Nathan Fillion is back on my television.

If I ever needed a reason to watch the Fox Network, which I strenuously avoid (unless it's Tuesday nights at 9pm), that was it. I still haven't forgiven them for Firefly. I probably never will. I won't mention Serenity. I'm still not over Wash.

So, when my very good friend delivered the news that Nathan Fillion (playing Alex Tully) was coming back to Prime Time, I was eager to check it out. Toss in the premise:

DRIVE is an action-fueled drama following a diverse group of Americans competing for their lives (or the lives of their loved ones) in an illegal, underground cross-country road race. Some of them have been coerced into joining “The Race”; others have sought out The Race themselves, hearing rumors of the $32-million prize. Each has a reason to compete. And each must win.

(Okay, so I gakked that from Fox.)

And I was even more intrigued. A little more research and I found a dozen reasons to invest my precious fandom time in Fox's new show.

12) Kristin Lehman (Corinna Wiles): She plays Alex Tully's "stowaway" in The Race. So the Canadian Fillion has another Canadian stowaway? Awesome! I remember her in about 1/2 a dozen Canadian shows, which mentioning would get me labelled the biggest nerd ever, so I'll refrain.

11) Taryn Manning (Ivy Chitty): The constant guest star finally gets her own show. I usually don't pay attention to guest stars but this woman's been in everything! Plus, with a character with the last name of Chitty, so many puns, so little time.

10) The backstories: Every character has one. As long as the writers don't start retconning everything, we've got an established mythology; unlike another show which totally had me the first season but ate itself in the second. (*cough*Lost*cough*)

9) The cars: Thank you for establishing the visual difference right away. I'm not a visual learner, but even I can tell an Impala (thanks Supernatural!) from a minivan.

8) Education Obsession: Each one of the character bios lists their education. IRL, I'm somehow involved in that field, so I'm curious as to why it's made such a big deal on the main Fox website.

7) The Prize: The Race is worth 32 million for each of the contestants. Money makes people do bad things. Just ask Jayne just before Mal tried to blow him out of an airlock. Sorry, I wore my Browncoat today.

6) The Fandom: I've already managed to reconnect with a few people I used to chat with from my old Browncoat days. Yes, Nathan Fillion has that much power, or he's that hot.

5) The Concept: The Amazing Race on crack? Sign me up?

4) Tim Minnear: Hello, alumni from The X-Files, Angel, Wonderfalls and Firefly? I wouldn't care if he had a show called The Yellow Pages, I'd give it a chance.

3) Shark Watch: Shows with complicated mythologies invariably eat themselves. Like Lost, The X-Files and Alias (Oh Alias, I stuck with you for all five seasons and what did you give me?) sometimes, after the awesomeness of the start, the fall is always fascinating to witness. It's why people watch car crashes or Doctor Who watches catastrophic events. I'm not saying it'll fail. I'm just wondering when the retcon and the panicky "OMG how the hell do we get out of this" moments start. Of course, maybe it won't which would be even cooler.

2) Melanie Lynskey (Wendy Patrakas): Why did she even try 2 and a Half Men? I've seen Heavenly Creatures and she's brilliant. She completely kicks Kate Winslet's ass in that film, acting wise. She even managed to save the role of the dumpy stepsister in Ever After and the anti-Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama . This is a woman whose potential got squandered in North America. I will continue watching her career until somebody gives her something of value. I hope this is it.

1) Nathan Fillion!: Like Stephen Colbert has to mention bears on the Threatdown, you had to know this one was coming. Captain Tightpants! Shiny!

Oh yes, and did I mention I get to recap it all? I can't wait!

Is it Sunday yet?