The Unit - Intelligent and Addictive Television

The Unit debut on CBS a little over 4 years ago as a mid-season replacement with a trial run of 13 episodes ordered, a strong cast, but a show that wasn’t given much of a chance to make it past a few aired episodes. Anchored by Dennis Haysbert and Robert Patrick, The Unit has always been a show of two plotlines – the Special Forces unit of elite Army Rangers, who’s missions and true identities are classified on every level and the wives of these men who share in their bond of knowledge, but stay home and worry if their husbands will come back alive.

While I was one of the many that didn’t think the show would survive, it’s success has been a pleasant surprise. Each episodes it by-in-large stand alone although there are subplots that certainly extend from episodes to episodes and season to season.

While Haysbert and Patrick may have brought relative star power to this topical action-packed show that sometimes gets close to that fine line between truth and fiction, Scott Foley and Max Martini often give the performances that have made this show one of the most watched action series on television today. And while the 4th season nears its’ end, there is a good chance that this show, like many, will once again find itself on the chopping block. That may be the stark reality for most scripted television shows these days, The Unit is a well-written and provocative show that is not only highly intelligent, but outwardly patriotic and honest. If you haven’t tuned in yet, don’t wait any longer. You may just find your new favorite show.

Deep Winter is more than just fluff!

While I can’t say as though I’m typically a big fan of straight to DVD movies, there are times when one can find a hidden gem that was overlooked by the big studios for one reason or another. Such films are typically geared towards a certain demographic that doesn’t support a major release and more often than not, the movie hasn’t a chance to make any money given the limited budget for advertising and promotion.

Being a passionate skier, I search the shelves of my local Blockbuster every year looking for any new movie having to do with skiing and/or snowboarding. Let’s face it, the lifestyle sports theme isn’t a big sell and I can think of only a handful of movies that made it to the big screen. Hot Dog and Aspen Extreme made their marks on Hollywood with the former attaining nothing short of cult status, but most other scripted skiing movies are pretty damned awful and rarely have much of a plot to follow.

All that being said, I was fortunate to find one of those rare gems last week on that shelf I was talking about earlier. When I rented Deep Winter, I admittedly had pretty low expectations. While the casting of Michael Madsen as a former big mountain skier turned heli-ski guide was a little promising, it was the description on the back of the cover that caught my attention more. A ski racer, who had fallen from the graces of the U.S. Ski Team returns home to make the harrowing first descent in Alaska with a childhood friend. Add a beautiful love interest and some very well-shot big mountain footage and you’ve got the making of a watchable movie.

With skiing doubles such as the Seth Morrison and Dan Treadway and being co-written by big mountain skiing pioneer and freelance writer, Micah Abrams, Deep Winter not only held my attention, but left me wondering why this film has gone unknown, even through skiing circles. I would have thought that with Morrison’s and Abrams’ connections, some free publicity would have made a name for this flick, but sadly, I’m one of the few who knows about it. And while I really don’t want to give away a lot of the plot or storyline, I will say that this movie is not only visually stunning, but well-written and exciting. I highly recommend you add this to your queue or stop by your local store. I plan to buy it myself.

Battlestar Galactica lets it all hang out for the final episodes!

If I were to sum up the first few episodes of the final half season of Sci-Fi’s hugely successful show, Battlestar Galactica, in two words; I think they would be despair and anarchy. I k now; not the most pleasant of thoughts, but yikes, these people have been through hell and it only gets worse. The alliance with the Cylons makes sense, but what about the Cylons, who are still evil? That’s a huge loose end that they either need to tie up or perhaps hang it out there for a separate movie after the season ends. Additionally, I’m okay with Earth being destroyed, but the final five having come from Earth is a little silly. Scratch that… Being from Earth is fine for the storyline, but to insinuate that the 13th tribe were all Cylons is just too much, in my opinion.

So with 8 or so episodes left, there is lots of work to be done and to be frank, BSG cannot be left out floating in the middle of space. I think that they have to either find away to return to the colonies with a defeat of the bad Cylons or find a new world or civilization. I suppose they would just be destroyed, but we know that isn’t gonna happen. There is just no way they would kill off Apollo and Starbuck, although it’s not like the latter hasn’t happened before.

