Another short ride for Minear and Fillion

FOX's "Drive" has run out of gas.

The heavily promoted car-race drama has run into a brick wall.

FOX has decided that the auto-friendly "Drive" is a lemon.

The network has taken "Drive" to the impound lot and crunched its already reduced order into a little cube.

FOX has taken the off ramp and exited "Drive."

We're sorry, but shows named "Drive" don't get pulled very often and there are just so many available puns.

After only three airings (and four programming hours), the Tim Minear and Ben Queen-created drama has reached the end of the road, with FOX pulling the plug on "Drive" before the start of the crucial May sweeps period.

Beginning next Monday (April 30), "Drive" will be replaced by repeats of "House" in FOX's schedule. The change was already announced in ads that ran during Wednesday night's "American Idol" telecast.

It was bad enough that the show's airings averaged only 5.6 million viewers overall and a 2.3 rating in the key 18-49 demographic, but "Drive" also failed to deliver viewers to "24," as the Emmy-winning drama hit season lows this past week.

"Drive" was a late addition to FOX's midseason schedule. A pilot was originally shot last year, but didn't go forward. That episode was resurrected when the network recognized some programming holes and many of the parts were recast, including the addition of Nathan Fillion as one of the central characters in the illegal cross-country road race.

Fillion and Minear previously worked together on FOX's only-slightly-longer-lived "Firefly."

"Drive" continues Minear's string of critically (and audience) adored dramas that haven't completed even their initial order at FOX. In addition to "Firefly," Minear has also executive produced "Wonderfalls" and "The Inside" for the network.

FOX has yet to announce plans for the remaining two episodes of "Drive," though there have been rumors of either a Friday night burnoff in the summer or simply putting the episodes up online.