So, Fox cancelled Drive.

I watched the first episode, but now I'm not going to watch any of the others. It's no Firefly, but it is something I'd like to see where they go with it; there's a lot of potential there for a good four or five seasons.

What mystifies me is why Fox bothers with this stuff. Clearly, they want a show that will be a top 10 hit overnight. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with that. Equally clearly, almost anybody off the street could have told you that this wasn't going to be such a hit. Even people like me who liked it could have told you that.

Complex dramas with odd hooks simply don't get into the top ten. Complex dramas with action-adventure hooks can (24), but Drive wasn't really action-adventure. Racing as a genre has action-adventure components, of course, but it's not the same. Simple dramas (sitcoms) or complex dramas with well-used hooks (the everlasting crime, spy, and hospital dramas) can be an overnight hit. Certain reality shows can be overnight hits, although the ones that do best are the ones with the simplest premises, and we've probably mostly tapped those out. (I would imagine there's one or two surprise veins like Apprentice, but not much more.)

So... why does Fox even bother with producing these wonderfully tantalizing shows when anybody who has grown up in America can tell them it's not going to meet their popularity requirements?

Please stop teasing people like me with this sort of thing, Fox. It just frustrates the both of us. Stick with your sitcoms and your crime, spy, and hospital dramas.