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.
I can not believe you cancelled this show. I watch every show and re-run as much as possible and NEVER get tired of it. This is one of the best shows on TV I have seen in a long time. Whoever decides Yeah or Nay – really has no clue.
How about if you guys tried to go to a different network like FX or spike tv I bet they would pick it up the show is awesome…
Really?! Are you kidding me?! canceled??!! I too am in the military and travel a lot and just found out that the selfish people at CBS figured it was a good idea to take away one of the actually good shows on TV. If CBS is suffering hard times they shouldn’t be surprised with idiotic decisions like this one…way to go.
Big fan of The Unit. Just watched all old episodes on tvfreeload and am still wishing for more. Bring it back for season 5 so we can see what happens to our tv “family”. It’s one of the shows that you relate to the characters emotionally and bond with them. Shows like that are few and far between. Shame on CBS, for taking away a rare and emotinally tolling show that wasn’t based on reality.
How could y’all let this happen! The Unit is a family program everyone could watch together. Other than the NFL there no reason to watch CBS, NBC or ABC.
biggest mistake ever canceling this tv show. I dont know one person that hasnt heard of “The Unit” and personally everyone in my platoon shares it like its a book. A 5th season would mean more $$$$ for all you business people out there. Means more entertainment for us. Guess you guys forgot your job, entertainment of the public. If you have also forgotten, entertaining the people makes YOU more money. Good luck with your cancelation. There are many people that would like to see another season. Kinda left the show at a bad ending. We want some closure!
I am currently deployed in afghanistan and hadn’t had the opportunity to watch the series in the the past years but my team member gave me all four seasons and I have to say this show is one of the greats. Every chance I had I was glued to my laptop watching episode after episode of The Unit, it really sucks how cbs ended the fourth season without have a five. please bring it back
I watched The Unit from its inception and love it!! I’m taping reruns and watching them over again because there is so little on tv worth wasting my time to watch. The acting is superb, the storylines are believable and interesting. As someone stated, I have no interest in watching Jimmy Johnson with his self-centered ego strut around without a shirt. I’d much rather watch something that is loosely based on our real life heroes, our men and women who have volunteered to sacrifice all so that we can be free. Thank you to our heroes, and as for CBS,… Read more »
Please do another Unit Season. Please!!!
I found the last season (season 4 ) not as good as the previous seasons, However it is one of the best shows I have seen. To end it the way they have is criminal, how can you do it to your dedacated viewers. I am dissapointed in CBS, the least they could have done, is to have faded it out in one last season. I am in the Australian Defence Force and found the show to be an insperation not only to fellow troops but to there familys as they can see they are not the only one’s to… Read more »
I can’t believe another show that is absolutely outstanding has been cancelled. The network is making a HUGE mistake. They are too selfish to not even air the last season to wrap things up for the devoted viewers after all these years. Networks are so greedy it disgusts me. This show is especially great for what is truly going on in our nation and world right now. It’s a great show for current members of the military along with their families, for veterans, and civilians who honor, respect and commend our troops for keeping us safe every day. My wish… Read more »
Now when did anyone at CBS have sense enough to know when they had a good thing? They are as stupid as NBC for cancelling Friday Night Lights. Not everyone wants to watch the tired ol survirors, and some of the other stupid shows they have on. I will continue to watch Reruns of my shows, if fact I am watching The Unit as I write.. Oh and I watch any channels on TV except for CBS, NBC and ABC They have nothing I want to watch.
look dont no how else 2 say this but a lot of people in iraq including me watch the unit when we have down time i sincerely hope u would reconsider canceling the show and give them one more season
i really wish they would do one more season just advertise
I watched this show since I joined the army and looked forward for getting the recorded episodes sent to me while I was over seas. I absolute love this show when I heard the cast came to my base I tried like he’ll to see them but wasn’t lucky enough. The cancelation of this show was devastatingly the worst move that CBS has made. I hope they air the final season at least although I think they should add a few seasons on as an apology to the fans. All we can do is sit and hope.
I loved the show, and truly don’t understand why the canceled it at all. TV is a joke right now, and with something other than Reality TV would be nice.