UPDATE: CBS has officialy cancelled The Unit. Click here for story.
As CBS’s ‘The Unit’ finishes up its fourth season, die-hard fans of the show are starting to focus their attention on a fifth season. A year ago, the fate of the show was closely kept at CBS until upfronts were announced in May. Will we get to see the saga of Jonas Blane and the rest of the squad continue next fall?
Season 4 has been met with mixed reviews; some love the changes the show has made to focus more on the drama surrounding the unit while others long for the days when the ‘Fire It Up’ theme song blasted right before an awesome action-filled episode. I particularly haven’t enjoyed the roundabout storytelling the writers have employed this season, but I still think that The Unit outshines most of the other scripted dramas on TV today.
And, for the record, I would consider myself emotionally invested in the show. Even with the time change to Sunday nights, everything stops at 10PM when a brand new episode comes on. And the emphasis in that sentence should be on the WHEN; CBS has been mighty sporadic in their airing of new episodes in 2009, effectively minimizing any momentum the show has gained.
But whether or not the show gets a renewal is obviously dependent on the ratings and the lineup of shows that CBS wants to give to its viewers in the fall season. When the show debuted back in March of 2006, it was the breakout show of the spring. The ratings numbers were amazing; its premiere garnered 18 Million viewers and it averaged over 15 million for the season. The second season had more mild ratings at 11 million, but still good numbers for any show. Season 3 averaged 10 million, but it was cut short by the writer’s strike. And with the addition of The Mentalist to CBS’ Fall 2008 lineup, the network moved The Unit to Sunday nights, a move that I’d blame for its average ratings drop to roughly 9million this season. But the meat of ratings decisions are made on the how the show performs in the desirable 18-49 demographic. TvByTheNumbers has an excellent ‘prediction’ index that uses the performance in this demo to predict a show’s chances at renewal. The Unit may be on the bubble, but it certainly performs well given the night that it’s on and the aforementioned spotty broadcasting of new episodes.
Ratings obviously trump any other reason to keep the show on, but the quality of the storytelling is the second most important consideration. Season 4 took the show in just about every creative direction you could imagine - the addition of 2 members, the blow up and fall-out from Colonel Ryan and Tiffy’s affair, the wives getting involved on missions, the relocation of the families to protect their identities, the outrageous rescue of Jonas’ daughter from enemy forces. Yup, things have changed quite a bit from the sharp and focused mission-based episodes we saw in the first two seasons.
But I think there are some great reasons why to renew the show:
Ratings: Again, The Unit’s numbers for it 10PM Sunday night slot are really not too shabby given its lack of a consistent airing schedule.
Syndication: A fifth season would put The Unit somewhere around 90 episodes, making it an attractive candidate for sale into syndication at some point.
Fan Base: It has a dedicated fan base that would eventually become DVD purchasers. Mixing this fact with the decent ratings makes it more attractive financially.
There is, in fact, more story to tell: The writers have always alluded to the guy’s future beyond the Unit. Let’s explore that more. Let’s start to see Jonas ‘ age play a bigger role and watch him figure out how much longer he can possibly do these missions. And speaking of missions, why not just go back to the winning formula? More great tactical missions where the team needs to use wits, precision and luck to get out of a jam. This season has had some of that, but I’m talking a full return to the glory days of the second season.
Hopefully, CBS executives will make the right decision next month and decide to bring The Unit back for another season. And while they’re at it, they can bring back the original intro cadence.
Bring back The Unit and the original intro! CBS lineup is crap now.
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Bring the unit back!!! Television is not the same without it.
please every one who wants cbs to bring back more and more seasons of the unit sign the petition to cbs so far theres about 5052 names ask everyone you knowe to sign the petition. its easy to do and i think the unit is just as exciting as 24. what is wrong with cbs. if cbs doesn’t listen to us maybe we should boycot cbs. Iam really pissed!
