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.
I can’t believe ‘The Unit’ has been cancelled! It was one of my favorite shows; my husband and I were hooked since the first episode. Please bring it back!
I’m with RGBreed; I’m really fed up with CBS canceling all of the interesting shows. With the axing of Jericho and The Unit there is little left on CBS’s programming that holds my interest. CSI is okay, but I’m getting bored.
Well I just started watching THE UNIT last season and was looking at the CBS web site to see when the new season started and loandbehold –NO UNIT. What dumbass made this decision? Do you think they were getting to close to uncovering that CBS was also involved with the local terroist? Bring back THE UNIT and maybe you will be forgiven!
Fox are you reading this or listening?
My husband and I are stunned that The Unit is not returning. I thought I saw a TV Ad for coming season and we were so excited and looked forward to it very much. Then, it disappeared and I went searching and found out it was canceled. It really sucks. Please bring it back for at least a final season!!!
The real shame here is that CBS chose to save Medium — there WAS a reason NBC let the show go…because it NEVER pulled 9.67 million viewers in 5 years. And this is the recorded WORST number that The Unit pulled being in a dead timeslot right behind Cold Case, which is yet another show that could have been axed. My wife isn’t really excited about military-type shows, and even SHE watched! During the ‘off-season’ I pop the DVDs in starting back at Season 1 and watch them straight through. At least I will have the 4 seasons to watch.… Read more »
bring back the unit! agrrr… i miss it so much….no action show out now :[
As a former Army Ranger, I loved The Unit. I can not believe CBS cancelled The Unit to pick up Meduim. The Medium is as bad as tv can get. It is boring, takes to long to get moving and then goes nowhere fast after that. It always seems to be the death nell for a show once the network starts moving it around, and especially to Sunday nights, knowing it will pre-empted by late running football games. The Unit was one of the more original shows on television. It had a great cast, great writers and provided stimulating entertainment.… Read more »
This was the one show that I never missed. Ever. And if it was a rerun then I was quite happy to watch it anyway. CBS never gave this show the proper respect. It was the Rodney Dangerfield of CBS’s lineup. Little or no advertisement, Sunday night against football, late start and it still pulled in almost 10 million viewers! Wow. And they went out and picked up Medium? You watch, that show will be cancelled next year. And NCIS Los Angeles? Please. Very contrived and unrealistic. The Unit was gritty and real. It was the type of show that… Read more »
REALLY!!!WOW! I GUESS WE SHOULD ALL JUST SIT AND WATCH UNREALITY T.V. LETS FILL THE AIRWAVES WITH ALL THAT SAD MATERIALISTIC CRAP INSTEAD OF TRULY UNIQUE NICHE SHOWS WITH PERSONALITY. WAKE UP CBS.
No unit!! r u freakn kidding me?
i hate how good shows get canceled and leaves us hanging without closure. if u can’t bring the show back for a 5th season at least do a movie that will take down the organization responsible for the attacks on the U.S. government.
THE UNIT one of the best shows around CANCELLED??? Not good, you bring the Medium on instead. It’s such a none real program, where the UNIT was pretty close to what our boys and men are going through and we need to know. I suppose that’s why it had to be canelled??????
Not since the Rat Patrol, and Combat have I ever enjoyed a military adventure series as I did this one. Whomever runs that network should be flogged! With so many crap Reality shows on the tube, we finally get one that also features a great black actor, at a time when there seems not to be many great roles for the brothers these days,that feature dramatic roles!
Why?!?!? I love the show and swore to watch every episode. Now what am I to do?
Surely NOT whatching that christine show or big bang or how i met ur muda crap
Can’t believe you chose Medium over The Unit!! The Unit was one of the best shows on television. Hope someone will bring it back.