkin’s STUDIO 60 “Aaron Sorkin: Studio 6A on the 6th Floor of Rockefeller Plaza”. Not only is the clip hilarious, it hopefully will remind the suits at NBC that they have yet to broadcast the second half of STUDIO 60’s season. Yes NBC, we haven’t forgotten. And in case you haven’t noticed, audiences aren’t finding THANK GOD YOU’RE HERE very funny.
Thanks to TVTATTLE for the tip!
theTVaddict First Look: Pizonica
Veronica Logan shippers, I apologize for starting your week off on the wrong foot. But as they say, a picture’s worth a thousand words and Veronica and Piz (or ‘PiZonica’ as by friend Ducky officially coined them) are looking mighty cozy in this photo that theTVaddict just obtained from the CW.
Remember MARS fans, the show desperately needs your support if there’s any hope for a fourth season. Be sure to tune in when the show finally returns on May 1 at 9PM on the (still somewhat new) CW.
Surprise of the Weekend: SNL was Funny
If you missed SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE this weekend, you missed another surprisingly funny episode. Hosted by “IT” actor Shia Labeouf, SNL featured not one or two, but THREE hilarious sketches and one pretty funny digital short. Before NBC stupidly removes the clip (who needs free advertising anyway?), I’ve posted my favourite sketch above — Amy Poehler doing her eerily spot-on impersonation of Dakota Fanning.
BROTHERS & SISTERS: Game Night
Last night’s episode of BROTHERS & SISTERS was the reality check this TV Addict needed. Cleary we’re no longer in EVERWOOD. Could Rebecca (brilliantly portrayed by EVERWOOD’s Emily VanCamp) be more different from our beloved Amy Abbott? Is anyone else a little curious as to what really went down between Joe and Rebecca?
At the risk of being attacked by woman’s rights activists everywhere, I’m just going to come out and say it. I think Rebecca is lying about Joe kissing her. While I don’t deny the kiss happened, I believe Rebecca initiated the kiss and has concocted this entire story to create a family crisis (did she not learn anything from the recent Duke Lacrosse scandal?). After-all, Joe himself said it best when he told Rebecca that the Walker family really comes together in a crisis (see: Paige’s diabetes). Rebecca sees the ‘Joe’ situation as an easy way into the hearts of her fellow brothers and sisters.
[Naturally, if my theory is wrong, I was on ‘Team Rebecca’ the entire time]
On a lighter note, how much did you love Walker Family Game Night. Was it not great to spend an evening away from an alcohol fueled dinner table? That said there definitely were enough drinks to go around and Rebecca losing the game for ‘Team Walker’ ensured the night, like most evenings on the show, ended badly. Again, I’m going to have to question Rebecca’s motives with this as well. Did anyone else notice her smirk after losing the game? I’m pretty sure that was payback for Kitty’s rudeness earlier in the episode.
Frankly, it’s a wonder Rebecca still shows up at the Walker house. Has an episode gone by when she hasn’t walked into the room unexpectedly to hear one of her new brothers and/or sisters talking poorly about her? Like it’s her fault she is William’s secret love child.
Finally, since you know you want to be on ‘Team Walker’, I took the liberty of designing a new t-shirt. Now you too can be part of television’s most dysfunctional family (family issues and alcohol dependancy not included!). You can check out the latest addition to theTVaddict Swag Shop by clicking here (or click the tshirt above).
DRIVE Premieres Tonight on FOX at 8PM
FOX’s much anticipated new action-fueled drama DRIVE premieres tonight on FOX at 8PM. While critics around the country are mixed as to the series chances of success, theTVaddict loved the first two hours and is confident that if given the chance, say a mere ten minutes, you’ll love it to. Aintitcool News agrees:
Darkly funny, exciting and loaded with plot twists and intriguing characters, “Drive” reunites the great writer-director-producer Tim Minear (“The X-Files,” “Angel,” “Wonderfalls,” “The Inside”) and Nathan Fillion (“Serenity,” “Slither”), who previously collaborated to gratifying effect on “Firefly.”
As the “Alias,” “24” and “Lost” pilots did, the “Drive” opener generates fascinating questions aplenty – and will leave audiences hungering for answers long after its two-hour introduction concludes. (Happily, a third hour airs Monday.)
Following tonight’s premiere, check back with theTVaddict.com and let us know if you agree.