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.
Dumb CBS….the Unit is my favorite show….even my wife is hooked and we have gotten the previous seasons DVDs so that she can catch up……..idiots keeps a stupid, unrealistic show like medium over a very real life drama like the Unit………dumb
I am very upset that The Unit was cancelled, that was my favorite show. Im so tired of all this CSI, LAW and ORDER cop shows. BRING IT BACK!!!
why can’t Fox or USA pick it up..I really loved the show and the characters..very sad
r u guys fing dumb??? Just another example of corporate Americas BOHICA…
Can a network at least finish a story line? I am getting tired of shows getting cancelled and no end to the line. How many times do networks have to be told, finish the story?
This is a dissapointment and a disgrace especially at this time in our country’s history. I would never buy a book without the last chapter included and am increasingly thinking that “getting involved” in another show is not worth it when the end is not included.
Television is not what it used to be.
CBS, even I liked watching the UNIT with my husband. We have located it on another channel and its too bad your station cannot sort out your great tv shows and opt to remove the ones people enjoy. Get some new people working for you that knows the difference between good tv and bad. Maybe they will bring the UNIT back its the closet thing to the Bourne movies on tv.
cant believe it got cancelled. the unit was one of the best shows ive ever seen
This was the best show on the hold net work after the Unit was pulled off i stop watching CBS all together now i hope CBS gets canceled and goes under
Just like Hollywood to cancel all the good shows and keep all the (biggest) losers on… Pushing Daisies was another very pleasant surprise that met an all too early demise… I hate Hollywood
CBS is a dead network, now I see why. I hadn’t watched CBS in several years and didn’t discover The Unit until Season 2 when I picked up a used copy of the first season in a buy 2 get 1 free deal at Game Stop. The only reason I picked up a show I’d never heard of was that I couldn’t find another season of The Sopranos to make 3 box sets. I watched it and became an instant fan. I started tuning in and leaving CBS on again after the show, watching their news and even found myself… Read more »
at the very minimum, a 2 hour series finale would be nice to give us fans a close on the series
there was couple of shows made for season five. while deployed to Oraq last year i watched them cause hajji had bootlegged copyies. really bad quality on the dvds though
Has the 5th season been made and they’re just not showing it or?
@tom: No, it was never made. The show was cancelled after four seasons.
I was just hoping for a great end, when Blaine has a heroic death as he saves the rest of the group on an extremely dangerous mission deeeep inside enemy territory. Machine gunning while the other guys dash back to an evacuation point completely covered in bruises and wounds with barely any ammunition and Bravo team coming in to rescue these guys. I had the whole thing in my head then i realized they wont even show the last season. Also all of teams secrets and Colonel Ryan and Gerhardt get into messy trouble. WHY STOP THE SHOW BEFORE THE… Read more »
I really am sad that the Unit Was cancelled. Yes I know it was just a show but it had great writers and an even greater cast. I felt it was one of the best shows(drama) on TV ever. It is too bad that CBS places the almighty dollar above the wishes of the fans. I strongly urge everyone who has a fan to keep writing CBS and demand they bring it back next year.Anything is possible. If they do not, I am making a personal commitment to NOT watch CBS