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.
why get rid off one off the best military series ever, some people never learn
I love this show! I know every show has to end but not having a season 5 leaves to much of the story untold. They should a special 2hour episode that enplanes what happens to all the characters. I know they did something similar for the show 24.
Will at least now someone has pick-up the Unit now on TV we can now is it on Fox 35 i just hope it is not all reruns and will have the 5th seasion
people may complain that the unit wasn’t perfectly realistic, but in my opinion, it was just about the closest portrayal of special forces and the JSOC that has ever been made. Tactically is was near perfect and although the story line dropped in one or two areas, i loved it and i hope someone or moreover a group of people can res erect the show maybe on fox or some other network. Thanks for a GREAT show Ryan.
my life can not end without a happy ending to the unit that show is what life is all about we the fans need the 5th season please
the unit. the sarah conner chronicles. knight rider. the bionic woman. these are all action adventure shows which highly interested me for their escape from reality tv, and the monotony of my everyday depressing life. Give me a break, JOAN ******* RIVERS winning celebrity apprentice. She would have been kicked off the original apprentice for being a whining ***** in the 3rd week. The Donald sold me out too. I have not and will never watch an American Idol episode. Look at the fools who determine who our icons should be. START THINKING FOR YOURSELF AMERICA ! ! ! No… Read more »
is there a way to talk to cbs cuz i just started to get in to this
u make alot of poeple mad ….im soon to be a marine and the last thing i want to remember is watchin season five of The Unit
CBS is soo stupid like wtf it was the best show on tv u guys were out of ur damn minds for canceling a show like that u guys could have been rich . u left season 4 as a cliff hanger seroiusly wtf>(
I wonder if anyone has thought to send all of these comments, plus the poll results, 5,200 plus in favor of a season 5 to CBS. It doesn’t do much good posting these comments if the people at CBS never see them, or even know they exist.
How about it web master, any chance you could forward all this to the CEO of CBS?
@Merlin: Unfortunately, it would take a LOT more than that for them to even begin to bring the show back.
I am very disappointed they have discontinued The Unit. I was looking forward to many more seasons to come. I found out about it being canceled while trying to find out when Season 5 will be out for sale. CBS is crazy for not allowing it to continue!!!
One of my fav shows… really well done, great cast… both the unit team, and the wives. Really sorry to see it go, trying to get my “fix” on the syndication runs. But if another season can be made, wow, I say go for it…. I mean, come on, Denzel Washington weekly!! Who could ask for more? And this is from a 58 yr old woman 🙂
THE UNIT WAS ONE OF THE BEST SHOWS ON TV..The medium sucks..whats with these idiots at ABC???
Dats sum ******** yo wen i qrow up i wanna b in da unit after watching first season and playing call of duty 4 and modern warfare 2 wich im da best. I started paintballing with my m4a1 paintgun and have never lost a match
lols nice dood i completely agree with u
are they crazy how could they do that i hope they will read this things i really hope so and they have to mmake the new season in 2010!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! read the vote stupid CBS
Are the CBS out of their minds, The Unit has become a major hit in South Africa although it was half a year later but still it’s the best ever series today…season 5 is a must and yes Lie To Me can come second to The Unit..