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.
The Unit… canceling… big mistake! I have seen quite a few of the series and because of
the cancellation I now watch “The Unit” on Sunday eveni.ng (8/2011 ) It is a better show by far than a lot of the offerings on TV.
The Unit was my favorite show on CBS. I don’t care what it takes, just please bring it back!!
We want “The Unit” back !!! P L E A S E !!!
Please pick up somebody,i love it…
Yes, we want more!
we want to see season 5 and more….
greetings
Seriously, you need to bring it back. Its a disgrace to cancel a show like this. You should be ashamed CBS !
I don’t see why it has to stop at 4, or five for that matter. I enjoy the original characters how they are, but i would not be opposed to new faces either.
Bring back the Unit. I want to see how Jonas the the team come to an end. I want to see what happened to Jonas and Molly? I want to see Mac and Tiffy and Bob and Kim. I also wanted to see if Betty Blue maried that rich girl. Great show should have never ended. Bring it back for the final season. WE want closure.
this most come back on the tv because it is the best show i have ever seen
can they not just sell the show to another pictures company and finish the dam 5th season?
i just started getting inations, and now catching up on to this show, first with syndicated re-runs on my local stations, and now following the series from the pilot episode on line.
Well written, entertaining, and engaging. As much as “medium” deserves a nod, i think this show is much better.
Too bad it went the same route as “24”.
PLEASE BRING IN BACK- WE LOVE IT!!!!
Please, someone pick this show up and bring it back! I would love to see some new episodes!! I know I’m not the only one.
I would love to see a season five and six .
seriously bring it back