James Caan and Mandy Patinkin in the original Alien Nation
Sci Fi Channel, which on July 6 will relaunch as SyFy, is developing a new take on the 1988 movie Alien Nation. Tim Minear (Angel, Firefly) will pen the series.
Previously adapted in 1989 as a short-lived Fox series (succeeded by five TV-movies), Alien Nation follows a human cop and his alien detective partner, against the backdrop of Earth's begrudging assimilation of ETs banished from their home world, where they served as slaves. The original film starred James Caan and Mandy Patinkin (sporting a prosthetic scalp).
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"It's genre mixed with procedural mixed with funny mixed with big, giant scary," Minear told ...
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Ever-underappreciated TV journeyman Tim Minear and Emmy-winning director Todd Holland, with whom Minear collaborated on the critically praised Wonderfalls, have landed a pilot commitment from ABC for Miracle Man, the Reporter reports. The drama — which sparked a bidding war between ABC and Fox — focuses on a disgraced televangelist who realizes that God is using him to perform real miracles and get Drive back on the air change lives. Minear is penning the script, Holland will direct, and both will exec-produce.Related: Exclusive! Buffy Comic Keeps the Faith
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A Fox spokesperson tells TVGuide.com that the final two episodes of Tim Minear's Drive — which were originally slated to air July 4, then pushed back to July 13, but ultimately got unceremoniously yanked from the broadcast schedule entirely — are now set to be streamed on MySpace.com/fox and network affiliate sites beginning Monday, July 16.
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Nathan Fillion, Drive
Question: What do you think of Drive's unceremonious cancellation? Fox heavily promoted it and was expecting big ratings. But giving a high-concept show like Drive only a week to catch on, without the benefit of repeats, seems like a complete lack of faith — even if it is a show that can't be cheap to produce. I understand that a Sunday two-hour premiere/Monday regular-time-slot strategy works for an established hit like 24, but why would Fox deny a new show with mostly unknown actors a lead-in like House or American Idol? Now 24's sinking ratings are being blamed on Drive as well, but I'm convinced that's just natural viewer drop-off in a subpar season. I'm not one to swear off any show that doesn't first make it through an entire season, but I can't help ask a few questions: Why wouldn't Fox debut this kind of show in the summer, when it has a greater chance for a slow build, a strategy that worked for The O.C.? What leads NBC to stick with a ratings-challenged, quality show like ...
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Nathan Fillion by Peter Hopper Stone/Fox
Drive has been impounded. Multiple sources confirm that Fox has axed the Tim Minear creation after less than three weeks on the air. I'll go out on a limb and say the show's crappy ratings were to blame. House encores will take over its Monday/8 pm time slot. There is one piece of good news: I'm hearing the final two unaired Drive eps may get burned off on consecutive Fridays in May. UPDATE: Fox now says the final two Drives will air this summer, specific date TBA.
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“Everything has meaning. There are no accidents.” — Susan ChambleeUp to the halfway point of the episode, I was originally going to complain that the episode wasn’t living up to the standards of the previous ones. Boy, was I wrong. The first half was exposition that set up major events to come in this and future episodes. Where to begin? How about the Jump Start? I couldn’t understand why everyone had no idea where they were going based on the clues considering that the location was shown on the map in the film. Of course, rewatching that scene revealed something that I missed the first time — rather than representing their actual location (considering they were in Georgia and the map was of Colorado), it was just an example of how the Jump Start works. My concern here is that if it confused me (because I wasn’t paying attention), what about how it would affect the casual viewer who tunes in? Then again, I’m not the brightest bulb in the box, ...
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"For as long as there have been cars, there has been 'The Race.'" — Mr. BrightDrive is the latest project from Tim Minear. Who exactly is Tim Minear? He was a coproducer and writer for Angel and Firefly. He also was the creative force behind the series Wonderfalls and The Inside. With the exception of Angel, all have aired on the Fox network and all were cancelled before their time. Cancelled? Sadly, yes. Yet, even though they were only broadcast for a short period of time, fan communities for his shows developed, later to be heartbroken over their cancellation.So here we have Tim creating yet another show for the network that likes to cancel his series. Is Tim a glutton for punishment? Is this show even worth your time? How will it appeal to the fans of his other series? At first I thought the concept behind Drive wouldn’t, well, drive — take The Gumball Rally and The Amazing Race, sprinkle some Deathrace 2000 and Season 7 into the mix and voila!Huh?This was the same...
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Nathan Fillion and Kristin Lehman, Drive
Rob and Amber wouldn't survive a day in this sprawling journey. Premiering Sunday at 8 pm/ET before settling into its Mondays-at-8 time slot, Fox's Drive takes a wide swatch of types — played by Nathan Fillion, Dylan Baker, Kevin Alejandro, Taryn Manning and Kristin Lehman, to name only a few — then raises the flag on a super-mysterious, super-secret underground cross-country race. Giving the assorted strangers their driving papers (in the form of compelling if not always life-threatening reasons to race) is a man known only as Mr. Bright (played by
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Question: : I know you've given up on Fox's existing serialized dramas, but how do you feel about the potential of Fox's mid-season entry Drive? My wife and I have enjoyed all of the TV series to which producer Tim Minear has been attached, and have been Nathan Fillion fans since Firefly. But considering Fox's halfhearted commitment to Minear's last three shows (The Inside, Wonderfalls and the aforementioned Firefly), does Drive even stand a chance? The premise appears to be interesting, but I'm not sure how sustainable it could be over multiple seasons. Or does the fact that it's a Tim Minear show airing on Fox practically guarantee that sustainability won't even be tested? We just don't want to get attached to another show that will be canceled before all of the filmed episodes have even aired, then have to wait a year to buy the DVD set.
Answer: This kind of reasoning always baffles me. Live in the moment, people. Don't worry about what Fox may or may not do down the road. Drive is
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Nathan Fillion has claimed the lead role in Drive, the mid-season Fox drama chronicling an underground race across America and exec-produced by former Firefly boss Tim Minear. Fillion, who initially passed on the gig last spring (due to a scheduling conflict), takes over for Ivan Sergei, who played Alex Tully, a charming, rogue landscaper searching for his abducted wife, in the original pilot.In other casting news, courtesy of the Ausiello Report: Happy Days' Marion Ross will swing by Brothers & Sisters in February, playing Sally Field's mother, and Dancing with the Stars alumna Stacy Kiebler has booked a multi-episode arc on What About Brian, playing a super-leggy roadblock for Bri and Bridget.
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