Well there's no doubt that actor Dennis Haysbert has been short-shifted in his role as the ex-President on "24." It was bad enough that his role was so greatly reduced after the 2nd season, but with the 5th season he was… well I don’t want to give away any spoilers for those of you who haven’t seen it yet so let's just say viewers were blown away. Fortunately, the Fox network was smart enough to snap him back up and give him a great role beyond that of spokesperson for Allstate Insurance. This year he was given the lead in a midseason replacement series called "The Unit." The title refers to a covert operative group working at the behest of our government. They are one of those groups whose existence is kept extremely hush-hush because they take care of the situations that require a tougher than normal approach.

The series, which is the product of a joint effort between playwright David Mamet and "The Shield" creator Shawn Ryan, is based on the book 'Inside Delta Force' by real-life retired operative Eric Shanley.

The series takes a different approach to what could just be a 'mission of the week' type show by focusing not only on the team's work, but balancing it with their home lives. But of course their home lives aren’t really what we'd call normal. They all pretend to have normal desk jobs at their assigned base, plus they are forced to live with their wives in base housing… right by one another. Their wives are in on the secret, and are not allowed to share it with anyone so protecting our country becomes a sort of family affair. But being in such close proximity in work and life can make for some strange bedfellows, and here in one case even leads to an actual affair (other than the family kind).

Haysbert stars as Sergeant Major Jonas Blane, the leader of the group and as such as a wife (Regina Taylor) who acts as the mother hen for the wives. Blane's team includes his second in command is Mack Gerhardt (Max Martini), Charles Grey (Michael Irby) and Hector Williams (Demore Barnes.) Their team is tight and runs things by the book, but as the series begins there is a bit of a shake-up as they have added a new member in the form of Bob Brown (Scott Foley). He's good at his job, but being new to the world of covert operations has a lot of adjusting to do, as does his wife, played with frustrated reluctance by Audrey Marie Anderson.

The initial 13 episodes of "The Unit" were first brought to my attention with the Fox release of the short first season on DVD last month. There was little advertising that I remember seeing when it originally aired, so I missed them then. I'm a big fan of Shawn Ryan's work with "The Shield", and while this new show is not quite as deeply gritty, it still provides the same kind of overall style of entertainment. The acting is first rate, which occasionally can be a little difficult with Mamet penned dialogue. The guy's an outstanding playwright, but some of the dialogue seems a little out of place on the TV screen. Still, having the caliber of actors this show offers, makes that an easy to overlook nitpick.

The DVD release, while it offers a terrific audio and video transfer, is rather light on special features. There is a commentary on the episode "Sere" by Ryan, Eric Hanley and actor Demore Barnes. Hanley offers some of the best comments as he reflects on his experiences as a Delta Force operative. Additionally there is a very short interview featurette with Ryan, Hanley and David Mamet. They offer a little bit of insight into the show's creation, but its too short a piece to really give them time to elaborate.

"The Unit" has the makings of being a solid and entertaining show. I'm glad that it made it through the mid season jitters and actually made it to a 2nd season. I'm really looking forward to seeing a 2nd season DVD when it comes out, I just hope they do a little better in the extra features department.

Episodes:
First Responders
Stress
200th Hour
True Believers
Non-Permissive Environment
Security
Dedication
Sere
Eating the Young
Unannounced
Exposure
Morale, Welfare and Recreation
The Wall

Starring: Dennis Haysbert
Extras: Inside Delta Force Featurette
Specifications: Widescreen (1.78:1), Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Studio: Fox
Release Date: 9/19/2006
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website

We'll give The Unit: Season 1 a B.