FOX and ABC Set to Debut Action-Adventure Serials for Summer

The Hollywood Reporter ran a story this week entitled "Serialized Dramas Hope to Reheat Ailing Genre," but it was less an examination of the industry and more a profile of two new nighttime serials to set to debut as late mid-season replacements. ("Ailing" is, of course, relative, as the pick-up rate of 21% for new serial dramas has already met--and if only one more is renewed this season, it will excced--the average rate for all new shows, of any genre.):

Fox's DRIVE and ABC's TRAVELER -- both heavily serialized dramas -- were developed during the 2006-07 development cycle when the [serial] genre was red hot.

A year later, the genre is in the freezer after the majority of ambitious new fall series with continuous story lines crashed and burned.

Now Drive and Traveler slated for a May 30 launch, will test the airwaves to see if the serialized drama curse has been lifted.

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Indeed, observers note that it was the dark serialized dramas such as VANISHED, KIDNAPPED, SMITH, THE NINE, and DAY BREAK that fizzled, while lighter fare such as the heavily serialized HEROES and the soap UGLY BETTY became the breakout hits of the season.

Drive and Traveler are in the action-adventure genre -- Drive chronicles an illegal cross-country race and its participants, while Traveler revolves around two graduate students searching for their friend Will Traveler, who disappeared after framing them for a terrorist act. That makes the shows a good fit for the summer movie season that kicks in next month....

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