Are you LOST?

Between season 4 of LOST being available on DVD and the Sci-Fi Channel airing the who show from start to finish of the past few months, people wanting to get into the series don’t have much of an excuse to not be caught up to speed by now. Of course when it comes to LOST, all things are relative (to what, who knows?) and being up on everything that has gone on of the past 4 seasons doesn’t mean people won’t be confused by the nonlinear timeline and ever-changing alliances.

If perhaps you were a fan and watched the show through the first three seasons and then decided to come back now, well, let’s just say things have obviously changed quite a bit. The Oceanic 6 have gotten off the island, but then again, several people have gotten off the island. And then there’s that little part about the island having moved… Yeah, that’s more confusing than one would imagine because initially we were to believe that the island physically was moved, but yet the folks that stayed behind have been moving back and forth through time. I kind of think of that as a different type of movement, but nonetheless, we are to believe that the folks still stranded can be saved from a horrific end if the 6 who left, go back. So if they go back and get stranded again, does this mean they can never leave the island? And what about Ben? Can Ben come and go along with the “others?” And what about the “others?” Where are they? There are so many questions and only about 30 total episodes in which the story will be told. The writers and producers say they have an endgame, but do they, or are they too, LOST?

24 - Jack is back after a year off!

The last two nights have been quite the relief after over a year without the Power of Bauer. Yep, Jack is back and things are a bit different in the ever-changing world of “24.” While I wasn’t all that impressed with Redemption, I was pleased with the opening 4 hours of the new season of “24.”

Now I’d be remiss to not mention that I’m not too pleased with how Jack is being treated after saving the world more times than Superman, but we all know that Jack is always the hero and both the Department of Justice and the FBI are just jealous. Nevertheless, there were the usual twist and surprises and many have already panned out in pleasing fashion. My only complaint is having to wait a week till the next episode.

Can spring shows save television?

I may go so far as to say that this fall’s television schedule was less than exciting. Aside from some neat surprises in that of Fringe and Sanctuary, most of the new shows were pretty boring and of course there are my favorites that either haven’t come back yet or are yet to make their season debut. As for the former, I won’t even get into the whole Jericho argument. It’s not that it’s old and done, but it’s old and done.

I am excited for a few shows that will begin airing in the next few weeks. I just finished watching season 4 of LOST and I thought it was as thought-provoking as ever and I’m pretty excited to see where they can go with a full season. Additionally, I like the direction of 24 and thought that Redemption gave us a glimpse of the old "Jack." And finally, it is with excitement and some sadness that I think about the last remaining episodes of Battlestar Galactica. I don’t know how many episodes that are planning to air, but SciFi is going to take a big hit without viewers having this and the Stargate franchise to look forward to. Yes, I know that Caprica and Stargate Universe are in the cards, but they’re both untested and unseen. Only time will tell.

Can Heroes Really Deliver This Season?

The producers, writers, and actors from NBC’s hit show, Heroes, say that season three is meant to get back the audience they lost during the erratic and cut short second season. The formula, they say is non-stop action thanks to the introduction of the “villains” that escape from Level 5. To me, this means introducing us to as bunch of new characters when season 2 basically left us all wondering what the hell happened to the original characters. Personally, I would have preferred to have had a continuation of the storyline from season 2 because while it was far out there, I was getting used to it, but now they take the show into a whole new direction and once again, it’s confusing.

Is anyone else confused about what the hell is going on with the good guys? Is Peter good or not? Is Sylar evil or not? Does Claire really matter to the plot? Personally, the only interesting character right now is Dr. Mohinder Suresh. He’s the constant and he delivers with every scene he’s in, but the rest of the cast is mercurial at best.

All that said; I want to be fair as the show as only had a couple of man episodes this season and even in season 1, no one had a clue what was going on to this point. So unlike some other shows making a return, I will leave total judgment for a while. After all, I’m a fan of the show and I want it to be successful. To be continued…