Much to the dismay of the show’s loyal followers, The Unit was cancelled by CBS in May. The series’ viewership had declined in its later years but, despite being preempted several times, still attracted 9.67 million viewers in season four.
The Unit was supposedly being seriously considered to continue in first-run syndication but the deal didn’t work out, likely because of production costs. Sadly, while the military drama and Dennis Haysbert, Regina Taylor, Robert Patrick, and Scott Foley will be around in syndication for years to come, we won’t be seeing season five of The Unit.
It turns out that the writers had a full plan for year five which Executive Producer Shawn Ryan was expecting to be the show’s last. He pitched the storyline ideas to the CBS execs but ultimately they weren’t interested.
At the recent TCA press tour, Ryan shared with The Futon Critic what would have happened. He said, “It was going to be a whole new show in the sense that we were going to be training some young people, Bob was going to be training some people for a whole new organization. Jonas was finally going to be seeing his run end.”
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Ryan continued, “The final season was going to be, I figured the fifth season was going to be the last… It was going to be a long, sort of final mission for Jonas. He’s not medically cleared, Mac has to go in and sort of change the medical records so that Jonas can keep on [going on missions]. We had a whole thing planned, it was going to be good.”
Of the cancellation, Ryan points to CBS’ last-minute decision to save NBC’s discarded Medium series. If things had been reversed and The Unit “had been owned by Paramount and Medium had been owned by 20th Century Fox, we’d be making the fifth season of The Unit right now. I don’t know how else to say that.”
What do you think? Do the plans for season five sound like a good way for the military drama to finish?
Image courtesy CBS.
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I was never been interested in any military shows until recently . My husband introduced me to the Unit and I am hooked on it. It is sad to find out such a great show was cancelled. Eversince then , CBS was the last channel I wanted to watch.
I never thought this show would be so interesting. I am very upset the show was canceled, I have recorded all the shows of session 4. This was a wonderful show for me and my family. We look forward to seeing the shows before the cancellation. There are so many fans out here that would love to see more of this show. The show was more ever day life of some solider. It was a honor for me to watch this show of our military persons.
Would have broke the Networks bank to have the final 5th season of The Unit?!
So now we gotta settle for its replacement in its time slot? Go suck on an M-16 Jackasses!
I grew up watching Boston Blackie and all those good guy catch the bad guy tv shows. Along with all the Cowboys and Indians, more westerns than anything else, seeing Clint Eastwood slide his horse to a stop in Rawhide was one of the reasons I made it my business as a kid growing up in the Bland Projects of Queens NY to learn how to really ride a horse. Now as I guess I would be considered an old man ,The Unit has taken its’ majestic place as the “GOOD GUYS CATCHING THE BAD GUYS” with out the stupidity of the use of mediums or anything that isn’t real. CBS is in a sense like Detroit, instead of really listing to their audience they want to say what we really want. Detroit got its come-ups by the Japanese. And I still can’t wait for 24 to come every Monday night. CBS—DETROIT, DETROIT—CBS. I haven’t owned an American made car for over 20 years…CBS—DETROIT.. When will they learn???? WE WANT THE UNIT RETURNED… AND THAT IS THAT.
My husband and i absolutely loved this show! We were extremely disappointed that the fourth season was the last, we own them all. And when we watched the last episode of the fourth season we were extremely disappointed in the way that it ended! I think having season 5 be the last season would have been the better option. The plans sound great and I think it would have turned out to be the best season!
Bring it on! I need season 5 or at least make it a movie!
I am a veteran, Navy Corpsman I served with the USN and the US Marines. I have never seen a better episode than the unit. It would be a good thing to show our Armed Forces Members today who continue to fight for our freedom. Ladies and Gentlemen who I am greatly proud of. I figure this type of show is motivational and inspirational!
