Product Description

FROM EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS SHAWN RYAN ("The Shield," "Angel") and PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING PLAYWRIGHT DAVID MAMET.

They are The Unit, a covert Special Forces team operating outside the usual military chain of command. Whether stateside or aboard, these heroes are on the frontlines protecting U.S. citizens and foreigners alike, slipping in under the radar and risking their lives to save the day then leaving just as quietly without any well-deserved credit or thanks. Starring Dennis Haysbert and Scott Foley, this riveting, action-packed drama is as realistic and pulse-pounding as it gets.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6121 in DVD
• Brand: Fox
• Released on: 2006-09-19
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 4
• Dimensions: 1.20 pounds
• Running time: 564 minutes

Amazon.com
Full of action, intrigue, and espionage, The Unit offers a dramatic, fictionalized look inside the military while also giving viewers a peek inside the private lives of the elite squad. Conceived by the critically acclaimed David Mamet (Glengarry Glen Ross, House of Games), The Unit is an elite, covert Special Forces team that operates outside the military chain of command. The first season's 13 episodes offer insight into the characters without revealing too much about the men who make up the operation. Are they extremely patriotic, or are they adrenalin junkies who have to be in danger to feel validated? The answer probably falls somewhere in between, and the viewer gets the feeling that as much as the men love their wives and children, it's their jobs that give them their true reason for living. Led by veteran Jonas Blane (Dennis Haysbert, 24), the Unit deals with terrorism, rescue missions, and assassinations quickly, discreetly, and efficiently. If all goes well, someone else gets the credit. If things go awry, it's their necks on the line. In the first season of The Unit--which aired from March to May 2006 as a mid-season replacement--the action is fast, the plot is succinct, and the acting is well done (when dealing with the deadly missions). It's the secondary storyline involving the wives that's less successful. The newest member of the Unit, Bob Brown (Scott Foley, Felicity), apparently didn't fill his wife Kim (Audrey Marie Anderson) in on what their new life would be like. From the beginning, she resists the hoo rah attitude that the other wives exhibit. But rather than coming across as an independent free thinker, she is presented as a whining drip of a woman who has no clue about the definition of a secret. Of course, when faced with the military's version of The Stepford Wives, who could blame her? As Jonas' supportive wife Molly, Regina Taylor (I'll Fly Away, Courage Under Fire) is less sympathetic than usual. In the early episodes, she comes across as an almost stalkerish busybody who is always there when Kim is trying to cope with a life she never wanted. Throw in an affair between commanding officer Colonel Tom Ryan (Robert Patrick, Terminator 2: Judgment Day) and one of the wives and you've got the makings of a military soap opera. The show is at its best when it concentrates on the men and their missions. We may not understand why they do what they do, but we're grateful that someone is doing the dangerous job for us. --Jae-Ha Kim

Customer Reviews

UNIT breaks the CBS MONOTONY
Ah... finally CBS produced aired and had faith in a show that WASN'T FORMULAIC... mystery-solved, every week. Here's a court case and an immediate resolution. When does that ever happen?

The nation was starving for something outside the box and outside the typical routine T.V. shows that overwhelm our video box every night, and not to my surprise... THE UNIT actually locked in a solid rating. Was the state of the world we're in the reason for the people who tuned in? Was it the fact that Dennis Haysbert who was a lot of people's favorite character from the smash FOX hit, 24? Was it the no holds barred, no mercy, no sugar-coated story-telling method?

I think it's a combination of a lot of things. My favorite reason for tuning in was that it was REAL. It wasn't like all the other CBS shows that unrealistically solve a murder in 40 minutes or resolve a court hearing in 40 minutes.

The UNIT shows the not-so-pretty side of counter-terrorism secret units. A shadow company of elite soldiers who aren't even allowed to tell their wives what they do. But, unlike many CBS shows, you actually get to know the characters in the show. You get to see the HARD mission minded Jonas Blane (Haysbert) and the family man when he returns home. You get to see what the wives have to deal with while their men are away.

The most important thing the UNIT gives its viewer is the understanding that GETTING THE JOB DONE, isn't always pretty. Isn't always moral. Isn't always negotiable. The UNIT also shows what it is to be military, what it is to be American, and what it is to do a thankless job.

This show is gritty, dark, dangerous, secretive and it comes to a dramatic and shocking finale that will leave you salivating for the 2nd season episodes to begin their run.

I'd give the DVD season set 5 stars, but the season was a mid-season replacement. Most likely a show that CBS didn't have any faith in until people starting actually watching.

Well, seeing as though it was a mid-season test show... it only had 13 episodes. So, in my opinion, this show is just getting started. The second season should have the full 24 episode run and then we'll really see what this incredible show is truly capable of.

It grows on you
I watched the very first episode of this when it aired and thought "not bad, but I don't think it will last." I watched several episodes after that, here and there, mainly because it comes on after my favorite show (NCIS). Then a few weeks ago I caught the season 2 finale and got hooked. The next day I immediately went out and rented all of season 1. It is an excellent show. Of course like most shows I watch the ratings were shaky in season 2, but it was just announced that there will be a season 3. :) I see this compared to "24" a lot (which I don't care for), but it's a lot more realistic I think. Very good show!

The Man Code is a Special Forces Drama Always Compelling
I've always loved David Mamet films because of his brisk realistic dialogue and his preoccupation with the male code and its clash with civilization. That theme is well served in The Unit, even better than films, because he has the long-range TV landscape to develop his characters, Delta Force anti-terrorist unit who, for hardly any pay, risk their lives in international missions while their wives, living in a nondescript military base, pinch pennies and deal with the daily dramas of having husbands who could die in the blink of an eye. Avoiding sentimentality, piety, and jingoism, The Unit has an appropriately cynical look at power and the use of trickery to succeed against one's enemies and even one's bureacratic bosses. In this sense, The Unit resembles the show 24 but unlike 24, which is often over the top, The Unit employs psychological realism. Perhaps better than any TV show right now, The Unit specializes in riveting plot lines, especially employing the reversal, where the plot goes one way and then turns the tables in a way that never seems forced or arbitrary. So far the second season has proved as the good as the first. If you haven't seen The Unit, the DVD first series season is a must.