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.
PLEASE BRING THE UNIT BACK. I WAS VERY ANGRY WHEN CBS CANCELLED FALCONE (ANOTHER GREAT SERIES). THEY NEED TO BRING THE UNIT BACK FOR 1 MORE SEASON SO THE WRITERS CAN MAKE A SERIES FINALE EPISODE. THE UNIT IS ONE OF THE GREATEST MILITARY SHOWS ON TV, PLEASE BRING IT BACK!!!!!
Again, CBS gives my favorite show the axe. First, it was Jericho; now, it’s The Unit. I guess everyone wants the same cookie cutter shows but I prefer something fresh and different. Jericho and The Unit both fit that description. Come on CBS; give the enlightened viewers more “out of the box” shows, don’t take them away!
Wow… The Unit took a back seat to Medium? Medium? Are you serious. I’ve actually tried to sit through a whole episode of Medium and I was omg uncomfortable waiting for the storyline to finally come into fruition . For the writers and actors of The Unit I say Thank You because with that show it was never a dull moment. Even the women of the show got in on plots and schemes and trying to keep cover stories. The show was well thought out and one mission was directly involved with oncoming mission. Most of all, viewers were still… Read more »
Im very sad that im not going to nkow the trueth ending of the unit it was very touching all there stories made us cry and feel like im in there sheos im going to really miss this show. P.S. I hope that some day it will be back becuase it will be mist.
May The Unit rest well in it’s syndication state. We all hope that there will be revival that picks up the show and resurrects Jonas, Mac, Bob and Charles.
I will really miss this show. It was top of my list and, WOW, what a great story line.
-Eric
SCREW CBS!!!!! Will never watch the network. The Unit and Cane where the only thing worth watching, they cancelled Cane and now The Unit, while theres all these other crappy shows that stayed on the air. The big boys upstairs made a very bad decision, maybe cbs will go down the toilet all together.
VERY,VERY,VERY DISAPPOINTED!!!!!……The Unit is really worth watching!!!!
WTF… I like everyone else on this post am pissed…. I watched 2 shows a week Greys on ABC and The Unit even if it was on Sunday Night at 10pm….Seriously I am not going to watch anythign on CBS again–not even teh news– and Channel 9 is their sister station and I always watched the news on either of the 2 stations but not anymore– I agree all that reality BS is old and played out– They also cancelled another show Cane that I was getting into –screw CBS — you obviously dont give a crap about the viewers… Read more »
very disappointed in cbs. no longer will watch this network.
Dear CBS, Survivor sucks, Amazing race sucks, there are three damn CSI’s and now two NCIS’s. There is no variety anymore. The Unit got me “Fired Up” when it was on. Think about it.
Amazing. This is my favorite show of all time. Is it possible another network would pick it up? Maybe even USA or TNT or something? I don’t know how that stuff works but I’ve never been so into the intensity of a show before. Remember the hyjacked airplane in season 1? Please someone pick this up!!!
My favourite show. I am stunned by the cancellation. Please bring it back.
CBS, this is a bad move for you! BRING THE UNIT BACK!!! I know you don’t care about the little guy, but think of how many “little guys” you are losing. You claim it may have had something to do with production costs!? Boo Hoo! You are not losing money! Besides, its not like you arent a multi-billion $ corporation. So let me guess you have another ‘wonderful’ idea to fill its time slot-prolly another POS reality TV series where we can watch full grown adults bicker and whine like little children. Thats not entertainment…its pathetic! i honestly do not… Read more »
We loved the show,cant believe they didnt end with season 5!Lots of trash on tv,why
remove a show we loved?
there is no material value for quality , well written ,well planned and well executed . this show is amazing , the chemistry that the cast have , the fast paste witty dialogue . this show surpassed the combined sum of it’s elements and that is pure art .
even so , i just don’t understand how they can pull the plug with 9 + million viewers , it is a farce !