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Unit, The
SERIES: CBS, Tuesday 9:00p (60 minutes)


7.0

based on 25 reviews
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how did we calculate this?

based on 131 votes
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Get more information on this show at TV.com.

Official Show Site

Starring Dennis Haysbert, Scott Foley, Robert Patrick, Regina Taylor, Max Martini, Michael Irby, Demore Barnes, and Abby Brammell

Playwright David Mamet's first real stab at network television follows an elite Special Forces unit (led by 24's Dennis Haysbert) on covert missions around the globe, while also focusing on the wives left behind.

GENRE(S):	Action / Adventure, Drama
CREATED BY:	David Mamet
FIRST AIR DATE:	March 7, 2006

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Christian Science Monitor Gloria Goodale

This could all get old really fast, but Taylor's steely performance keeps the home front interesting, while the globe-trotting soldiers bring home the reality of how many troubled spots this small planet still has.

Salon Heather Havrilesky

One of the major strengths of "The Unit" is its ability to tackle the blurry ethical lines and confusing behavioral codes of the military during a time of war.

San Jose Mercury News Charlie McCollum

It just oozes potential with sharp dialogue and a strong cast.

Hollywood Reporter Barry Garron

"The Unit" is filled with thrilling action and heart-pounding adventure.

Orlando Sentinel Hal Boedeker

Mamet skillfully balances the men's harrowing missions with their wives' sacrifices on the home front.

Philadelphia Inquirer Jonathan Storm

Only an occasional over-spicing of melodrama keeps The Unit from TV's top echelon. Even so, it's the best new dramatic series of a TV season that started way back in September.

Chicago Sun-Times Doug Elfman

"The Unit"... is predictably Mametian only in that it's interesting, tightly written and finely shot.

Detroit Free Press Mike Duffy

It's uneven in spots, with the riveting action sequences sometimes overshadowing the more subdued domestic scenes. But unlike the often gratingly shallow "JAG," "The Unit" allows for ambiguity.

Entertainment Weekly Ken Tucker

This being Mamet, there's lots of folksy jargon. [10 Mar 2006, p.56]

San Francisco Chronicle Tim Goodman

Sometimes formula done entertainingly is just what the country wants to eat.

Washington Post Tom Shales

Mamet offers a kind of thinking person's war movie for a nation that is, indeed, at war.

LA Weekly Robert Abele

There are glimmers of something refreshingly different.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Melanie McFarland

A promising cast and respected executive producers conspire to give "The Unit" a shot at being this spring's breakout hit. But the real proof's in the pilot, a thrilling balance between the action of this sharpshooting brotherhood and the schemes of their secretive, slightly overbearing wives.

Wall Street Journal Nancy DeWolf Smith

After the male action sequences, alas, the feminine interludes tend to be soporific.

Los Angeles Times Robert Lloyd

This is news that never quite rises to the level of an event: "David Mamet Came to Television and All We Got Was a Better 'E-Ring.' "

Newsday Verne Gay

Some of Mamet's dialogue is certifiably awful and some certifiably brilliant, and the dichotomy is breathtaking.

The New York Times Alessandra Stanley

"The Unit" becomes distinctive only when the action shifts back to the wives left behind on the base.

Chicago Tribune Maureen Ryan

A grim, formulaic drama.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Rob Owen

A not-awful but not-great drama.

New York Daily News David Hinckley

"The Unit" features a strong cast - but for much of this show, they're cast adrift.

Boston Globe Matthew Gilbert

These two extraordinary talents have done an average job with what is a surprisingly unimaginative premise.

New York Post Adam Buckman

The executive producers of this series are David Mamet and Shawn Ryan, but it has none of the panache of Mamet's plays and movies such as "Glengarry Glen Ross" or "The Spanish Prisoner," and none of the blunt force of Ryan's best-known work, "The Shield" on FX.

Cleveland Plain Dealer Mark Dawidziak

Halfway through tonight's clunky and cartoonish debut, it dawns on you that we're stuck in the middle of Operation Letdown.

Miami Herald Glenn Garvin

The Unit hits more false notes than an American Idol tryout.

The New Republic Lee Siegel

What you get is a show constricted by radical artistic compromises that it refuses to acknowledge having made. The result is an expulsion of Mamet's distinctive vision into the margins of the series, in which it wanders around like a director who's been fired from a movie yet will not leave the set.

The average user rating for this tv show is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 131 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

phillip k gave it a10:
Terrific show. Please do not take it off the air. My buddies and I watch it faithfully. Very well done. One of the best on TV.

alex g gave it a10:
I love this show. The acting and attention to detail when it comes to the weapons and tactics is awesome! I hope to see a movie maybe or a special extra long episode some day? There are too many epic moments to count.

Dave C gave it a2:
The opening episode of season 1 should have been entitled 'Operation Cliché', such was the nature of the script. The show also seems to pitched to 12-15 year-old kids - there are no sub-plots, no complexities, just a bunch of guys 'lock-and-load'-ing and playing 'soldiers', while the equally 2-dimensional women play 'supportive housewife' at home. 24, it ain't.

B U gave it an8:
For those of us who grew up on the A Team, Commando and the like this show's good for a weekly action fix. I've never been in the military, but its still easy to tell that there's a lot of poetic license, and I bet most military types probably hate it. Even so, I still enjoy it. I rate Patrick, Martini & Foley, and Haysbert is the man, but I'd like to see a version that had all the wives' scenes edited out. Too much drama for my tastes.

Rory P gave it a10:
The Unit this season has outdone itself. It is great! Thank you to David Mamet and his crew!

Eric E gave it a9:
The second show of my Tuesday night lineup. I love this show, it has a little bit of everything, action, romance, thrills, chills. Not a ton of action but plenty to keep me entertained. Also it makes for a good break from all the forensic science murder shows.

Shaggy gave it a9:
The show get's into your head and makes you think about world issues and how they affect everyday lives. It's addictive!

Unit, The SERIES: CBS, Tuesday 9:00p (60 minutes)

Unit, The
SERIES: CBS, Tuesday 9:00p (60 minutes)