Bring back the unit, glory days of the first two seasons, and the original cadence intro. Even my gf is into the show and wants to see a season 5 and she hates guns/violence!
Yes! it extremely sucks they cancelled of one of the best written & acted show on television. Let’s be real we know who cut the show of the air do to the episodes that were to close to the truth. The U.S. Government got the show cancelled do to episodes such as (Pandemonium Part 1 & 2). Which they even state in the special features that they wrote the episode as pure fiction. Yet! months later fiction became reality in the news with an eerie similarity to those episodes that The Unit writes wrote.
If CBS’s staff had half a brain they wouldnt bitch about raitings. 9million viewers is still a fairly large fan base and there are still people who would like to see the show continued. I remember being in the store and i came across season 4 and below, it said “The Final Season” my friends and myself were so pissed cause of our dedication to this show. We’ve been fans since the very first episode and have never missed one.
if anyone from CBS had the power to bring back the show. they should make all our hopes and wishes come true.
I CAN’T FREAKIN BELIEVE THIS MAN…WTF I’M SOOO F**KIN PISSED THAT YOU GUYS AT CBS CAN EVEN LEGALIZE THE SHUT DOWN OF THIS PERFECT TV SHOW. SHAME. I’M AN ASPIRING NAVY SEAL AND FOR YEARS NOW ALL I’VE EVER BEEN INTO AND HAVE DEDICATED MY LIFE TO IS SPEC OPS MORE SPECIF. NAVY SEALS. I LOVE THIS SHOW BEYOND DEATH. IT’S THE GREATEST DRAMA TV SHOW OF OUR ERA PERIOD. ESP FOR US MILITARY FANATICS. JUST WHY SERIOUSLY? PLEASE BRING BACK THE UNIT PLEASE. THERE’S NNNOOO REASON WHY AT ALL YOU GUYS HAVE HAD TO SHUT THIS PERFECT SHOW DOWN. THINK ABOUT US GUYS; THINK ABOUT THE LOSE ENDS; AND PLEASE FOR JUST SEVERAL MORE SEASONS KEEP THE UNIT GOING. PLEASE. I’M BEGGING YOU. AND WE DIEHARD FANS ARE BEGGING YOU. BRING BACK THE UNIT.
I just got done with the last show of the Unit and it can’t be the end. There is to much left open. Being in the military, this show is the most accurate with watch a soldier goes through. We need to get The Unit back on the air.
CBS, you all should be a shamed of your selvs. The Unit has been the only show I have watched and enjoyed since I was a kid. Now what do we have…those bull#*^( reality shows!?!?!?!? I am in the military and I speak for the rest of my platoon in saying that cbs made a criminal offence to all the fans of this show when they cancelled it!!! BRING IT BACK…the actors of this show really have the “brotherhood” state of mind right in the show…even when they came to iraq on the uso tour to visit my unit…BRING IT BACK!!!!!!!!
They got to bring it back, a lot of us live for this show …
i agree, we should make a petition and sign it
just got hooked on the unit. rented season 1-4. i am devasted that there will be no season 5, it is a crime…
Maybe an online petition should be created & signed for those who want the show brought back. It worked for the Family Guy on Fox. I agree that The Unit is one of the best shows on TV.
Is now depresed that I watch my last DVR’d show of the UNIT… CBS MUST BRING IT BACK I dont know why they would take such a GREAT show of the air.
u must bring it back
Fan depuis la Corée du Sud, je souhaiterais bien voir ce que Jonas aurait pu nous reserver pour son depart à la retraite, dommage que l’audience soit reine lorsqu’il s’agit de bons feuilletons,
Allez une petition et ca repart
NO Way, I Want my UNIT!!!!! I’m not watching CBS anymore until the unit comes back.
PERHAPS WE CAN FUND IT?
this is the best show that has ever been on tv. i am in the military so i might have a biased opinion, but i have several friends that aren’t and love this show. season 5 is a must