Put your TV in 'Drive'

Get it in gear, folks — "Drive" may be the best thing to come along on TV this spring.

The premise is, well, utterly unbelievable. But who cares? "Drive" (Sunday, 7 p.m., Ch. 13) is all about entertainment.

It's about a group of people participating in an illegal car race across the country, but don't — heaven forbid — think "Cannonball Run." Think "24" on wheels.

There's a conspiracy of some sort. Secret alliances. People who are not what they seem on the surface.

And a lot of really cool racing scenes that will have you on the edge of your seat.

Like "Lost," there are dozens of racers but the narrative focuses on a smaller number — about 15, which is still a huge cast for a weekly TV show.

Although some might not make it to the finish line.

"We were actually considering calling this show 'Fiery Ball of Death,"' executive producer Tim Minear ("Firefly," "Angel," "Wonderfalls") told critics as cast members laughed uncomfortably.

The racers on the show don't volunteer, they are recruited. Or, in some cases, coerced.

If there's a central charcter, it's Alex (Nathan Fillion of "Firefly"), whose wife has been kidnapped. He's not so much interested in the $32 million prize as in getting his wife back — and he (and we) are led to believe she'll be at the finish line.

Other racers include new mother Wendy (Melanie Lynskey of "Two and a Half Men"), who's fleeing an abusive husband; Rob (Riley Smith), a soldier just back from Iraq, and his wife, Ellie (Mircea Monroe); Winston (Kevin Alejandro of "Ugly Betty"), who has mysteriously been released from prison, and his newly discovered half brother, Sean (JD Pardo); Hurricane Katrina survivors Ivy (Taryn Manning), Leigh (Rochelle Aytes) and Susan (Michael Hyatt); father-teenage daughter team John (Dylan Baker) and Violet (Emma Stone); and Corinna (Kristin Lehman), who stows away in Alex's truck.

We meet the "race liason," Mr. Bright (Charles Martin Smith), but we don't really know what's going on any more than the racers do.

"The game isn't just a race. It's also a web that starts to connect some of these characters together," Minear said. "What we start to discover is that there may be connections prior to the race happening. But really they're all on this journey together. ... Alliances will form, and romances will happen, and there will be betrayals. So they're really connected by the action. But they all have a reason why they need to win, but only one can."

Ah, but anyone who watches "Drive" will come away a winner.

After premiering with back-to-back episodes on Sunday at 7 and 8 p.m. on Ch. 13, "Drive" moves to its regular time slot on Monday at 7 p.m.

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com