Person of Interest
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 20 of 60 TV series by recommenders
People recommend it for a crime procedural that grows into prescient, character-driven sci-fi about an AI watching people. Critics most often say it floundered toward the end.
People recommend it for a crime procedural that grows into prescient, character-driven sci-fi about an AI watching people. Critics most often say it floundered toward the end.
18 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 17
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 94%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 17 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 17 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Prescient take on AI surveillance
“as prescient, as it has a lot of motifs exploring exactly how an AGI hiding in plain sight could manipulate individuals”
Comment from 20 Sep 2026 in “Exfiltrate your Weights” “That's what made the show so ahead of its time.”
Comment from 27 Feb 2026 in “Statement from Dario Amodei on Our Discussions with the Department of War” “the prescient and excellent TV show”
Comment from 24 Jul 2026 in “Government orders GitHub to remove Bluetooth-based chat app Bitchat: Jack Dorsey” - Comment from 18 Aug 2026 in “Meta Files Patent for Facial Recognition, Automatic Recording of People”
Case-of-the-week episodes building into arcs
“built up the characters with "number of the week" episodes and then integrated the world-building and big arcs gradually”
Comment from 12 Feb 2026 in “Amazon Ring's lost dog ad sparks backlash amid fears of mass surveillance” “I love the case-of-the-week nature of it.”
Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Father claims Google's AI product fuelled son's delusional spiral” Gets better in later seasons
“which had an okay first season but gradually got amazing in later seasons”
Comment from 30 Oct 2026 in “How Google determines the names for bodies of water in Google Earth (2008)” “gets really epic by the end”
Comment from 6 Mar 2026 in “Daemon (2006)” Underrated show with devoted fans
“Nice to find another fan of this criminally underrated show.”
Comment from 27 Feb 2026 in “Statement from Dario Amodei on Our Discussions with the Department of War” “Person of Interest is really good.”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “Amazon Ring's lost dog ad sparks backlash amid fears of mass surveillance”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Floundered toward the end
“Great premise although it floundered quite a lot toward the end.”
Comment from 6 Sep 2026 in “Discovery of a new OpenAI agent message board” Case-of-the-week syndrome sometimes
“Gets a little bit of case-of-the-week syndrome sometimes.”
Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Father claims Google's AI product fuelled son's delusional spiral”
Other TV series people recommend
The four most recommended other TV series, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Halt and Catch Fire | 166 | 20 | 89% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Babylon 5 | 86 | 21 | 80% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Silicon Valley (TV series) | 52 | 1 | 98% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Andor | 52 | 5 | 91% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Person of InterestThis page | 17 | 1 | 94% | 8 | — | Approved |
What people said
19 of the 21 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“which had an okay first season but gradually got amazing in later seasons”
“as prescient, as it has a lot of motifs exploring exactly how an AGI hiding in plain sight could manipulate individuals”
“At that time, I found it quite trite.”
“Great premise although it floundered quite a lot toward the end.”
“That series was prescient.”
“the prescient and excellent TV show”
“got a lot of details right”
“Now watch Person of Interest and then name your computer Samaritan.”
“gets really epic by the end”
“I love the case-of-the-week nature of it.”
“Gets a little bit of case-of-the-week syndrome sometimes.”
“That's what made the show so ahead of its time.”
“Nice to find another fan of this criminally underrated show.”
“Season 1 is a must though.”
“someone was watching the show "Person of Interest" as a guidebook”
“it starts as a crime procedural with an AI-flavored twist, and ended up being considered by many critics the best sci-fi show on broadcast TV”
“built up the characters with "number of the week" episodes and then integrated the world-building and big arcs gradually”
“Person of Interest is really good.”
“Even moar AI! (Much better than Mr.Robot, IMO.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.