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.
My husband who is a Vietnam Vetaran is extremely disappointed that his favorite TV show ‘The Unit’ has been canceled?
Who do we write to bombard the network executives to bring this show back?
Normally, I don’t respond to network TV. The Unit was my favorite over the past few years. Good actors. Good story lines. All the networks keep on programs that cater to either fruit flies or idiots. Homosexuals or lesbians. Garbage in, Garbage out. Honest is apparently not something we want America to hear, see or learn. I will not cry for the loss of The Unit. What I will say is, do what you will. I give no power to any crap the networks send to us via the airwaves. Its called entertainment. Not so. Its propaganda. Pure unadulterated crap.… Read more »
I THINK IS SUCK THAT IT OFF. BECAUES MOST OF THE TIME ON SUNDAY IT WAS NOT ON BECAUSE OF FOOTBALL. IF THEY MOVE IT TO A NEW TIME AND DAY I THINK IT WOOD WORK OUT SO CBS WHAT WERE YOU THINK ABOUT.
We’ve been waiting to hear when the unit is coming on this year so just this morning I came in here to look it up on line and I was shock to see it was cancelled. Why do they leave all these trash 30 min. shows on and take off shows that really mean something to our lives? We are so upset about this. Nothing to look forward to in the fall to watch on t.v.
Lot of other mindless shows that should be cancelled in place of the Unit…have to admit that I view the series on DVD vs. puting up with the commercial interruptions…too bad we just can’t have features formatted to show and ask viewers to hang around for the commercials…never happen…
I did not know the show was cancelled until I looked it up tonight in an attempt to find out where and when the show was airing. As someone before me said so well, CBS seemed to pre-empt the show constantly and moved it – ‘as if’ they were trying to sabatoge the ratings – too bad CBS, The Unit was one of the better shows you had. It was the only show that I would actually plan on viewing – or look for when I couldn’t find it… Oh well, I have no reason to watch CBS anymore, or… Read more »
It’s a shame that CBS cancelled The Unit. It was one of the few show that our family watched together. We are a military family and it was good to see a show that seemed to give an idea of what are troops face on the job. Very unfortunate indeed. Would like to have known how it all would have ended.
Once again the networks get it wrong, I know why don’t they put another mindless reality show on.
Majorly disappointed. Quality TV show. Quality actors. Well written. Too bad the decision making process at CBS doesn’t measure up.
I am very disappointed!!!!!!!!! I loved watching this show and it was loved by a large number of people. Like someone has already stated it is just another reason to stop watching TV. The telivision suits have no idea what they are doing on this station or any other. Heck some of them are leaving stupid crap like Jay Lenno on and and taking off shows that you can clearly see people love. W.T.H.
The Unit was a great show, amazing drama all the time. Very realistic, with a superb cast. I am very disappointed to read today of its cancellation. And yes, you are all right above…too many poor quality shows. In the past year, I have lost: The Shield, ER, Prison Break, Boston Legal, and now The Unit.
I too just tried to look up as to when the next season started..to my surprise I see this. I never felt compeled to write in about a tv show before now. This show mt husband, myself, my in laws love this show. It had the right amount of everytuing. I agree where our country’s military efforts are at an all time high right now and you can’t tell anyone that the story lines couldn’t continue there ares too many options. In terms as to why the ratings weren’t there was CBS’ dumbass decision to keep bouncing the day and… Read more »
Completely agree w/ all the above comments. Seems like most people prefer the mind numbing crap that defines present trends in television. This was a really quality show, totally unworthy of how it was terminated. I recall the latter part of this last season attempting to keep up with the scheduling. The show was pre-empted and moved around so many times I was unable to keep track. No announcements, nothing to prepare the viewers for the end; probably because the execs at CBS think everyone is too stupid to notice, since ratings are so high on their third rate redundancies.… Read more »
the unit is much better show than medium
was the best show on TV, there is so much crap now-a-days.
just sucks that they didnt wrap things up. If a final season cant work how about a made for tv movie to wrap it all up.