The Unit
I’ve now seen three episodes of The Unit, shown here in the UK on Bravo. Produced and (supposedly) written by David Mamet, it’s the story of an special forces unit and their families. It’s hard to admit this as a huge Mamet fan, but so far, I’m extremely underwhelmed. Despite the imposing presence of Dennis Haysbert, the military side of the story lacks grit (usually such a strong Mamet trait) and the family side appears to be second rate Desperate Housewives (which I don’t watch). It’s also from Shawn Ryan who created The Shield (for which Mamet guest-wrote an episode) which makes my disappointment even more acute.
The first time I saw The Shield, I thought it had to be by Mamet. It had his ear for language, great dark characters, and shared his sense of borrowing from the real world in an all out attempt to convey what a small portion of real life is like. Now I’m supposedly watching something actually written by Mamet, it looks like it’s written by third rate TV-movie writers. Each show seems to split quite happily into the story of troops defending the nation and wives struggling to survive against army beaurocracy. Where is the darkness, the blurred morality, the love of profanity? Where are the great Mamet ideas, the twists, the intellectual games? Where is the love of small details? Where are the obsessives and the freaks?
Whether it’s one of those situations where Mamet hands in a story outline for others to work on, or whether there’s a time-slot that is heavily limiting him, The Unit is the most disappointed I’ve been by my favourite contemporary writer. They should remake it for late night cable because as it stands, it’s tepid and Mamet’s work is never ever tepid. Which only makes me think (and hope) he’s allowing the producers to use his name as a favour to someone? I want the real David Mamet back.