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.
Dear CBS, I honestly believe you made a huge mistake by cancelling the Unit as well as betraying the huge loyal fan base of Unit Viewers. Season 4 had an average of 9.5 million viewers and it hurts my heart and confuses my mind as to why the show was cancelled. Stop producing and directing these other reality shows AND realise that brining the Unit back will be a great advantage to CBS as well as a highly competitve advantage over other TV channels…..And I am a 16 year old viewer dont think that only the old and WW2 veterans… Read more »
The idiots in charge of the TV stations, cancelling the good shows and extending the crappy brain-damaging junk they are told to produce will not allow a good show to run for long.
So we are doomed to watch rubish TV for the rest of our lives. Lately, “reality” shows.
Tomorrow, “Post-Reality” shows, “Ultra-reality” shows, etc., etc., until you are fully convinced that elephants fly and donkeys are green.
I have watched the Unit 2 times already and I LOVE it.
CBS, would you please help us out with season 5!!!!!
they need to keep on going with the unit. the unit was a great show.
bring back the unit!!!! end it appropriately at least!!!
I am really upset with the ending on season of the unit. Maybe back then the fans where into it because we was hooked on 24. And the only reason why I like the unit is because of Jonas.everytime I look at an Allstate commerical I want to see the unit. Bring it back and they will come. Do a teaser to see how many devoted fans are out there
Located in Kuwait, I have iTunes to thank for downloading & watching the show. I’ve downloaded all the episodes with absolutely no regrets in spending all my money on it. It’s a show worth watching in more ways than one can imagine! It’s a crying shame that some CBS pencil-pusher thought otherwise. My bet is that he’s probably some kind of anti-war odd-ball! Fine, CBS is out to make money, but with this kind of attitude towards a large & loyal fanbase, it’s not going to be making money for much longer.
Reconsider, CBS, please.
The Unit was cancelled back in 2009. Fans are still posting everywhere today (2011). I wish CBS would be smart enough to pick up on the fact that they have a large LOYAL fan base to work off of in doing a season 5. Quit making “Fox-like” decisions and cancelling shows that are good. Bring it back. We, the fans, demand it.
well hell i’d have watch that.. i hate medium.. and this is why i avoid cbs any more.. i grewup with 4 channels cbs as one.. and abc had better television shows and nbc had the disney stuff every sunday.. duh cbs.. this is why you sucked even when i was growing up.. the only good thing was the soaps when i was in school duuuhhhh.. no one believes in psychics that work for the police as for real all the time.. and the 5th season would have been better if they could have kept jonas going even if it… Read more »
Please please we want season 5 for the unit………………….The unit rocksssssssssssssss.
dumbasses… why you cancelled unit?, blah
I want season 5 back, CBS!! Is a nice show. Ryan said ” My Men means everything to me”!!
I am disappointed too. I still hope that things could change so that a 5th season is released. I really like The Unit and I know a lot of people who do too. Fingers crossed….
There should be a season 5. The show was great and I was really hooked. The way it ended left a lot of room for more storylines. Maybe BET or some other should pick it up cuz it was great. With Molly leaving and the new aircraft lady coming in, it could get really juicy.
i hate you cbs. you suck. whyyy just because you didnt own it? really? you’d still be making alot of money!!! >=( I should punch you in the faceeeee.