S01.E01: Pilot

[Drogo]

The most elite unit of Navy SEALs must navigate their professional and personal lives as they train, plan and execute the most dangerous, high stakes missions our country can ask of them.

[headhoncho]

pretty bummed....I was SO bored by this - was hoping for something better - it just felt so flat

[dwmarch]

I took a look at this totally blind going in and was pleasantly surprised that David Boreanaz is the lead, despite the fact that he is way too old to be a Navy SEAL.

The show was a pretty good mix of Zero Dark Thirty, Hawaii Five-0 and Training Day with some Blackhawk Down thrown in.

So this new kid, his dad wrote a book and everyone hates him because of that? I do not feel that is an accurate representation of how Navy SEALs would regard someone who got through BUD/S. Then again, I guess the FNG is not quite a SEAL yet so he doesn't earn that respect. But if that is the case, why TF would they put him on overwatch? They treat him like he's an annoying civilian but trust him to watch their backs.

I saw Reiko Ayelsworth in the credits but I didn't see her in the show.

Although I am not watching this show for family drama, I did love the scene at the end where the normally absent dad shows up at his daughter's recital and she loves it.

[piequinn35]

^What is TF? Clay has not enough field experience that's why they treated him like that? but he's the one that shot the guy.

Reiko was the therapist of Jason at the beginning of the episode.

I saw Alona Tal as cast I guess she will be the love interest of Clay.

[TDT]

This show was much better when it was called The Unit IMO lol

History Channel's SIX was a bit better(and i think that show is coming back)

[CooperTV]

I liked it better than NBC's The Brave, but that's not saying much, since the plot of both of these is the same. The Obnoxious New Kid is obnoxious, though, and David Boreanaz is... terrible. Seems like SEAL Team has bigger budget than The Brave as well.

[Chaos Theory]

This felt so very CBS'y and not in a good way.  I kinda like The Brave a little better.  Not sure I will keep up with either.  The Brave at least got a soft yes.  This got a hard No.    I hated everyone on this at least I liked the characters on the Brave kinda.  

Edited September 28, 2017 by Chaos Theory

[Fireball]

3 hours ago, TDT said:

This show was much better when it was called The Unit IMO lol

A poor version of The Unit is exactly what this reminded me of!

[shrewd.buddha]

Wasn't this originally called "Zero Dark Thirty" ? I only caught about 10 minutes of it, but that seemed like enough. 

I'm glad David Boreanaz is getting steady work, but this type of role really doesn't demand much in terms of acting - just being stoic and grimly determined. 

The Jessica Chastain stand-in seemed as obsessed and in need of a vacation and counseling as the one in the movie.  And thanks to NCIS and its kind, those moments of "let me tell you my  harrowing background story" sort of fall flat for me. 

So, two networks thinks the time is ripe  for a SEAL team rescue show. But how many episodes will it take before it feels like the same story stuck on repeat? I imagine lots of Arab American actors rolling their eyes at the new opportunities to play the part of a terrorist - - but the worst offense is that when an evil puppet-master emerges, it will probably be a Caucasian American actor. 

Edited September 28, 2017 by shrewd.buddha

[HurricaneVal]

10 hours ago, dwmarch said:

I saw Reiko Ayelsworth in the credits but I didn't see her in the show.

She was the therapist at the top of the show.  I barely recognized her!  I wish they hadn't killed her off on Hawaii 5-0.  I'm glad she's in the credits, that means she's going to have a recurring character, I've always liked her as an actress.  There's just something about her that comes off warm.

[teddysmom]

I couldn't get thru 20 minutes of this. Jesus it was awful. 

[piequinn35]

The show is okay, I like watching military tv shows and movies, as long as they don't kill the dog. :)

[willco]

I wasn't going to watch this- it came on after Survivor and I wasn't watching anything anyway- so maybe it isn't fair of me to run it down, but I was bored and lost interest before it was half over. The shoot-out on the water was cool, but everything else was not. I feel like I've seen that shrink scene on a 1000 different shows, tough guy won't admit he's having trouble & after saying little, suggests to the doctor that she gives him a clean bill of health. Yawn. It was nice to see Reiko, though.

[CaptainCranky]

Navy seals with civilian haircuts. I don't think so.

Another lame attempt my CBS to have something decent to watch. I quit after about 10 minutes.

I'm sure there are people who will enjoy this but this is one vet that says, no thanks.

