Person of Interest
CBS | Release Date: September 22, 2011
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
66
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
12
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandSep 22, 2011
Season 1 Review: Person of Interest separates itself from the gimmick pack, not only because of superbly nuanced characterization and writing but also because of how it engages a post-9/11 sense of paranoia in its viewers. Read full review
88
USA TodayRobert BiancoSep 22, 2011
Season 1 Review: They may not enchant you, but they and their series, the best new hour this year, are unlikely to bore you. Would that every new show could say the same. Read full review
83
Boston HeraldMark A. PerigardSep 22, 2011
Season 1 Review: [Caviezel] and Emerson make for one of fall's most formidable odd couples. Read full review
83
NewsdayVerne GaySep 21, 2011
Season 1 Review: A gritty, almost plausible winner, and distant reflection of Stephen Spielberg's "Minority Report." Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyKen TuckerSep 16, 2011
Season 1 Review: The show can simultaneously unsettle, comfort, excite, and amuse its viewers--something for everyone, if you, like Mr. Finch, like to watch. Read full review
80
Philadelphia InquirerJonathan StormSep 22, 2011
Season 1 Review: Of course, it all sounds preposterous, but so did a movie about a guy who remembered everything backward, and Jonathan Nolan was nominated for a writing Oscar for Memento. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineMatt RoushSep 22, 2011
Season 1 Review: This is the rare crime drama that revels in actual mystery, its dark, paranoid tone embodied by two damaged heroes. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsDavid HinckleySep 22, 2011
Season 1 Review: Some viewers won't buy the premise of the Social Security numbers. Its beauty, though, is that you don't have to. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineAaron RiccioOct 17, 2013
Season 3 Review: Person of Interest is at its best when sticking to cutting-edge topics, be it Root's philosophical extremes or ethical discussions of surveillance (as in "Nothing to Hide," which introduces a group of privacy-seeking terrorists), and in demonstrating the limitations between what the Machine can accomplish on its own (hacking just about anything) and what only someone like Shaw can manage (infiltrating a trophy wife's boozy bookclub). Read full review
75
People WeeklyTom GliattoNov 29, 2011
Season 1 Review: This could grow into a show of more than ordinary interest. [28 Nov 2011, p.57]
75
Chicago Sun-TimesLori RacklSep 22, 2011
Season 1 Review: The first episode unfolds nicely with plenty of suspense and tension. If they can keep it up week after week, they should have no problem holding viewers' interest. Read full review
75
Uncle BarkyEd BarkSep 21, 2011
Season 1 Review: Together they'll be the brains and brawn of this operation in times when the broadcast networks aren't particularly interested in take-charge men with acquired tastes for pounding the hell out of bad guys--or shooting them in their thighs. Thanks. We maybe needed that. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterTim GoodmanSep 21, 2011
Season 1 Review: Both Emerson and Caviezel are compelling and the way Nolan and Abrams have constructed the look (lots of nourish far-away shots in crowded streets, a sense of contained doom in an urban city) bodes well. That alone is worth the investment. Read full review
70
VarietyBrian LowrySep 19, 2011
Season 1 Review: The show is a shrewd if not terribly exciting bet on upping the network's hip quotient without straying far from its procedural wheelhouse. Read full review
63
San Jose Mercury News/Contra Costa TimesChuck BarneyDec 1, 2011
Season 1 Review: So far, though, it has mostly kept its ambition in check, preferring to follow the playbook of a typical crime procedural, with a little more darkness and a little less energy. Read full review
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