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.
This is a must for series 5 Every tv program that has aired has had some sort of ending, even that god forsaken series “lost”, and lost I was!! At least this was based on true events and gives us all a peek inside something that doesn’t happen/come by every day. I’m still enjoying it at the moment, yes I paid full price for all series, seperatly and also in the box set as well!!! My contribution has been forfilled, now we all need an ending, hence series 5, I’ll also pay for series 5 in hope that we can… Read more »
I was watching Season 1 to 4 with much fun, and I loved that Serie not just because Iam an Action-Freak also because of its inner meanings. Like M. “SF” said there was more inside then flying Bullets an some explosions, it was also about all the the casual Things and feelings a Soldier has to face in his or her daily Life!
Much appriciation for bringing this exellent serie up and much regreds for letting it down!
The Unit is a program that displays every aspect of entertainment (drama, comic relief, realism, conflict, moral lessons, odyssey-type theatrical journeys, action, etc). Television is fill with the same humdrum fads and fixations. The Unit is unique, it is special, and if properly marketed can be just as big or grander than Burn Notice that’s aired on channel USA. The ideas for the fifth and final season would have been a great ending because you do not expect shows like The Unit to exist for more than five seasons because of the unique nature of the program’s curriculum being based… Read more »
this is one of d best series av ever watched. Bringin the unit – 5 will be delightful…since dr is no dulling in d series, pls let it roll on.
Im sad to see the unit discontinued, Im from UK, ex army and thoroughly enjoyed the series, the actors were very likeable, felt connected in some way to the well presented story lines, I have a preference on the series 3 through series 4 linked stories, that made the show addictive…just when the game gets better, the head sheds cancel it…come on guys….we like it over the water too!!
I can understand why the Unit was cancelled. It was well written, it handled adult subjects with candor but nicely done, it was not salacious like some of the so-called “reality” TV crap and prime-time pornography that now bores some of us to death and borders on the ridiculous.
Absolutely the best show i have seen in a long time, the acting was first rate, unbelievable they drop this to give us crap reality shows and all the other stuff on TV, i would love to see season 5 as i agree with the comments above the end was not the ending such a great show should have stopped on..
I bet if season 5 went ahead they would see a surge in the amount of viewers again..bring it back..i will miss the characters and the stories..
bring it back please..
As far the most realistic show about sf ever it gives me goose bumps to watch all things I worked when I used to serve. Just please keep it going if money is the problem with all the viewers you can collect enough money to save the show…. From the island of Malta
The fans demand season 5! Someones gotta pick it up… CBS, NBC, ABC, USA, SPIKE… common guys! Im on my 5th watch-through of all 4 season. We need closure, even if its only one more season! One of the best series to even hit television… still cant believe it got replaced by that crap show Medium. I mean, how many times did it get bumped from network to network? 3 times? The Units worth saving!!!!
Hands down, the best series on television. If viewership declined, blame marketing. Just look at the volume of sales of war games in video game stores. The writing and acting were superb. I would have stopped watching, though, if Jonas had been written out. Break up the unit and destroy the idea behind the show. Why do people constantly insist on fixing stuff that ain’t broke ?
Best written ,best directed,best acted show on TV .What better reason to cancel?
I thought it was one of the better shows on tv. It was probably cancelled for a new reality tv show………………..
Two reasons why great shows like “the Unit”, “Shark”, etc. Get dumped? Cancelled or whatever!?… 1) little Harvard n Yale weasles with useless degrees that makes them think they know everything about television! Plus their greedy little minds! 2) the STUPID! JACKASS! Public!! That has no taste at all! Dumb-mindless reality shows! That is what was and is, most responsible.
I’ve watched series over and over, but there is none like the unit. I just finished watching season four, can i get a contnuation please? (there got to be season 5) what’s going on guys?
THE UNIT!!!!!!Please make season 5.Nothing copares to THE UNIT.What are we sepose to watch after THE UNIT.Nothing compares.The UNIT put the standerd so high that all other serieses are boaring.All my friends and family cant believe they stoped.We had THE UNIT evenings with friends and family coming over to watch it.PLEASE MAKE SEASON 5.TELL US WHAT TO DO WE WILL HELP!!!!!!!Thanks to the writers and preducers it is the best series ever.PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ!!!!