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THE UNIT on CBS

post #1 of 66
3/6/06 at 1:54pm
Thread Starter 
Anyone tuning in Tuesday for this?



I was telling my girlfriend how I thought Haysbert deserved better than bit parts on 24 and now he's his own incarnation of Jack Bauer. CBS is marketing this like a DTV Seagal movie, but it's David Mamet's creation. I'm rooting for it based on Mamet's involvment alone, Haysbert running the show is icing on the cake.
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post #2 of 66
3/6/06 at 2:03pm
It's Mamet's creation and Shawn Ryan (creator of FX's The Shield) is an executive producer.

I have got my DVR set to record it and am hoping it will turn out to be worthy.
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post #3 of 66
3/6/06 at 2:14pm
It's on against Scrubs. Pisser.
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post #4 of 66
3/6/06 at 2:21pm
President Palmer, the T-1000 and Mamet ?

Gotta check this out.
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post #5 of 66
3/6/06 at 2:24pm
I plan on watching.

I heard somewhere it was only a 13 episode mini-series.
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post #6 of 66
3/6/06 at 2:36pm
I like to tell myself that this is the prequel of 24, about Palmer before he became president. Hell, it's more exciting than what real presidents do before they become the head cheese. Also I hope the 13 episode miniseries is correct. Television honchos should embrace this rather than run a good show into the ground. Case in point, Lost. If they had a set ending to the show, they could come up with better reveals to the story, instead of just setting up more questions and making things even more convoluted as they go along, just for the sake of seeing how long they keep the show going and scoring the advertising dollars.
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post #7 of 66
3/6/06 at 2:40pm
I get tired of the "every show should end in 13 episodes" debate. Lost is doing an exceptional job of answering questions while posing new ones, and so far having patience has really paid off with that series. Let it run for as long as the creators want it to.

As for The Unit, I'll definitely be checking it out. The team of Haysbert and Patrick cannot be beaten, and I dig Scott Foley too.
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post #8 of 66
3/6/06 at 3:46pm
looks badass, really buzzed for this. I fully expect the Haysbert and Shawn Ryan to deliver.
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post #9 of 66
3/6/06 at 4:28pm
Shawn Ryan, David Mamet, Dennis Haysbert, and Robert Patrick makes this show worth at least a couple episodes of my time.
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post #10 of 66
3/6/06 at 8:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Davis
It's on against Scrubs. Pisser.
It's also premiering at the same time as ABC's new improv comedy series Sons & Daughters.
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post #11 of 66
3/6/06 at 8:24pm
I'm gonna check this out. Sounds like a good group of people are behind it.

I guess I should start a new thread, but does anyone know about HEIST? I recently saw a commercial and it piqued my interest. I haven't heard much about it though.
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post #12 of 66
3/6/06 at 8:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Diva
I guess I should start a new thread, but does anyone know about HEIST? I recently saw a commercial and it piqued my interest. I haven't heard much about it though.
Dougray Scott is starring. The show is about the planning and execution of a heist of three Beverly Hills jewelers that happens (I believe) during the Academy Awards. Doug Liman's directing the pilot.
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post #13 of 66
3/6/06 at 8:38pm
I saw a rough cut of an episode of The Unit a few months ago as part of a panel in Las Vegas at Studio City. It looked pretty good, but not great. I didn't know Mamet and Ryan had anything to do with it when I saw it. Their involvement surprised me a bit because the episode I saw didn't strike me as having the great dialogue and intensity you would expect from those two. Also, half the episode was centered around the unit members' wives hosting a luncheon for a visiting Senator. It seemed like a weird mash-up of two different shows. I'll be interested to see if they strike the balance properly now the the show is ready for prime time.
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post #14 of 66
3/6/06 at 8:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by T_M
Dougray Scott is starring. The show is about the planning and execution of a heist of three Beverly Hills jewelers that happens (I believe) during the Academy Awards. Doug Liman's directing the pilot.
Thanks for the info.
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post #15 of 66
3/7/06 at 2:58pm
I'll be checking this out due to the above reasons listed. This then the Shield? Should be some good times. And yes, Heist looks good and I can't wait for that to start up either.
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post #16 of 66
3/8/06 at 2:12am
Pretty pedestrian. I hate the generic look that all of CBS' dramas have and it's the same situation here. It's hard to believe this pilot was written and directed by the guy who did the same for SPARTAN. I'll give it a couple more shots to see if the show decreases its focus on the wives but I'm not too impressed so far.
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post #17 of 66
3/8/06 at 4:35am
I dug it. The dialogue reeks of Mamet authenticity and precision. The acting is solid across the board. But it doesn't look like it belongs on CBS. I don't give it long before the axe comes down.

