Special Unit 2

Five or six years ago, there was a TV show that came on UPN called Special Unit 2.

It was one of the quirkiest, silliest, most entertaining shows I ever saw.

The whole premise was that all the monsters and creatures from mythology are real. Except vampires. They are the "missing link" in evolution. They evolved into pixies, werewolves, and such.

Silly? Yeah, told you.

But it was good, mindless fun.

They only made about 20 episodes (actually, 19; I looked it up). But I never saw them all. But I laughed out loud at the ones I did see.

Special Unit 2 (SU2) was the brainchild of Evan Katz. He's executive producer of 24. And wrote many of the episodes.

But SU2 was his baby. And when it went off the air, I was desperate for another fun, mindless show. Particularly after September 11 of that year.

The next year, I discovered She Spies. And enjoyed season one. Hated season two. Maybe I'll write about She Spies another time.

Right now, I'm remembering SU2.

The male lead (Michael Landes, who played Jimmy Olsen of Lois and Clark) is a typical sexist male. He's awesome.

The female lead (Alexondra Lee, who played Callie Martel on Party of Five) is smart and in charge. And way over her head. She's fantastic.

The captain of Special Unit 2 is played by Richard Gant (Sgt. Bill Dornan, Andy Sipowicz' nemises on NYPD Blue, and Hostetler on Deadwood), one of my favorite character actors.

And the resident "link" expert is Carl the Gnome, played by the always fantastic Danny Woodburn (Mickey Abbott on Sienfeld).

None of the characters want to be there. They all have a chip on their shoulder. They hate each other. And it all works. I loved the show.

But what prompted me to mention SU2?

I saw a commercial saying that it debuts on SciFi this Friday.

I've already set the TiVo.