Monday, June 1, 2009

Underrated, Underfunded, and Canceled: Special Unit 2


There will probably be a series along this line as there have been far too many good scifi shows cut down in their prime.

Canceled after two very short seasons in 2001-2002, Special Unit 2 was a goofy cross between X Files, CSI, and Men In Black, with shades of The Man From Uncle for taste. SU2 is a division of the Chicago PD that works to cover up and police the resident population of "links" or monsters, both mythical and made up by the writers. "Except vampires, which are total fiction." One of the best things about the show was it's irreverence, especially to UPN's top supernatural show at the time, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The show made up for it's sometimes cheesy effects by some truly interesting interpersonal relationships.

Nick O'Mally the damaged, sarcastic and violent senior SU2 agent, played by Michael Landes. Nick was constantly bickering with Carl the klepto gnome, Danny Woodburn, and his partner Kate Benson played by Alexondra Lee.


Now as much as I hate to admit it UPN was not at fault for the quick cancelation of the show. The latest internet gossip is that the creators of the show inadvertently or not, where involved in a bit of copyright infringement. Sadly this not only resulted in the canceling of the show but is most likely the reason that a DVD release has not been forthcoming, and most probably never will, not an official release anyway. You can however get a bootleg version on the internet. Ever so often however you can manage to catch it on the SciFi channel. (I refuse to call it by that ridiculous new monicker.)