Submitted by thebetabruh t3_10jgoi5 in television
magus-21 t1_j5k8tgi wrote
Person of Interest deserves SUCH props for being a big broadcast television procedural that still managed to be inventive, compelling, AND tell a long-running story with an ending.
thebetabruh OP t1_j5k9220 wrote
It floors me that it starts out as a CBS procedural but with a twist and becomes such an incredible sci-fi epic
caddington t1_j5kj2cy wrote
They totally snuck it past CBS. The show starts off pretty procedurally and doesn't really hint it will become too much more for a majority of the 1st season. People got hooked and by the time CBS realized it wasn't really what they'd been sold on it was too popular to cancel.
Deducticon t1_j5kmdhz wrote
A writer who briefly worked on Lost was amazed that ABC got bamboozled into having an epic expensive weird sci-fi show on prime time TV.
wujo444 t1_j5kuqs8 wrote
They literally fired executive that signed on making over 10 mln dollar pilot. I'm not even sure who was right in that case.
thebetabruh OP t1_j5kjmh1 wrote
I remember a r/dataisbeautiful post about TV show ratings and I think during 2011/2012 PoI was the 9th or 10th most popular show in the US!
saufcheung t1_j5kqpex wrote
I really enjoyed the show but it wasnt that popular. I recall it being on the bubble every season after the 2nd/3rd
caddington t1_j5l6f21 wrote
The 1st season was really popular because it fit pretty closely to the normal CBS fare. Then in the following season it lost audience but had built up enough of a base that CBS couldn't justify cancelling it.
wujo444 t1_j5lxs3w wrote
Eventually they could, because they didn't own the show, and didn't like splitting profits with Warner.
NoNefariousness2144 t1_j5l1d17 wrote
It helps that the procedural format gave them so much creativity. You could tell they had fun making every plot with a 'Number' unique, with some standouts being >!the role reversal episode, the one with Finch trapped in a building with the Number or every time the Number turned out to be a major character like Root or Control!<.
[deleted] t1_j5mkr1b wrote
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LightThatIgnitesAll t1_j5kf7d7 wrote
>with an ending.
I hate the ending but love the show.
QuartzBeamDST t1_j5ki3ao wrote
Curious. Why do you hate the ending?
LightThatIgnitesAll t1_j5kignm wrote
>!I felt that John's death was very forced.!<
>!The Samaritan stuff ended up being a bit too much.!<
QuartzBeamDST t1_j5ktewm wrote
>!I wouldn't have minded him living, but I thought it brought his story full circle. He was introduced as someone who had nothing left to live for, no purpose, and was trying to drink himself to death. And Finch who gave him that.!<
>!Plus, he got to subvert his old "in the end we're all alone and no one is coming to save you" outlook by coming to save Finch. And symbolically having the Machine by his side as he died.!<
Truth be told, I found PoI had one of the most satisfying endings I've seen.
The >!Samaritan!< stuff did kinda drag, yeah. But personally I just disliked how we moved away from the rogue's gallery approach of the earlier seasons. And also how they make this super big deal out of it in Season 4 Episode 1 and then pretty much hand wave it away afterwards.
NoNefariousness2144 t1_j5l1ioe wrote
I think the Samaritan stuff felt a bit rushed because of how much they had to shorten the final season. I'm glad they focused more on amazing character drama and payoffs instead of the villain though.
QuartzBeamDST t1_j5l2ui9 wrote
I think the final season managed to convey what it wanted to do well enough that I did not mind too much when it failed to do it well.
My issue with Samaritan is more that the show promised this brand new status quo with the season 3 finale and season 4 premiere, where the heroes would have to be smart about how they worked. Like how John could not just go on a one-man rampage cause it would raise suspicion and he had to hire someone to create a situation his assumed identity would make sense to get involved with. But they pretty much dropped that by the next episode.
bros402 t1_j5mkuz4 wrote
I wish they had been able to have >!Control!< return.
Also, the >!ex-MI6 guy from that one season 2 episode!<
LightThatIgnitesAll t1_j5kyxt8 wrote
>I wouldn't have minded him living, but I thought it brought his story full circle. He was introduced as someone who had nothing left to live for, no purpose, and was trying to drink himself to death. And Finch who gave him that.
I am fine with him dying it's the way he did that I have an issue with.
>Truth be told, I found PoI had one of the most satisfying endings I've seen.
It's not an ending that soured the rest of the show for me it just felt kind of flat.
>The Samaritan stuff did kinda drag, yeah. But personally I just disliked how we moved away from the rogue's gallery approach of the earlier seasons.
Same.
[deleted] t1_j5liui1 wrote
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TheSecretAgenda t1_j5mblqi wrote
It takes two or three seasons to get good.
stimpakish t1_j5pjeay wrote
I'll join you in downvote land -
And then after it gets good, it gets pretty repetitive.
There are some great characters and moments but there's a lot of the same tone and type of action for large sequences of episodes, even after it is thought by some to get beyond the procedural format.
xoomax t1_j5ozhca wrote
With one fault. The forced romance between Reese and Carter. Or was it just me that it seemed weird or shoehorned in?
magus-21 t1_j5p36jl wrote
Totally agreed. I literally blocked that memory out of my head.
The worst thing is that I don't think those types of spontaneous romances are something the studio forced in, because it's not really marketable. Which means it's something the writers thought for some reason would be a good idea.
Certainly a misstep, but not a big one in the grand scheme of things.
[deleted] t1_j5p78sl wrote
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magus-21 t1_j5pb6vr wrote
The kind of romances that are shoehorned into TV shows at the last minute.
The worst example of these I can think of was Warehouse 13, where the two leads, after having spent YEARS with a sibling-style relationship (and even had an episode specifically about how they are not attracted to each other), suddenly discover that they love each other in the very last episode.
karpenterskids t1_j5qvxia wrote
I stopped watching once they made one of the characters gay just to make them gay, but the show was top-notch quality up until then.
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