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.
You have got to be kidding!My husband and i are very disappointed,we have been loyal watchers for years and were both very much under 55 years of age.Bring it back CBS or GOOD BY!!!!!!!
Well, I am 55, ex Special Forces Veteran, and could really relate to this show. Everything else on CBS is crap unless its NFL Football, and they are probably to cheap to keep that come next contract. PURE BS…IM OUTTA HERE!
this is one of the best shows on cbs and it is for a mature and young group. what we do not matter. i will miss this show, but i guess i will start looking at burn notice bye cbs
I can not believe The Unit has been taken off the air. I have been a loyal viewer even with forcing them to switch nights and times since it began. If it were kept on Tuesday nights instead of moving to Sunday and being postponed due to overlapping of shows, it would have beern much better. The show is great and exciting and the actors are fantastic. I am not 55 years old and I am a woman so the viewers are a much larger range than where ever the source is you get this information from. I hope this… Read more »
Well yeah I agree with a lot of people, because mainly its the only thing CBS had that wasn’t a load of crap so my tv will never be on cbs again more than likely. I am just one person but I am sure there are others that have the same likes as I do when it comes to tv so it will hit them harder than they thought. I am not 55 years old as they said their average viewer age was for The Unit. I’m actually about 1.5 decades short of that but I believe what they were… Read more »
there is nothing can compare to THE UNIT (well besides NCIS), is well produced and written and the casts is amazing! I truely love this show and can’t get enough of it. CBS should be a shame of themselves by cancelling the best show EVER!!
They will be losing a lot of viewers by doing this! So please bring back The Unit!!
I can’t believe it…another one bites the dust! How in the world can you cancel The Unit?!?!?!? It was bad enough that CBS jerked us around when it was televised, but to actually take it off the air is crazy. CBS really needs to get it together :-p
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????????? How in the world can CBS keep some of the crap it shows and get rid of The Unit? I am NOT over 55 and it was my FAVORITE show!!!!! Alot of my friends watched the show. I hope another network will pick it up. CBS tanked The Unit but picked up Medium from another network, ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS, I HOPE YOUR OVERALL RATINGS PLUMMET!!!!! If they get rid of NCIS, I’m gone!!
The Unit is one of the best shows on TV. The network is digging its’ own grave. NCIS is great and when The Unit followed it was just perfect. If I could not watch on Tues we recorded the shows and then watched on Saturday night. I do not watch “reality” shows and the choices for me to watch are getting slimmer and slimmer. Pretty soon I will not have to watch anything but sports on TV. I certainally do not watch CBS for anything else. What a waste of time CBS is.
Your kidding you cancelled the best show on tv. I hope someone else will pick it up. done with CBS
Well what the F***!!! Another of my favorite shows bites the dust while they keep fluff on t.v. I don’t watch reality shows, if you can call them shows. The unit was one that I wouldn’t miss. If you are going to take a show off the air don’t leave me hanging, have the decency to end the show on a high note, not a cliffhanger. Does anyone remember the great show Cane starring Jimmy Smits? Another great show that CBS cancelled and replaced with what?? All I can say is CBS is no longer my priority, I wil not… Read more »
This is one of the best series on non cable TV, excellent shows. Why would the show be cancelled.
“The Unit”is a terrific TV show which I looked forward to every week often adjusting my schedule to be sure not to miss. CBS has put on some good shows then removed them replacing them with mind-numbing nonsense. I love “The Unit” and if CBS takes off “NCIS” they will lose me all together.
I have to agree with the others on this site. How CBS can keep garbage around for years (Survivor & Big Brother) yet cancel a well written, well produced, patriotic show such as this! I have 2 daughters, 1 in high school & 1 in college and neither they or their friends watch either of these BS programs. So obviously it is not the younger demo your going after! My kids did watch the first season when they were in elementary school but they came to see that Survivor is JUNK TV not Reality TV. I hope that if you… Read more »
This was one of the best shows on non-cable TV and the only show I watched on CBS. I stopped tuning in to CBS for News preferring the real news on PBS long ago, now I’m done with CBS. Non-cable networks are causing their own demise through dumbed-down and poor programming choices.