Persons Unknown

:

Season 1
  • Network: NBC
  • Series Premiere Date: Jun 7, 2010
User Score
7.2

Generally favorable reviews- based on 73 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 51 out of 73
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 73
  3. Negative: 8 out of 73
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User Reviews

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  1. raefon
    Aug 22, 2010
    3
    Well obviously the show had its ups and downs as to whether it was going to make it through the non-rating period and as it draws to a close and the network makes the absurd decision to drop the second last episode to an online showing only we are told yes they are more than ready to get it off air.

    With so many questions unanswered and yet the show somehow making you tune in each week,    Well obviously the show had its ups and downs as to whether it was going to make it through the non-rating period and as it draws to a close and the network makes the absurd decision to drop the second last episode to an online showing only we are told yes they are more than ready to get it off air.

    With so many questions unanswered and yet the show somehow making you tune in each week, the potential that was once there is now being quickly lost on the lack of network backing.

    As yet another show to have the big brother is watching you, and playing on the intrigue on what the hell is going on, conspiracies, government agencies, and the co-orporate world running all kinds of experiments in the quest for unknown answers. We are left with nothing more than a show that did nothing new and provided us with more knowledge that the networks will just provide us with nothing to watch in a season that is classified as a non-rating period.

    Just as interest was being found in the shows characters and what was going on it was over before it all began.    … Expand
  2. mandopolis
    Aug 20, 2010
    1
    Well reading about the show I was intrigued, and after watching the pilot, I immediately saw threw it as a poor substitute for Lost. I just found myself thinking this isnâ
  3. AdamTango
    Sep 1, 2010
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The show looked promising at first and I got into it until after a few episodes...by the end of the series, you don't really get too many questions answered...I feel a bit let down overall. I felt like they had a good plot going for them and then they messed it up with the ending. Oh well. It was exciting at first and then it got boring. I almost wish they would have exposed or stopped the organization, but they didn't. They ended up on a boat. What does the program do exactly? They see who can survive their tests...they're gathering data that suggests that humans have no free will...wow...evil...… Expand
  4. DallasArtist
    Aug 12, 2011
    2
    Okay, so I watched the Pilot & I'm halfway through the second episode and I'm sorry, but the characters are dull and not reacting realistically. There are too many distracting holes in human logic that would follow the human psyche & curiosity if placed in this scenario, like insisting on leaving a dead-end road when there are buildings they haven't even gone into to look for clues, helpOkay, so I watched the Pilot & I'm halfway through the second episode and I'm sorry, but the characters are dull and not reacting realistically. There are too many distracting holes in human logic that would follow the human psyche & curiosity if placed in this scenario, like insisting on leaving a dead-end road when there are buildings they haven't even gone into to look for clues, help or answers. Why are they overplaying the discord so soon when there's no reason to feel fully trapped yet? When they see the van, why didn't they get in it and drive around? Why build a fire in the hallway to set off the smoke alarm and not just break a light bulb and place a piece of paper on the element? When the elevator button yielded no results, why didn't someone try to open the elevator doors to see if there's a way up? Why break a chair in order to fashion a key, yet not throw the chair through the window? Why not interview each other to find (as one reviewer already said) find a common thread? When encountering the "force field", why would a supposedly trained military man who claims to know about confrontation and caution, use his own human body to sacrifice knowing where the "force field's" parameters are and not an inanimate object, like a chair? If they were suspicious of the food (and they should be, considering), why eat the Chinese food without asking the cooks to eat it first? They seemed cooperative enough to me. Why not ask them how they get the food delivered? And again, why not ask them about the van? If they're so concerned about "Big Brother" and the camera, why are they not getting up there and knocking the cameras down in hopes of a response? Why go all caveman and decide to start a fire to set off alarms and see so clearly that the cameras are a potential Achilles heel for whomever is holding them? Finally, if they keep insisting on running through a "force-field", why not go searching for a power source?

    I'm sorry, but the roles these characters are playing are already a bit obvious in their cultural/social "placement", which I might add, seems to be poorly cast already. But beyond that, it's terribly distracting that these people are not reacting realistically to their environs? I can't seem to get past their ignorance, lack of curiosity, boring dialogue, attention to all the wrong things (dress shop, really?) and inattention to potential power plays against those who are holding them?

    Unless these people were chosen for their ignorance as some social experiment in not-so-contemporary psychology in an iconoclastic yet technological setting, this is just a sorry excuse for writing, acting and logic.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

54
#54 Most Discussed TV Season of 2010
62
#62 Most Shared TV Season of 2010

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
49

Mixed or average reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 12
  3. Negative: 4 out of 12
  1. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Matthew Gilbert
    30
    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.
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  2. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Paige Wiser
    75
    The premise is intriguing, although it's difficult to watch without backseat driving.
    Read full review
  3. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Maureen Ryan
    75
    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
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