The Unit (Vanity)

[goldstategop]

Last night on CBS, new show about a Delta Force counter-terrorism unit. Depicts both the comradeship of special forces guys and their family relationships. Good actors who fit right in.

[goldstategop]

Good pilot. Loved how the lead officer dealt with the suit stiffs and took out the terrorists singlehandidly. Could this be a hit like "24"?

[PRND21]

They actually showed Middle Eastern types getting sprayed with bullets for terrorizing Americans.
Plus Lonnie Lardner?

Hit.

[goldstategop]

I liked it. I think Haysbert and Patrick are very good. David Mamet wrote a kick ass pilot - if they can keep from becoming PC, it could be a worthy successor to "24."

[Mathews]

I thought it sucked!! The lead and the lead's wife are way too stiff! And what the hell is up with a HAHO into an airstrip in Idaho? Was it the ONLY airstrip in the state? And I know Rangers are good, but c'mon... going straight from the Nat'l Guard to working with Delta... clearing a plane... in five min with no training? And how about the kill shots on the spotters? It was a friggin' .22 cal. Not very lethal unless used just right and definitely not from that distance. What was up with the opening scene? Lazing the target from the middle of town? What... no roof tops, open windows facing that way, mountains outside of town with a clear view? About the only thing I bought was the ending when the lead guy shot the mirror. Heard plenty of Spec Ops guys doing that very same thing. Totally unbelievable and absolutely absurd. Trash!

[goldstategop]

Its Hollywood. I've seen the same thing in Chuck Norris' Delta Force movies. Yeah, it ain't real but it loads of fun.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[Mathews]

Geez... I don't even know if I can call it fun. Maybe it's just that I've been in the military soooooo long that every time I see Hollywierd screw up this much it really makes me angry. There are so many folks out there that could help this show become a hit, but I don't think Hollywood would allow it. Spec Ops stuff, while the stuff of legend, can be really boring. Lots of prep and planning.

[Texas2step]

Good pilot. Loved how the lead officer dealt with the suit stiffs and took out the terrorists singlehandidly.

Loved it!!! I kept finding myself chuckling to myself by the way the lead (Haysert) handled himself. Better than anything hollywierd's put out in a while.

Completely believable? Maybe not, but neither is 24. Entertaining? Absolutely! Respectful of our military? I thought so.

I'll be watching it again.

[jdm]

There's a guy on the show who does those insurance commercials. It was hard for me to watch the show and not think "Hey, it's that guy from the All State commercials." Hopefully I didn't ruin it for anyone, but this is the guy:

[Texas2step]

Spec Ops stuff, while the stuff of legend, can be really boring. Lots of prep and planning.

Which is why it cannot be made and be completely believable. We're not going to sit around and watch a ton of planning. We'd rather see the "legend" in action. I thought they did that last night.

Keep it active, keep it respectful, keep it non-PC, and I'll keep watching it...

[HitmanLV]

I thought it was awful.

The military stuff is very good, but the wives story really brings it down. I can see why on paper this would all look compelling, and how the wives stories would pace each episode, but an hour is too quick to wrap up a story (maybe future story arcs will have several eps).

Also, from a dramatic point of view, the wives pretty much did everything they can do in the pilot episode: talk with each other, share angst, support each other, 'cope' with their stresses, and sleep with other guys. That act is going to get tired after just a few episodes.

It's only a matter of time before one of the wives (or more) has an affair with a pretty boy liberal artist type right under the nose of her balls to the walls GI Joe hubby. That in itself is bad mostly because its been done so many times.

I like Shawn Ryan's 'The Shield' a lot. It's my favorite drama and hasn't lost steam in almost five seasons. Impressive. I think 'The Unit' will be a big swing & a miss, but will give it a few more episodes to decide if I'll be aboard.

Contrast this with the pilot episode of 'The Shield,' where at the end viewers were fairly breathless and absolutely had to see the next episode. It broke tv conventions and took things in a new direction. 'The Unit,' so far, is following tv conventions and taking things in a very familiar direction.

[ChandyB71]

I watched it and thought it was pretty entertaining. A tip off from 24, which is awesome in and of itself.

Yes, these shows do not follow the true realism of what they portray, but the fact that this show is Pro-Military and shows a side of the military outside of the US (and in), doing what they do to protect our freedoms (as quoted from the show), I have to give it a thumbs up.

I mainly watched because of the lead guy. The shows seems to be in good hands, with him in the lead.

The ONLY thing I found disturbing, was the ending scene. I was so glad to see how supportive the wives were being to their husbands doing this "secret" job and standing by their sides, waiting at home for them, praying and hoping for their safe return to them, not to mention that I am really tired of seeing unfaithfulness on tv, that this scene made the whole show kind of a down turn.

However, I will still watch it and hold my opinions in check until after further episodes. If this is anything like 24 (as it seems to be), it's well worth watching!!!

[ChandyB71]

You must have missed the last scene, where one of the wives was cheating with the main Leiutenant who was sending her husband out on lots of missions....

[HitmanLV]

No, I saw it.  I explicitly mentioned it in my post when I said that the wives pretty much did everything they can do in the first episode:

"Also, from a dramatic point of view, the wives pretty much did everything they can do in the pilot episode: talk with each other, share angst, support each other, 'cope' with their stresses, and sleep with other guys."

[HitmanLV]

No, I saw it.  I explicitly mentioned it in my post when I said that the wives pretty much did everything they can do in the first episode:

"Also, from a dramatic point of view, the wives pretty much did everything they can do in the pilot episode: talk with each other, share angst, support each other, 'cope' with their stresses, and sleep with other guys."

[ChandyB71]

Well, it's just a first episode, so maybe the others won't be just like it.

They did have to build the characters to help us understand the story line. Now that we know about the wives and what they deal with, we can understand how serious the jobs of their husbands are and how stressful that can be.

I think they showed us the wives more for character building, than something that we'll see all the time. I personally think they'll show us more of what the special-ops guys do on their jobs, more in next episodes. But that's just my take.

I could be wrong, but I'm willing to stick around and find out first hand, before judging the show from one go around.

[HitmanLV]

I'll give it a chance, and I hope they concentrate on several-episode story arcs and more on the guys. The wives didn;t contribute anything that wasnt hackneyed. I can see how this all looked much better on paper.

On the other hand, The Shield just keeps getting better and better.

[Sybeck1]

Can anyone say posse comitatus? Here the army ranger guy tells the FBI man that he will kill them if he tries to stop them from saving the day.

[goldstategop]

He's telling the suits to f*ck off. The FBI wouldn't know its hands from its shoes. Leave the rescue work up to the big boys, the pros.

[goldstategop]

They had an annoying segment on this week's show: an FBI suit threatening the unit with breaking the posse comitatus statute because the FBI's turf was usurped. Its not too different from the way the real-life FBI has mucked up and compromised terrorism investigations. Those letters ought to stand for Federal Bureau Of Insanity.

[Netheron]

Well, not all the FBI on CBS are nuts, some of them have the sense to consult with mathematicians and physicists. :)