imfdb.org - Shawn Ryan's plans for The Unit Season 5

This was brought to my attention by a fan of the show on another forum and I thought some of you might want to give it a read.

Quote:

Earlier this week, I told you about the real reason Without A Trace was cancelled. Now, executive producer Shawn Ryan reveals the real reason The Unit was cancelled. "Listen, if the show had been owned by Paramount and Medium had been owned by 20th Century Fox, we'd be making the fifth season of The Unit now." You see, TV fans, it's comes down to money. CBS owns Paramount so it would earn more in the long run if The Unit made more episodes, went into syndication and reaped revenues for years to come. However, Fox owns The Unit. Get it?

It's too bad, really, because like Without A Trace, The Unit had a good 2007-08 season. The Unit's Nielsens were better than the previous year, and very competitive with Brothers & Sisters (although they reached different demographics). The Unit could have been picked up for a fifth season with some assurance that it would continue to be viable for CBS.

Ryan had a plan for Season 5, one we'll never get to see, but here's what he had in mind: "Bob was going to be training some young people for a whole new organization. Jonas was finally going to be seeing his run end. The final season -- and I figured if we got a fifth season that would be the final season -- it was going to be a long final mission for Jonas. He's not medically cleared. Mac has to go in and change the medical records so Jonas can keep up. We had a whole thing planned. It was gonna be good." Oh well ...

http://www.tvsquad.com/2009/08/07/th...was-cancelled/