David Kronke was appointed Mayor of Television after a bloodless coup in 2000. Since then, he has improved infrastructure, championed greater educational opportunities and fought for reforms that have utterly erased corruption and incompetence from the television industry. Since Mr. Kronke has ascended to power, Television is a far better place. “Drive” crashes, burns, as does reality itself
It couldn’t’ve been proven more this season: People do not like primetime serialized dramas on the broadcast networks. Latest case in point: Fox’s “Drive,” whose three-hour premiere Sunday and Monday must’ve come as something of a shock to the network, as the heavily promoted show averaged a mere 6 million viewers on Sunday, losing nearly a million from its first half-hour to its last (and this was opposite a repeat of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” and one of the lowest ratings for an original episode of “Desperate Housewives” in the show’s history), then skidded further on Monday.
And “Drive” - boasting just enough stunts to keep your head in the game - is hardly a show that demands close attention. But it cued its vaguely complex intentions early – many characters with semi-complicated backstories and motivations for getting in the race; sinister, secret race organizers who clearly were not going to be revealed anytime soon – and people exited at the first available off-ramp.
So many serialized dramas got killed off this season you’d think they were all extras on “24,” one of the few serialized shows that does well (but its numbers have declined this season as well, starting with about 15 million viewers and most recently luring 11 million last night). The ones that have succeeded – “Heroes,” “Ugly Betty,” “Brothers & Sisters & Governators” (see below) – weren’t quite as grim as their jettisoned brethren. The season began with a number of dark and brooding shows, no doubt reflecting the mood of our times, only it turns out we as a society are all suffering from outrage fatigue and prefer being distracted rather than reminded of our troubling realities.
Or, in the case of DistractionWorld classics “Dancing with the Stars,” “Deal or No Deal” and “American Idol,” we don’t want to be reminded of anything remotely resembling reality, period. Sanjaya! Suitcases! Dancing one-legged girl! Shiny objects, shiny!