[Ohmo]

14 hours ago, Fireball said:

A poor version of The Unit is exactly what this reminded me of!

Co-sign. I'd rather have Jonas, Mac, Bob, and Hector back.  I liked the Unit.

Plus, David playing a Navy Master Chief is not that far from Seeley Booth's Army Ranger.

This felt like the Unit with a sideways sprinkle of Bones.  Everyone was specifically attending a Holy Communion?  (Booth was Catholic on Bones.)

I'm going to try watching the pilot again because I didn't give it my full attention the first time.

I wasn't a fan of the female lead and whatever type of specialist/analyst she was supposed to be.

[CooperTV]

11 hours ago, piequinn35 said:

The show is okay, I like watching military tv shows and movies, as long as they don't kill the dog. :)

Yep, I only was worried about the dog the entire time!

[Vicky8675309]

I wasn't thrilled by it. I don't like the actor from Bones. I preferred The Unit or Strike Back for military themed shows.

[TDT]

1 hour ago, Vicky8675309 said:

I wasn't thrilled by it. I don't like the actor from Bones. I preferred The Unit or Strike Back for military themed shows.

Strike Back is about to be revived on Cinemax

[dwmarch]

On 27/09/2017 at 11:54 PM, piequinn35 said:

^What is TF? 

Usually abbreviated WTF but would not have made sense as such since the question was why.

[Adira]

I went into this blind and just watched it because I didn't really have anything else to watch and heard it was better than the CW's Valor.  I liked it, but I haven't watched any of the other shows mentioned here (The Unit, Strike Back, etc).  Plus I have no military experience, so I have no idea how realistic any of it was or not.  I thought it was decent and I'll keep watching for now.

[Raja]

On Thursday, September 28, 2017 at 5:43 AM, Fireball said:

A poor version of The Unit is exactly what this reminded me of!

I was thinking it was a rich version of The Unit. Since the CO was not having an affair with one of his sailors wives they got the official support recently withdrawn from The  Last Ship with the  Blackhawk helicopters  and latest tactical gear. While The Unit, glorifying in their undercover Delta Force status didn't need the best must be American made

Edited September 29, 2017 by Raja

[Mars477]

The asinine "drama at home" nonsense in this show and The Unit makes me glad that there's none of that BS in The Brave.

I have to say, opening the episode with David Boreanaz being insanely condescending to his female therapist (who of course would have the necessary clearance to treat SEALs you dimwit) was not the best look.  Also he's way too fucking old to be a Navy SEAL.

Also hilarious is the idea of a SEAL CO being seen as a pencil pusher.  Officers in the SEALs, even in the higher up commands like NAVSPECWARCOM and SOCOM, made their bones as operators, who underwent the same training and work as enlisted SEALs.  The current commanding officer of Naval Special Warfare Command was a SEAL Team leader in his youth.

Not sure if this worse than Six or not.

[piequinn35]

We can't do anything about David's age, Jim Caviezel is also 48? maybe they couldn't find a famous actor who is in his 30s to do a Senior Chief role. 

Mike Vogel is 35 and he is The Brave, maybe they could have asked Jamie Dornan to do this if he is not busy filming movies. :P 

[CooperTV]

9 minutes ago, piequinn35 said:

maybe they could have asked Jamie Dornan to do this if he is not busy filming movies. :P 

SEAL Team would be more dignified role than Jamie Dornan was doing for the past couple years in his own, ahem, movie franchise :P

[piequinn35]

Jamie Dornan did a Commander role in Siege of Jadotville, if he is in this show, maybe a lot of people will watch this :P 

[Pandorap]

I liked it. I did have trouble focusing for the first half and was a little confused at what was going on, but I thought the second half was good enough to bring me back for subsequent episodes. And I like David B, so I'm hoping the season is engaging for me. 

[jhlipton]

I was out after the Communion.  My wife didn't make it through therapy.

On 9/28/2017 at 8:13 PM, Ohmo said:

I wasn't a fan of the female lead and whatever type of specialist/analyst she was supposed to be.

On 9/29/2017 at 9:42 AM, Mars477 said:

I have to say, opening the episode with David Boreanaz being insanely condescending to his female therapist (who of course would have the necessary clearance to treat SEALs you dimwit) was not the best look.

You're not supposed to like the3 therapist.  Only losers get PTSD!
He started the session with insubordination -- I doubt the he has doctor-patient confidentiality with the chain of command.  And, yes, someone who takes PTSD seriously is going to make admiral before someone who doesn't.

