Last week a new mini-series premiered on ABC called Persons Unknown. I didn’t know too much about it and happened to stumble upon it after the premiere of Last Comic Standing. The first couple of minutes caught my eye, so I sat through the whole first episode. When it was over, I didn’t really know what to think of it. It felt a lot like other shows I had seen before; not a very “new” concept. Still, the show had some hook to it, so I decided to give it one more chance in the second episode. I’m glad I gave it that chance.
8 people are imprisoned in a bizarre deserted town.
The show’s premise is not very “new” by any means. Eight strangers are abducted from their everyday lives and wake up in separate hotel rooms. They each manage to get out of the rooms (which were locked) and discover they are in a deserted town that is filled with cameras constantly watching them. They try to escape but are constantly thwarted by very high-tech security measures. There is some really great suspense surrounding the reasons why these people were taken. There is also a lot of drama that will soon unfurl regarding messages left for some of the captives in their fortune cookies.
While watching Persons Unknown last night, I was chatting about it on my twitter account quite a bit. I got into some discussions about how the show shared a lot of elements with the recent The Prisoner mini-series remake, particularly the way the town appears to be in the middle of nowhere and has no discernible way to escape. I also realized that some of the character drama emulates parts of a short-lived ABC show called The Nine. Additionally, someone also pointed out some of the suspense elements that it shares with Lost. Then I realized that the reason I was drawn to this show, is because it was taking strong plot elements from shows that I had previously enjoyed and combined them in a new and interesting way. I should mention that I’m not accusing the show of plagarizing, or anything like that. I actually think it’s fairly original, I just like the parallels and references that are there. Whether they were intentional or not, I don’t know, but if they are, it’s clear that the writers have good taste in TV shows.
If you enjoyed any of the series I mentioned above, then you will most likely enjoy Persons Unknown. It’s only a mini-series, so it will only be airing for the summer, which makes it nice and somewhat non-committal. I’m really curious to see how the plot unfolds and what more we learn about these characters and what they did. The drama and suspense are just what the doctor ordered to add some diversity to my summer TV lineup.