By the way, I read a review (in the LA Weekly, I beleive) that said that an upcoming episode is one of the most intense hours of television in a long time.
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post #18 of 66
3/8/06 at 11:09am
Disappointing. The wives and their storyline were banal, and there really wasn't anything to the action which put it ahead of SoF or any other half-dozen similarly-themed shows.

And I can guess what they were trying to achieve with the sequence where Haysbert boards to plane and easily takes out all those guys, but they failed.
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post #19 of 66
3/8/06 at 11:13am
I thought it was ok . Scott Foley's wife was both annoying and dumber than a box of rocks. In fact, the whole wives sequence is generic and useless for the moment. I'll have to check out a couple of other episodes to truly judge if it's really worth it.
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post #20 of 66
3/8/06 at 2:51pm
Thread Starter 
Yeah... this blew. Mamet's dialogue was handeled with the subtlety of a colonoscopy via water noodle. The wives.. I saw the point of showing this side of covert military life. But they came off as a creepy fucking cult that were about to tape a snuff film. And the young wife couldn't decided whether to keep using her southern accent or not.

Some of the moments with Haysbert assuring the officials at the airport (Hijacking in Idaho... coincidentally they're visiting Idaho? Come on!) were nice and kinda cool.... but the man still speaks like he's a middle school principal. And he's so war torn a toy monkey spooks him? I don't buy his bravado turned trauma. It seemed force.

This will get another try from me, I remember the early shit on Seinfeld and Sports Night.... shows need at least 3 or 4 episodes to get the pacing right.
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post #21 of 66
3/8/06 at 4:50pm
I thought it was weak, too. Haysbert's action scenes where he was clearing the plane were laughable. The shit with the wives...pointless. Maybe it'll get better as time goes on, but I would have expected a much more solid show out of the gate from Mamet and Ryan.
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post #22 of 66
3/8/06 at 6:00pm
Another bleh from me as well. I think it's tone is even weaker than your average episode of CSI (which can get pretty gory). Seeing as this supposedly is trying to be realistic and build character portraits of these guys, it's just not intense or unique enough. Just another 'rookie initiation' episode so far. I'll give it another shot as well, but this probably won't last.
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post #23 of 66
3/15/06 at 12:06am
A little better, but that didn't make it good.
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post #24 of 66
3/15/06 at 12:20am
This show is horrible. Those are not your typical military houses and the wives on bases don't just have military secrets to share with one another.

I can't give this another chance. Raising my blood pressure while watching.
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post #25 of 66
3/15/06 at 1:06am
G.I. Joe meets 'Desperate Housewives'

Heaven help us.
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post #26 of 66
3/15/06 at 1:58pm
Thread Starter 
Just finished this from the DVR. The domestic scenes aside (which are still fucking awful), Haysbert and Co. in action had me sold this time around.. that is until Rob Roy threw himself out of the goddamn plane while all of those covert ops dudes were fast asleep. That's some shit right out of the 24 handbook there.

The Mamet dialogue was handeled a little better this time 'round... but yeah, CBS is going to axe this any day now.
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post #27 of 66
3/15/06 at 2:44pm
Oh, and shooting terrorists on a plane with a shotgun? Colateral damage, anyone?
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post #28 of 66
3/15/06 at 9:20pm
The Haysbert is positively majestic in this, it's a real pleasure to watch such a dignified badass.

show is shite when the camera's not on him though. very disappointing.
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post #29 of 66
3/15/06 at 9:27pm
I also loved how there were Allstate ads promiently featuring Haysbert during the commercial breaks.
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post #30 of 66
3/16/06 at 1:49pm
the unit's ratings are doing really well so it looks like it'll be sticking around for another season atleast. i'm quite disappointed in the show. it's not terrible or anything but when you have that cast and a show created by mamet with shawn ryan producing, you expect something special.
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post #31 of 66
3/16/06 at 6:51pm
You're not the only one who is disappointed in the show.

Based on the creative pedigree and some of the cast members, I expected it to be better.

The show would improve vastly if they dropped the ENTIRE storyline with the wives and just focused on The Unit all the time.

Since there's no chance of that happening, I am bailing, as I have been a fan of Scrubs since it premiered and I quite enjoyed what I have seen of Sons & Daughters.
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post #32 of 66
3/16/06 at 7:11pm
This, was, BORING.
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post #33 of 66
3/16/06 at 7:29pm
CBS can afford to keep shit like this on their station. Another example, CSI: Miami
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post #34 of 66
3/16/06 at 8:58pm
Those CSI shows are uniformly brutal.
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post #35 of 66
3/17/06 at 7:47pm
I may be the only one here, but I like this show. So far. I usually like to reserve judgment until after a handful of episodes, but I'm not turning away yet.

