TVSquad

(S01E01) NBC is touting this as a 13-episode series, but you have to figure that if the ratings were miraculously high, it'd get a second nod next summer, or even January if it finds blockbuster status. However, they're probably being realistic by banking on it as a nice summer distraction. These days, anthology series just don't get the ratings.

While I talked a little bit about the first three episodes in my early look article, I blasted this episode the most of the three I saw, while my fellow TV Squadder Keith felt that the second episode was weaker than this one. I guess it all comes down to a matter of taste. I still think that plunging neckline right there has a lot to do with why this was chosen as the first episode. The NBC marketing machine can trumpet this installment as one featuring sexy sirens seducing four hapless men. Unfortunately, that description is a little misleading. Sure, Mircea Monroe is voluptuous but I only really counted two seduction scenes, and they both featured Monroe. The rest of the girls were too busy cooking stew and whining about their fate.

(S01E01/S01E02) To be honest, I was sold on this one long before we finally got a look at what the Drive team has been working on all this time. I count myself as a Tim Minear fan, so his involvement was enough to get me interested. Add in a cast including Nathan Fillion (Firefly), Melanie Lynskey (Two And A Half Men), Kevin Alejandro (Sleeper Cell), Kristin Lehman (Tilt), Dylan Baker (The Book Of Daniel), and Taryn Manning (Hustle & Flow), and you really have something.

There's more casting news on Fox's mid-season drama Drive from executive producers Tim Minear, Ben Queen and Greg Yaitanes. Just as Nathan Fillion replaced the pilot's lead Ivan Sergei, actors Kevin Alejandro and Mircea Monroe have been brought into take over the roles of Winston Salazar and Ellie Laird, both participants in the underground cross-country race at the center of the show. Laird's credits are fewer and further between, but you'll recognize Alejandro from his recent appearances on Sleeper Cell and Ugly Betty as Justin's father Santos.

Most television shows get a casting shake-up between the filming of the original pilot and, should the show get picked up, its eventual run. It happens for all kinds of reasons - networks don't like a certain actor in a role, scheduling conflicts, etc. In the case of Drive, characters are reportedly being taken in a "different direction."