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.
I loved the show and never missed an episode. It got me through some rough times. Maybe it should have aired on lifetime. Army wives tends to doing really well.
Last night was my first time ever watching “The Unit” on BET and it was the Bomb. I’m Hooked and now I read that it was Cancelled. I don’t see why this is one of the best shows I ever watched on reguler tv.
the UNIT on BET – tonight- 3hours. 8pm-11pm est
It is a crying shame, watching this show helped make the time of my deployment to OIF a lot easier. There arent any other shows that I can think of which make me more proud to be a soldier because they actually got the story right. I saw a lot of the problems these fictional characters faced in my own life and am truly sad to see this end. there may not have been a lot of people that watched this show, but if a cbs producer was to read this I would like to tell them that the people… Read more »
Can NOT believe they cancelled this show! As military members, my husband & I LOVED this show. Did not begin to follow the show till last year due to deployments, but quickly became our FAVORITE show next to NCIS. Following Cold Case was a good move. One more CSI or reality show hits the channel I will NEVER watch them again. Please, please bring the UNIT back !!
ok, so we all agree that “The Unit” should not have been cancelled. What do we do about it, other than posting here? Does anyone at CBS read this? Probably not. But how do we get them to read this? Anyone have any ideas?
They should have changed its time slot. This was the best show CBS ran.
This is f****d up what am i suppose to watch now…come on CBS get rid of them crap reality shows and bring back THE UNIT…as if CBS cares about anyone but their bank accounts…
When they cancel shows that make you think and give us crap to veg out it clearly shows that channels such as CBS think that we are stupid. I hate that they cancel shows like the Unit and pick up shows like dance your ass off or big brothe 24. NBC cancelled Life and Southland. Two other great shows replaced by mindless crap such as Im a celebrity get me out of here. Thank God for netflix.
whaaaaaaaaaaat…..
Bad decision of CBS…..
Bring back the Unit…. the People of PHILIPPINES love that show.
This show was incredible! I am disappointed to hear that it is cancelled. I guess it did not have enough sex, crudeness, dumbness, and outrageous behavior to attract the mindless target audience. Thank God for cable and the history channel!
Anyone heard of the reruns coming on BET 16 Nov ?
The reruns will be better thananything on cbs
This was a good my friends & I would watch it everytime it was on. We are all in our 30’s as well so I can say younger viewer do watch this show.
I can’t even express how upset this makes me. This was one of those shows that had a message, that made you think, that left something with you.
Of course it is cancelled. The dumbing down of America is all around us.
This was one of only 3 shows that if I can’t watch on real time I DVR it. I have to say besides NCIS this was my favorite show. I am sorry to see it go.