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.
Never thought I’d get hooked on this show and very disappointed to see it go. I watched both seasons 1 and 2 before I left Iraq and couldn’t wait to see the following season. now that I caught up with all the seasons, it was frustrating to find out it got cancelled just when the show got really interesting. The show is far better than any other military style shows and the characters face the same problems at home as it would with real military personnel. It’s not corny how they depict battle scenes unlike many shows before. I hope… Read more »
This was a great show. It was a better version of the A-team. They moved it around too much and lost vewiers. It was great as a sunday night show. They should bring it back.
BRING IT BACK!
I thought it was insane when they canceled The Unit. It was as popular as the NCIS is/was, that it originally followed. But then, yesterday, I had my “Duh” moment. A year ago we moved into the era of Fuhrer Obama and his socialist party. OF COURSE The Anointed One wouldn’t approve of any show like that. Of course Hollywood fell all over itself to remove the offending drama. What a shame…and shame on all Americans to let this stuff happen.
We just did a marathon of the TheUnit (watched all four season back to back). Definitely an amazing series. While it is always disappointing to see a show end, we all know that no series can last forever. Great to see it end while it was still interesting!
The Unit was an amazing show my husband and I looked forward to. I can’t believe it is gone. Why???
this was A GREAT SHOW. i am so PISSED that they cancelled the show. Unfortunately i haven’t really heard of it until about a month ago. I mean seriously, what does that tell you about the advertising job? After i found out about it, watched ONE episode and immediately fell in love, i started to tell all my friends about it and they immediately bought seasons 1-4.
THIS IS A GREAT SHOW, KEEP IT ALIVE DAMMIT!
Why CBS Why, Thats just wrong the Heck with you guy’s down there.
PLEASE bring back the show!!
wtf? This was my favorite show and sad to see it gone.
Hi
i am from Israel.. and i love very much the show , very good acting and almost every episode was intersting .
so bring it back!!!!
it still brought in almost 10 million viewers in the last season even with the network not behind it. sucks that it’s gone. not too pleased with BET’s handling of the reruns either. it’s not on consistently and a couple times they’ve started on episode then come back from commercial and shown parts of another ep. it is on in syndication on another channel in my area luckily.
The viewers may have been on the decline but so what. There was nothing else that reflected military life like The Unit. If Haysbert does not come back, it will suck but hey that’s military life. That rank structure changes. Get somebody else to lead like Mack.
Please bring back the unit it was the best nighttime drama on CBS PLEASE!!
I was a beginner with this show but I have to admit that I really got into it. I loved the cast and their acting. Im really sad that it was cancelled before I ever watched a new episode. That really sucks! I really dont watch CBS and now I guess I wont be watching it anyways…..
BET is playing reruns of The Unit, currently in season 2, but don’t expect them to pick up on production of a season 5. It would of been nice though. I will really miss this show, I guess now I have a new sitcom about a wife and her family with bad jokes and a white picket fence or like they said another forensic mystery. The originality of this show was unmatched, it could of ran 10 seasons and I would of watched every episode.