[Raja]

50 minutes ago, jhlipton said:

You're not supposed to like the3 therapist.  Only losers get PTSD!

He started the session with insubordination -- I doubt the he has doctor-patient confidentiality with the chain of command.  And, yes, someone who takes PTSD seriously is going to make admiral before someone who doesn't.

Well as a Senior Chief he only has one more enlisted paygrade possible

[Fireball]

On ‎9‎/‎29‎/‎2017 at 9:46 AM, Raja said:

I was thinking it was a rich version of The Unit. Since the CO was not having an affair with one of his sailors wives they got the official support recently withdrawn from The  Last Ship with the  Blackhawk helicopters  and latest tactical gear. While The Unit, glorifying in their undercover Delta Force status didn't need the best must be American made

I don't remember any of that! I obviously don't remember The Unit to well. lol 

[NYGirl]

I lasted 5 minutes in and then shut off the TV and went to bed.  I love these types of shows too.. 

[Lady Calypso]

Man, I really like most of the main actors, but the show isn't great. Plus, Boreanaz feels like he's just playing a slightly different version of Seeley Booth, if he didn't become an FBI agent. 

I might do a rewatch to see if I like it better the 2nd time. 

[mojoween]

Jessica Pare is just the WORST.  Megan Draper is not at all believable as...whatever it is she is supposed to be doing.  I hope her role is so very small going forward.

I'll watch anything with David Boreanaz in it even if this is Booth changes his military branch.

I didn't think they were going to kill a dog in the first show yet still was nervous watching Cerberus (? I think that's what I heard) run ahead.

[blackwing]

I really wanted to like this, but it was just so dreadfully boring.  The Brave is so much better.  I wanted to like this for Megan Draper and Max Theriot, but it's just not very good.   It doesn't help that I don't particularly care for David Boreanaz.  I just can't look at him and not think that he looks very simian.  On this show, it's like he can't decide whether he's a serious military man or his character from Bones, so he tries to do both.  It's not working.

[MizDiz]

Ugh...Megan.  I'm out.

[Kel Varnsen]

It was good for what it was I thought, a very simple but expensive looking action packed action show. Seriously I can remember action movies from the 80's having more depth. They really had the lead character tell his therapist he was fine and didn't need to talk about the traumatic event he was involved in. They could have got that from some kind of random action movie plot generator. I will probably watch a few more because I could easily see it getting better though. And there is always a place for dumb action shows, especially ones that look like they aren't done on the cheap.

[Lady Calypso]

So...I rewatched.

Oh, why Daniel Gillies, why did you make a cameo on this show? I like you; you are more than just a cameo appearance as the obligatory team member death to drive the main character's angst at the beginning of the series. Usually, they try to cast a relatively unknown actor for the role. This is the first time I know this stock character well.

I think I somehow despise Jason more than I did in the first brief glance of the show. DB isn't that much of a one note actor, but this character really is Seeley Booth in an alternate timeline. He's just playing the same character for me. He shouldn't have gone for a role that has similar traits to his last well known show. 

Jason is recently separated, which means DB will get to hook up with whatever women until they force him and his ex wife back together once she realizes how good he is but how damaged he is as well, and then said ex wife will probably die. Also, great, a daughter is involved. She'll probably turn into the biggest brat who eventually gets kidnapped or some shit like that. I only predict this because this pilot was pretty predictable to begin with.

God, I love Max Thieriot, but Clay is such a humongous jackass trying to act better than he is for *insert cliche sob backstory here*. 

What did I like? I liked Davis enough, but her flirtation with Clay loses some really major points here. Oh, how predictable that the young recruit will hook up with the only female on the field. I mean, I JUST typed out almost that exact sentence on The Brave forum (replace young recruit with main lead), but at least they had the decency to wait until episode two for that! Ray wasn't....awful, I guess, but forgettable. Jessica Pare's character was pretty bad. I never got past the second episode of Mad Men, so is the actress typically this bad, or was it just the character that she didn't seem to connect with on any level?

The writing is goddamn cliched and goddamn awful as a result. Nope, The Brave was a whole lot better. However, I am going to watch episode 2 right now to see if it's any better. I try to give shows more than the pilot before I quit, unless the pilot was unwatchable. This pilot, though bad, wasn't unwatchable. It did take 22 minutes out of the 42ish minutes to get into the action, though.