There’s another casualty on network TV. CBS’ military drama, The Unit, has been cancelled after four seasons on the air.
The Unit revolves around an elite military unit and their civilian loved ones. The series features the talents of Dennis Haysbert, Regina Taylor, Audrey Marie Anderson, Robert Patrick, Max Martini, Abby Brammell, Michael Irby, Scott Foley, Demore Barnes, Alyssa Shafer, Danielle Hanratty, Kavita Patil, and Rebecca Pidgeon.
Created by acclaimed director and writer David Mamet, the series debuted in mid-season 2006. An average audience of 15.5 million viewers ensured a second season for the drama but year two didn’t go as well, attracting 11.1 million viewers. The show has continued to decline in the ensuing years and season four has averaged an audience of 9.67 million. Though the overall viewership isn’t too low, the series does skew older. The average age of The Unit’s viewership is about 55.
The series has been “on the bubble” for awhile and many took it as a bad sign when showrunner Shawn Ryan signed on to helm FOX’s Lie to Me. Ryan however maintained that he would continue on both shows if The Unit was renewed. He’d previously performed double duty while working concurrently on The Unit and The Shield.
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Like most of the networks’ actions these days, the decision to renew or cancel came down to finances. CBS had asked for all of its shows to reduce their budgets. The Unit is actually already cheaper to produce than it looks. Shot primarily in Southern California, it costs less than $3 million per episode to produce. That’s about half as expensive as other primetime dramas.
A couple weeks ago, Haysbert told the LA Times that he was unsure if he wanted the show to come back if it meant making too many creative and salary concessions. He said, “There are a number of factors that go into whether I want it back or not. It’s been a great ride and, if I don’t work with these people again, I’ll certainly play golf with them.”
In an age when the networks and studios have to watch every dollar, they’ve all been favoring renewing shows that are created by sister or in-house production companies. Since 20th Century Fox TV produces the show, the network wouldn’t benefit if the show went into syndication.
Prior to the cancellation news, Gary Newman, chairman of The Unit’s studio, said, “For the CBS viewer, this show is unique. The audience may not be huge, but there’s going to be enormous disappointment if it goes off and it’s replaced with one more procedural or forensics show.”
Image courtesy CBS.
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I can’t believe that CBS is cancelling the Unit. If you want to save some money, why not cancel David Letterman who is sickening.
Way to go, get rid of the one show that I love the most, you just lost a viewer. Keeping Medium was the wrong choice, that show is so predictable, however: the Unit was unique, and one of the best shows going. Great writers and the best actors. Way to go, CBS.
CBS is kidding themselves. Forensic shows are a dime a dozen these days. The Unit was fairly unique and drew an audience that (in my case) is sick to death of the overabundance of Cop investigative dramas (with the possible exception of NCIS).
Why is it that TV producers have this “pile on” mentality. If one cop show does well, everyone and his grandmother starts producing cop shows until the public gets sick to death of them (witness the Law and Order plethora of spin-offs and look-alike rip-offs). A couple of decades back it was horse operas to the exclusion of anything else. If the entertainment industry had anyone with a brain running the studios, there would be an eclectic mix of shows to capture as many major audience demographics as possible.
Now The Unit appealed to the older crowd. C’MON Hollywood and NY, look at your age demographics. The Baby Boomers are IN that demographic. There’s a huge market of old folks running around out there and anyone who caters to them will make money. And money is what feeds the horses that pull your wagons. Think of all the Depends commercials you can run along with resort ads, travel options, restaurant ads, wine commercials, health aids, etc. Any advertiser who caters to this group should be knocking down your doors or crawling through your windows to get an ad slot on any program that appeals to them.
And The Unit is no exception.