I started watching this show on accident one night thinking it was something else. After the very first episode, I immediately opened a NetFlix account and have watched every episode religiously! It truly brings to light the “Whole” soldier, not just the asskicking, door-busting grunt. The way the writers/producers have intertwined the lives of all these families is absolutely fantastic. It seemed like for once there was a show that didnt include the same damn cops and court rooms and pyschic bull. Sure the average veiwership was round 9 million, but hey they also said it only costs $3 mil a show come on CBS really? Understand that not only does this show entice people but it brings light to those individuals who are serving in combat/black ops and while we will never know who they are we can still show that we respect what they do simply by watching a show dedicated to their sole purpose. Do the right thing, bring the show back for its finl season, allow the actors to finish an amazing show and continue paying tribute to the thousands of soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen deployed overseas or in one fashion or another defending this country with their lives! Thank you, CBS you need to do the right thing…stop thinking about your “tight” bank account and continue to air the show!
-> Dennis Haysbert, Regina Taylor, Robert Patrick, and Scott Foley: You all have done a fantastic job in the creation of this show! Coninue to press what buttons you have ad close this show out in a 5th and final season!
My mom and dad love this show and I just recently started watching the 1st season and was planning on watching all the shows to watch when the show came on. I have only watched 8 of the first episodes and I am so hooked! Then my mom told me she had read online that the show was cancelled and I was really disappointed:(
Its a shame. this was a show which showed soldiers in a positive and proper light and it was as close to realism and insight, it was one of the finest shows in tv! Now all we have is the silly realism tv or shows about dancing or whatever..For crying out loud folks You seem to be misorented on what the american public wants to see, If we wanted to see dancing or some guys in a talent show we go see it live but we want to forget about a long day at work and be entertained, we want to laugh or watch a good drama and root for guys or gals who do whats right. We dont want to see political messages or issues we want to see shows which will entertain and make us think at times, who wants to see some obnoxious English guy bad mouthing people or some damn Cook who badmouths people all the damn time, Come on!
i dont even watch cbs anymore once they bring the unit back ill start again me and about 200 of my freinds and family i hadalot of problems before geting into this show and now its goneoh yeh 115fa camp casey korea has banned cbs til they get thier heads strait as well as 141fa ft stewart ga thats about 5,000 soldiers i myself know how it feels to see and do things that we cant explain to our families and the unit provids a way we can all show our honor no matter what happens or has to happen to get it done>
Great Show, sadly it would end-up like this, my expectation is that The Unit will reach season 7 or 8 or even 9, like other shows did, I’ll just watch this series from season 1 to season 4 just to relive it.
I hope it doesn’t end up at season 5
Hey folks..I got a crazy idea that just came to my head. it sounds wild, but it just might work to bring the Snake doctor and our brothers in the 303rd back on the air, ANYTHING will be a hell of a lot better than watching Simon Bloody Cowell and Gordon “Donkey” Ramsey or some actors dancing on stage. ALL GI’s who want to have the Unit back sign a petition and send it to those executives at CBS and tell ‘em how we feel about this show! I dont know about you guys, But I’ll be damned if the NAVY gets all the good shows while we had THE SHOW that shows us who we were, and while we’re at it lets contact CSM Haney and get him on board and fight like hell to get the show back on.
However there is another alternative. We can raid the CBS studios and show the Executives our displeasure! (Just Kidding)
need to bring this show back…it was/is great. Love watching the reruns
If someone sets up / starts the petition — I’m all for signing it!
Okay. lets get organized right about now. All Military guys and gals. lets get in contact with one another and lets get that circulation up and running and lets see if we can get Snake Doctor’s and CSM Haney’s help also, I know damn well we can get this organized and get it up and running! ALL GI’s who like the show, including Civilians (Who we thank for your absolute support) gather all that we can and lets get this organized, I know its going to be rough and difficult since those executives have more important matters (God only knows what) but lets get it up and on! Briner, can you get those Redlegs of 1/15 and 1/41 to help get it rolling by signing a petition and pass it along the gunline? Every SOLDIER help out! EVERYONE!
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