You won't be disappointed!

So much average

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Only Millennium was a worse series. This series has some very interesting things happen. The characters a good. The actors are good. The series builds very well until the end of episode 12. Then the writer's obviously did not know how to end it. At the end of that episode they have a car crash that makes no sense whatsoever. In episode 13 the the characters wander around in different places of the world, again making so sense on how they got to wherever they are at. Then they are all back in hotel like they started. Absolutely horrible that the writer's had no concept for an ending. If you watch it, you will be let down in the end.

***Spoiler Alert***People either love or hate this series. Unfortunately, thirteen episodes doesn't leave the writers much room to explore or totally explain all the questions posed. But with some imagination, one can make a logical conclusion about the outcome.First of all, people that loved the characters in Lost will be somewhat disappointed. Comparing the cast of Lost to any series is almost impossible, as Lost hit the jackpot in the casting department. The cast of Persons Unknown pales in comparison. That doesn't mean the series is not worth watching, it is. Unfortunately, the main character Janet is sub par and down right painful to watch at times. However, there are interesting and well acted characters that make up for Janet. Joe is decent, Moira is interesting, Charles is believable, and Ericka is downright psycho. There's just enough depth in the characters to make it work. But don't expect much more than that.The intrigue of the premise makes the series worth watching. Yet, many people expect the writers to lay everything out and tie up the ending neatly. I prefer to come to my own conclusions based on the content. With that in mind, I found it relatively easy to reach a satisfactory conclusion.*** Major Plot Spoilers ***The Program began in the 1950s and is under the control of a mysterious group, a think tank. The purpose of the Program is to control political and financial power, supposedly for the good of mankind. To retain this power they identify potential candidates to carry on the Program and infiltrate society through a stress based statistical simulation.Through 50 years of data, the simulation can have only one result. Of the 6 abducted people, only one will survive. The 7th person is always a mole (in this case Joe) planted to help manipulate the final outcome.It appears however, that the simulation we are witness to is unique. Unique enough that the director of the Program must make unprecedented changes. Namely, that when all participants survive, they are neatly gathered up and sent to level 2 to battle it out until there is only 1 survivor. We do not need to know who survives, that is irrelevant. We only need to know that those behind the Program make all the rules and thus control everything. Thus, there really is no getting out of the Program. We can assume that Tori's exit is allowed because her father threatens the organization. Ultimately, he is doomed for cooperating with Renbe in his quest to find Janet. Because the simulation requires another person and to stir up the group, Ericka is introduced to replace Tori. The Director needs to add a more violent character to facilitate a result as the group refuses to eliminate each other.The Night Managers escape is just another manipulation to divide the group. But after the group escapes in the van and end up back in the town, they realize they can not escape. This is why they don't attempt to use the Night Manager at the pain wall a second time.Because Renbe discovers the truth, he is placed into level 1. It's fairly certain he will not survive.The bodies Renbe and his boss discover are not in the same town as our group of participants. These people are not dead, they are the sedated participants for this town. That is until the Italian thinking they are dead cuts off their right thumbs. Because the thumbs go missing, the Director must make another change...we see the result in the young and clearly brain washed doctor. He is not a survivor and therefore not sent to level 2. These are my impressions and yours may or may not jive. That's fine. I won't attempt to explain the entire series. Luckily in the real world there can be more than 1 result. The finality of Persons Unknown is the understanding that one can never escape the true power that lies behind society.

So far, I've only seen the first episode, which was a bit slow, but had intriguing qualities. What no-one else seems to have commented on, but we couldn't stop noticing throughout this episode, was the similarity (in location visuals and scene changes, particularly) to the game 'Syberia'. Even the main female character looks reminiscent of Kate Walker in that game. The layout of the hotel and the town street is directly translatable from the game to what we see in this episode. Perhaps this is explained by the idea revealed by other reviewers: that The Program is a "game", therefore the writers took some short-cuts by modelling the visuals on an existing game?

I really enjoyed it. In the beginning it gave me a kind of "Lost Room" feel, although definitely not the same premise. I thought the show was intriguing, smart and well planned.....up until the very end. I really enjoyed the characters and dissecting who was in on it, and who wasn't. It was a fun show and I love watching shows that keep you wanting to know what happens next. This show had that. We all had our favorites, our ideas on the program, and who not to trust. It never once got boring to me.With that being said, I have to say the ending left too many questions unanswered. Thus, having so many viewers who were loving the show turn around and say that hate it. The ending is supposed to leave you with the big picture.....here it was just leaving us wanting to know what the truth was. Why did they choose the people they chose for this elaborate program? What happens to the ambassador and reporter? These are questions we will never know... They give a little bit..but not quite enough. Still, I give the show as a whole a good review and think the show is worth watching for the ride. It was very entertaining to say the least.