CBS YOU ARE A DISAPPOINTMENT TO LOTS OF FANS OF THE UNIT!!!!! BEST SHOW OUT THERE!!! PLEASE, IF THERE IS ANOTHER NETWORK THAT HAS CLASS PICK UP THIS SHOW AND PAY THEM MORE!!!! WE WILL BE WAITING!!!! TOOOO MANY MEDICAL DRAMAS AND FORENSIC SHOWS!!! PAY THE ACTORS WHAT THEY NEED TO STAY!!!! WE MISS THE UNIT!!!
I am completely devastated to learn of this! I had just realized that “I haven’t see any updates of my show”…let me look online and see when it’s coming back. I almost cried. Must we all drown in a sea of reality shows. The Unit offered something so different…it was most certainly worth keeping!!! TV sucks!
What is CBS thinking about? This is the worst move I have seen made in a while.They need to get rid of one of those stupid cop shows.What are now like 10 throughout the week.TV is boring anymore with all those shows,this show was the only one i looked forward to.And with me being a soldier and being deployed right now,its good to see a show like this on tv.It does give some sense of what we do and we get things done int he protection of our country.Lets just all hope and pray another network picks it up and soldiers on with more great shows.Going to miss it and in my opinion CBS is not worth watching anymore.
My family is very, very disappointed! The Unit is a show we looked forward to watching each week – there just wasn’t anything else on TV like it.
IT’S A SAD DAY WHEN GOOD TV SHOWS GET CANCELLED A BAD ONES GET TO STAY ON THE AIR. MY HUSBAND AND I STARTED GETTING OUR ENTIRE FAMILY TOGETHER TO WATCH THE SHOW “THE UNIT” …FINALLY A TV SHOW EVERYONE OVER THE AGE OF 10 COULD WATCH!
So, tell US all why the show was cancelled if the budget was lower than any other show and the viewership was high..bubble or not. Who cares if the average viewer was 55. Are you saying that their views don’t count? What about the rest of the viewers within that average? BRING IT BACK!!!!!!!! You can’t let it go like that!!! At least give us all closure with a four night Unit Special or something to close the story. This show was as huge as Dallas to my family and a whole lot of others out there. PLEASE BRING IT BACK!!!!! P.S. Looking for an EXTRA call me
Go to CBS.com and complain. Just click on feedback on the bottom of the site. Yhe Unit is still in the drop down box. It only takes a second
Keeping Medium was the wrong choice! The Unit was unique, and one of the best shows going. Great writers and the best actors. Lets just all hope and pray another network like FOX picks it up and soldiers on with more great shows.Going to miss it and in my opinion the only thing on CBS to watch is NCIS.
The death of the Unit is a casualty of the writing and plot gyrations the studio used in the last season. The “rape” and “defection” of the unit’s new team member was so transparent Mr. Magoo could have seen it coming. If you want a drama to have good ratings, get good writers who can concoct a story. In one episode Jonas is sent to retrieve the sword used to pierce Jesus’ side, from a place where it’s hidden in South America. What? He has to do this to save the life of his partner, who is dying from a gunshot wound while revisiting not having stopped a sniper. Jonas has to choose between him and the Monks who guard the sword. Oh Jeez. Who thought this crap up? The lucky cast members were the ones shot before the end of the 3rd season. Not content to chase terrorists and retrieve stolen military secrets, the wives had to get their story told. Perhaps someone didn’t tell the studio that no one gave a crap about the wives; they were a distraction and a badly scripted/badly cast one at that. “Tiffy” was a walking talking advertisement for the repeal of all domestic abuse laws. Colonel Ryan couldn’t decide if he was a chickenshit or a leader. And, for the record, the makeup of the team without an officer in the lead was just a stupid plot contrivance. Hasybert was terrific, as was the woman who played Kim Brown. The rest should be sent back to Central Casting for daytime soap appearances.
The Unit: May it rest in peace.
CBS….. CAN’T BE SERIOUS…. YOU CANCELED THE BEST SHOW YOU PRODUCED… GET WITH IT FOLKS…. YOU GUYS HAD A WINNER IF YOU WOULD HIRE BETTER WRITERS…..SUCH STUPID SHOWS YOU NOW HAVE OWN…
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