I do think it's interesting that alot of reviews I've read seem to find the housewives portion of the show the most interesting, when so far the women seem to annoy me, but I'm hoping that it's just good writing and they'll grow on me.

About what Jason P. Thompson said about the wives knowing about military secrets, they don't really know secrets, do they? Isn't it more of just knowing that the whatever number logistical unit is a sham?

CBS is marketing this now as TV's most watched new show, or something like that. "See what 21 million viewers have been tuning in for." So I think we'll get a full season, at least. I don't like NCIS but it's a strong lead in, apparently a whole lot of people really like that show.
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post #36 of 66
3/17/06 at 8:26pm
NCIS is alot better than CSI... I'll give The Unit one more try, because I'll be watching NCIS anyways, but I'm not so sure about this one...
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post #37 of 66
3/18/06 at 9:14am
Bellisario's stuff has a little more merit.
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post #38 of 66
3/21/06 at 10:55am
I caught both episodes over the weekend. There's about 20 minutes of interesting stuff in each episode. Anything with the wives can and should be fast-forwarded through -- I figured that out after spending less than five excruciating minutes with them. But I did enjoy the military stuff, even though it is quite obviously sacrificing all realism for dramatic tension.
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post #39 of 66
3/22/06 at 11:48am
For the first time the wife part was somewhat interesting.

This show is getting better.
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post #40 of 66
3/22/06 at 12:12pm
Last night wasn't bad. Enough to make me check it out next week.
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post #41 of 66
3/22/06 at 3:58pm
Yep. It's official. I like this show.

Wish I had a Tivo so I didn't have to tape it like I'm Fred Fuckin Flintstone whilst I watch Scrubs.
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post #42 of 66
3/29/06 at 7:49pm
I think this is showing some improvement. every episode has at least one scene involving the Palmersbert that makes it a worthwhile watch (e.g. his "this is your get out of HELL card" speech from this episode, and his exchanges with the excellent Tzi Ma from the previous episode)

and although most of the time I wish the guy playing Mac was a stronger actor, I really liked the bit where he was making those pretend whiny bitch noises, but was actually ignoring the pain and creeping up on Divoff.
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post #43 of 66
3/30/06 at 9:51am
The team stuff is almost as great as the wife stuff is terrible.
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post #44 of 66
3/30/06 at 12:39pm
Agreed. If the show had just been about the men going on a new mission every week spouting Mamet's dialogue with no wives storyline, I probably would've been much more receptive of this.

For now, my Tuesday night DVR duties from 9-10pm are assigned to one of my old faves (Scrubs) and one of my new faves (Sons & Daughters).
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post #45 of 66
3/31/06 at 12:03am
this week's episode was the best one so far. to no surprise it's the first one written by shawn ryan.
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post #46 of 66
4/5/06 at 4:22pm
Yesterday's episode was weaker. The whole runaway thing well handled, at least not good enough to compensate for the wife part.
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post #47 of 66
4/5/06 at 5:38pm
I've been watching The Unit since it made its debut...and I like it. I don't LOVE it. It should be so much better considering the talent it has on board. But it does seem to be developing. The look of the show is even improving. The first two or three episodes had the production quality of a mid-nineties Jeff Wincott movie, minus the amazing spinkicks, but the last two episodes showed promise. The action scenes are getting better (the first episode's plane raid stunk to hell) and the storylines more gripping. The wives' angles could stand to be tightened, but they aren't completely unwatchable. I just hate how Haysbert's wife always has to call everyone "child." "Oh, child." "Listen, child." Okay, she's a maternal figure, we get the point. Just sounds ridiculous.
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post #48 of 66
4/5/06 at 7:33pm
yeah, she's very irritating isn't she?

but despite her, I think this last episode was quite good... actually the best one yet. "Permission to board, sir?" had me laughing out loud. as did the Jonasbert's "mahjobdontgotnotakeyodottatoschoolday"
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post #49 of 66
4/7/06 at 2:58pm
That's why I fire through the show on Tivo. As soon as the scene shifts from a mission to anything involving the wives, I punch FF. The show meat is about 20 minutes.
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post #50 of 66
4/12/06 at 10:11am
Yesterday's episode was Mamet directed and written, and it was solid. The wife part is still a bit of a groaner (except the part with the expelled soldier), but the embassy one was gold.
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