Persons Unknown
NBC | Release Date: June 7, 2010
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 12 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
4
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Entertainment WeeklyKeith Staskiewicz
Season 1 Review: Creator Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) is no stranger to pretzel-twist plots and out-of-the-left-field surprises, and his new series, about a gaggle of strangers, abducted and abandoned in a CCTV-monitored ghost town, promises both in spades. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterRandee Dawn
Season 1 Review: For now, "Persons" is delightfully weird and foreboding. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesPaige Wiser
Season 1 Review: The premise is intriguing, although it's difficult to watch without backseat driving. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan
Season 1 Review: While this straightforward, unapologetically derivative thriller won't blow your mind, it's a whole lot better than ABC's "Happy Town" or CBS's "Harper's Island" and may turn out to be like NBC's "Journeyman" -- a slice of genre entertainment that slowly developed into a worthwhile weekly commitment (and, er, yes, was canceled too soon. Read full review
50
Deseret NewsScott D. Pierce
Season 1 Review: The premiere is heavy on set-up and light on action. It's more about mood than plot. Whether that will hold up over 13 hours is questionable. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley
Season 1 Review: Persons Unknown was originally developed for Syfy, and it shows. It's all eerie music, unanswered questions and disturbing discoveries, leavened only very occasionally by humor. Read full review
40
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen
Season 1 Review: A series that doesn't give viewers enough reason to care in its premiere episode. Read full review
40
The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley
Season 1 Review: This new suspense drama, about a small group of people who wake up as hostages in an empty, creepy hotel, has promise, but it also has familiar and ominous signs of a short life expectancy. Read full review
38
Slant MagazinePeter Swanson
Season 1 Review: The real problem with the pilot is not with the situation, it's with the people placed in it. Not only are none of the seven characters particularly interesting, they simply fail to react realistically to their bizarre circumstances. Read full review
30
Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert
Season 1 Review: They don't promise to be more than a collection of types, like the generic figures in TV's "Poseidon Adventure'' remake. And if we don't care about them, then it's hard to care about the possible threats that surround them. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesMary McNamara
Season 1 Review: Take "Lost," mash it up with "The Prisoner," throw in a little "Saw," over-season with badly written and poorly delivered dialogue, glaze with horror-film lighting, dream-scene camerawork and elevators like you haven't seen since "The Shining," and you've got "Persons Unknown." Read full review
20
Washington PostHank Stuever
Season 1 Review: Persons Unknown utterly fails to entice. Read full review
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