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.
It was just so painful to image they will finish it with season 4 that I think about to start collecting money to lower the production cost for a the season 5. And that’s not a joke unfortunately.
I was hoping that the show would be brought back even if they could just do a DVD movie mini-series would have been cool. Oh well, I am just going to have settle for this unsatisfying ending that has been left for us. Too bad because the Unit was probably the best show on CBS.
Very Sad I would have loved to see season 5. Me and my husband never missed a show, it was one show that we both liked.
Someone must have stepped on someone’s toes. Finally get a good show and CBS takes it off the air. People are really sick of all the reality shows that aren’t really reality! Put The Unit back on TV.
Ireally wished you would keep the unit. Please reconsider.
CBS is full of crap! Jericho and the Unit were different and great! Why do they keep crappy shows that suck, but cancel shows that are unique? The Unit costs half of what many other shows run, 3mil per episode vs typical 6mil + for shows like CSI. If they are complaining about 9.7 million viewers, maybe they should also see that per dollar, The Unit is much more successful than many other shows they are keeping. You suck CBS!
BS who has thier head up thier A** Remember they canceld Dalls to but brought it back because of Viewer response so get going people and let CBS know how you FEEL!!!!!
I’ve been a loyal CBS tv watcher for 30 years!!! Yes you have good shows!!! But your making the biggest mistake in CBS history by cancelling THE UNIT!!! This the only show my family drops everything know matter big or small to watch!!! We own all 4 seasons!!! We watch all 73 shows at least 10 times!!! Focus season five on the boys and there mission with a little home life!!! Put on Wednesday!!!! You’ll get your 12plus million diehards every week!!! If you know about Microsoft before it is what it is today you would of bought As much… Read more »
still attracted 9.67 million this is bs. these tstats can be baught by other stations tricking other to drop shows! In place of looking at bs stats try watching the show, How could you make such a mistake?
(noone ever asks me what I watched) Jericho was one of the best shows on tv, the ***** cancled that to. Stop looking at stats and try watching the dam show!
Sure wish the producers could pitch the 5th season to HBO or Showtime.. Maybe they could shoot the 5th season as a two hour Made for tv movie ” Final Mission”
i refuse to watch another episode of any show on CBS unless they air the fifth season of The Unit.
The Unit was very good, Dennis Haysbert made the show. I’d like to see a conclusion even in a one time 2 hour format. Will The Unit ever be back in good hands?
D Ram
i think they made a terrible mistake in canceling the unit series. everything was perfect. the actors made the stories believeable. when so many tv shows have been crappy, along comes the unit and they take it off the air. please bring it back on. we need more quality shows on tv. give it another chance. thank you
p.s. remember when they took star trek off the air what a huge mistake that was.
This is BS……………. This is was GREAT SHOW……… To bad.
This is typical….Finally a great TV program and the CBS morons cancel it. The Unit was a great show with good acting. What a mistake!