Persons Unknown: New NBC Mystery Series; Cancel or Keep It?

The peacock network recently premiered a new mystery series for the summer called Persons Unknown. Will the series last? Will viewers get answers to their questions or be left hanging?

Persons Unknown revolves around a group of strangers who wake up in a strange hotel and find that they’re in a ghost town and unable to leave. They see security cameras observing them and their unknown captors create mistrust among the group by offering freedom if they hurt the others. The cast includes Chadwick Boseman, Lee Purcell, Jason Wiles, Andy Greenfield, Daisy Betts, Tina Holmes, Alan Ruck, Kate Lang Johnson, Sean O’Bryan, and Gerald Kyd.

The NBC mystery series debuted on June 7th to very disappointing ratings. The premiere attracted a poor 1.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic and just 4.38 million viewers. That represents a distant third place for the timeslot and is an even worse performance than last year’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!.

In week two, the numbers dropped to a 1.2 rating and 3.52 total viewers. Episode three’s ratings dropped even further to a 1.0 in the demo and only 2.87 million viewers. How much lower can the numbers go?

The network is promoting Persons Unknown as a mini-series and say that all viewer questions will be answered by the end of the 13th episode. There have been talks that if the show is successful, it could return for a second season (like CBS’ Harper’s Island). The series was created with international buyers in mind so if it’s successful in other countries, year two could be forthcoming (ala The Listener). However, with ratings like these, NBC wouldn’t likely have an interest in buying it.

Actually, the peacock network could pull the show off the air before all of the current episodes have even aired. NBC has moved it up to 8pm for the next couple weeks, trying to attract a few more viewers. Hopefully, the network will let all 13 episodes air and allow faithful viewers to see the story reach its conclusion. At this point, a move to Saturday nights or forcing people to watch episodes online wouldn’t come as a surprise.

What do you think? Is Persons Unknown worth watching or would you just cancel it before all the episodes have aired?

Image courtesy NBC.

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