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.
I watched the first show and was immediatley addicted taped the second show but when I watched it it was a different show. Please don’t cancel it. It wasn’t advertised properly
F.Y.I. If you love the show do one of two things.
1. Start a Fan Site ( websites,blog,forums)
2. Tweet about it on twitter and tell your friends too, also mark it up on facebook and YouTube.
Those are some of the best ways to get great shows known.
There’s also a fan page on Facebook, I posted on there not to cancel!
I spent several hours yesterday participating in theory threads. I really want to know what the motives are behind the actions taken by the perpetrators.
I have watched from the start. I really want to see it through to the conclusion. This week we can see that not all are in the dark and that is very exciting. In the Long hot Summer it is nice to have a mystery to solve.
Persons Unknown is soooo worth watching…don’t pull the plug…
They should have been airing it on Saturday in the begining – then they could be sure to get low but stable numbers.
I love the show. It is a keeper for me.
I love the show,although now as good as Harper’s Island, I love this kind of show…I want it to stay, please give it a chance and I agree with another viewer…advertising this show was terrible….as I didn’t even know about it till a friend of mine saw it and now I’ve gotten three of my friends to watch it as well.
Please put it out of it’s misery! I really wanted to like it, but it’s slow and some of the acting is horrible.
NBC didn’t really advertise this show too much, so people don’t even know about it. Plus, they put it on the same night as Last Comic Standing, which is a completely different type of show… that’s like how ABC put Happy Town on after it’s comedy block… it’s poor placement, i’m not surprised it’s not doing well… but i love the show and hope others catch on!
I’m insanely addicted to this show!! I hope it lasts through the season and more if possible. I missed this weeks’ episode due to the schedule change. Luckily, I was able to to watch it on Hulu this morning.
I LOVE THE SHOW. KEEP IT GOING. ALL THE MYSTERY IS SO EXCITEING. IT IS LIKE A PUZZLE. PLUS I LOVE JASON WILES.
Agreed. This is only the 3rd show that’s ever led me to participate in online discussion forums (the others being Lost & Heroes). Initially I thought I’d hate it, but I tuned in because I was a fan of Third Watch (& btw the Sargeant was on one ep of that, per IMDB). I was creeped out and hooked by the end of the pilot. If my interest had waned any, the end of Ep 4 would’ve brought it back and then some. I definitely want to see how it all plays out and will feel quite bereft if denied… Read more »
when i saw the first episode of this show as the mini-series in early June, its insane how hooked I have become to this show. I hope it gets renewed for another season.
i love persons unknown, please do not cancel let us see how it ends
Was the show aired at 8:00 PM yesterday? Damn, I missed it! My TV guide said it would be on at it’s usual 10:00 timeslot, after a 2-hour episode of Last Comic Standing. Didn’t NBC say anything about this ahead of time to let us know? I thought it was suddenly cancelled, which was what prompted me to look this web page up. Grrr!!