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.
The UNIT is the most STELLAR series ever made. Every single actor are incredible. If you had any sense you would bring it back. I did not ever watch TV, all the sitcoms and so called entertainment it total TRASH……just happened to be at my brother’s and he was hooked on the Unit, and that I would love it. I never missed and episode, that was the only time I turned it on, once it was over, I shut the TV off till next Unit episode. Thank goodness I have a DVD player and am able to watch the boxed… Read more »
Well, I guess I will only be watching sports on cbs because there is no other show that is worth it. It was the only show on all of network tv that I looked forward to seeing.
to whom it may concern,
i sawa that the unit was cancelled, why u need to bring that show back, me and my husband really liked it alot, andwhy did it get cancelled do u know how upsetting that is that it is cancelled. well we where wondering if u can bring it back, cause we love that show so much me and my husband always looked forward to it on sun, and now no. please bring it back if u can. thanks
mrs cheryl young
There were only two shows that captured my interest. CSI Miami and The Unit. Please bring it back. The country’s veterans want the show back on tv.
of people that would agree with me.
this is so gay you need to bring the unit back or my household and many other friends of ours will no longer be watching CBS ever. please someone else pick up this show and play season five you will make lots of money if you do. Best show ever and you have a lot
The Unit was one of my favorite shows. To say the least, I’m upset that it has been cancelled. It seems that stations are putting on more and more staged “Reality” shows … something I’d never watch! PLEASE bring The Unit back if only for one more season and to “wrap up” the characters.
OMG!! You have to bring this show back! It is the equivalent of 24. There is no better drama on CBS than “THE UNIT” and I cannot believe that they would keep “Ghost Whisperer’ and then back it up with “The Median” which are so similar. If CBS doesn’t pick it back up, I really hope another network will….are you listening WB?
The unit was one of the few shows I looked forward to
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE Listen to the voice of the viewers. We LOVE THE UNIT! Not just people 55 & older. I am much younger and want to see the series come back!
I just discovered tonight that the Unit will not be on TV. What a bunch of REMF’s. I boycotted “24” because of the writers strike and have never returned to it. I will not boycott CBS because of their cancelling The Unit. I’m also a media buyer and I will not include CBS in any of my buys over the next year because of this stupidity. Maybe when they figure out there’s not enough money to pay their salaries they can go hold a cardboard sign outside of an Army base and beg for food.
Said it before, best show on television, bring it back!
BRING BACK THE SERIES, THE UNIT BEST SHOW ON TV
To the producers of THE UNIT, please bring back this incredible series.
the unit was one of the best if not the best show on tv how wat were they thinkin