Created by playwright David Mamet, the 60-minute action series The Unit dramatized the exploits of the Rangers, an elite team of top-secret military special ops. Fresh from his star-making stint on 24, Dennis Haysbert headed the cast as the unit's leader, Jonas Blane. His colleagues included brash, brazen, anti-authoritarian new recruit Bob Brown (Scott Foley), his superior officer Col. Tom Ryan (Robert Patrick), and veteran Mack Gerhardt (Max Martini), who at the beginning of the series was on the verge of burning out. The various covert missions undertaken by the unit were counterbalanced by the members' domestic problems, as personified by Jonas' long-suffering spouse, Molly (Regina Taylor), and Bob Brown's pregnant, volatile wife, Kim (Audrey Marie Anderson). Also, in a plot twist unparalleled in the annals of TV combat series, Tom Ryan was carrying on an affair with Tiffy (Abby Brammell), the wife of his comrade-in-arms Gerhardt. Based on a book by retired special-ops officer Eric L. Haney, The Unit debuted March 8, 2006.