I am – Hercules!!
A new summer series from Christopher McQuarrie, who authored the screenplay for the excellent “The Usual Suspects,” “Persons Unknown” sounds like a cross between “The Prisoner” and “The Real World,” about seven strangers who wake up in a hotel in the middle of nowhere, not knowing why. Its most recognizable cast member could be Alan Ruck of “Ferris Bueller” and “Speed” fame. Far fewer critics than usual seem to have reviewed this one. I didn’t receive a copy of its first hour (though I did get two hours of “Last Coming Standing,” NBC’s other show premiering tonight). It was shot in Mexico some time ago. Its arrival so soon after the departure of “Lost” may or may not be coincidental. I’ll be watching and/or DVRing “Persons Unknown” tonight. It at least sounds like my kind of series. The New York Times says:

… has promise, but it also has familiar and ominous signs of a short life expectancy. … But the “Twin Peaks” axiom applies here as well: a show can ride only so far by suggesting, however cleverly, that things are not as they seem. Soon the creators must start revealing what really is going on. Until that process begins, the true worth of “Persons Unknown” is unknowable.

The Los Angeles Times says:

Take "Lost," mash it up with "The Prisoner," throw in a little "Saw," over-season with badly written and poorly delivered dialogue, glaze with horror-film lighting, dream-scene camerawork and elevators like you haven't seen since "The Shining," and you've got "Persons Unknown” … it would help if the dialogue wasn't so clunky or if the actors didn't utter it as if they were auditioning for their local production of "And Then There Were None"; and it would certainly help if the premiere roused any concern at all about the characters' collective fate. …

The Chicago Tribune says:

… It is with great trepidation that I hesitantly recommend the mystery-thriller "Persons Unknown" … Though it may yet squander the things it has going for it, the fact is, "Persons Unknown" is as good or better than many of the pilots that NBC has frantically thrown onto its schedule in recent years. And while this straightforward, unapologetically derivative thriller won't blow your mind, it's a whole lot better than ABC's "Happy Town" or CBS's "Harper's Island" and may turn out to be like NBC's "Journeyman" -- a slice of genre entertainment that slowly developed into a worthwhile weekly commitment (and, er, yes, was canceled too soon. If the same happens to "Persons Unknown," please don't punch me).

The Washington Post says:

… Rather than assemble themselves into a peaceful yoga retreat, and thus painfully bore whomever's watching them via camera, they begin a protracted parlor game, and thus painfully bore whomever's watching "Persons Unknown." … "Persons Unknown" utterly fails to entice. It also comes much too soon after the abusive plot shenanigans and loose ends that defined the end of "Lost." Let's just go ahead declare all "Persons Unknown" as dead, stuck in the Hotel Purgatory. Get a room someplace else.

The Boston Globe says:

… Based on the first episode of “Persons Unknown’’ I’m not inclined to stick with the show. And that’s not just because I feel burned by the irresolution of “Lost’’; “Persons Unknown’’ isn’t built around an ensemble of characters who are engaging in their own right, beyond the mildly provocative situation they’re in. They don’t promise to be more than a collection of types, like the generic figures in TV’s “Poseidon Adventure’’ remake. And if we don’t care about them, then it’s hard to care about the possible threats that surround them.…

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… For now, "Persons" is delightfully weird and foreboding … McQuarrie has laid out an intriguing tableau with care and precision and invited viewers to pull up a chair. What remains now is to see whether what he's dishing out is enough to catch on with the masses.

10 p.m. Monday. NBC. Follow Herc on Twitter!! Follow Evil Herc on Twitter!!

All seasons of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” $50.49 last week, are momentarily $36.99/Each!! 47% Off!!

101 Blu-rays Under $10!!