Why CBS Canceled Person Of Interest
Identifying our favorite shows is a long process that consists of different factors, like how something looks, how it makes us feel, and how it relates to us personally. Individual interest plays a massive role in the stuff we fill our houses with, and even more to do with the things that occupy precious space in our noggins. You can believe something is vitally important, and a person standing right next to you can wonder why we should care about this random thing. Television history is littered with shows that felt like massive parts of people's weekly entertainment time, but ended up being cut short ahead of their planned endings. This is exactly what happened to "Person of Interest" over on CBS, and it turns out the fan-favorite was just a little bit too expensive compared to some of the other programming bets the network made in 2016.
"Person of Interest" was placed on the chopping block back then for the main reason a lot of TV shows end; the budget just didn't justify continuing the story forward, no matter how much people seemed to be enjoying the program. CBS made the call to wrap things up in season 5, and the creators faced that challenge head-on, despite being more than a little bit saddened by the decision made above their heads. Fans were likely a little blindsided as well. "Person of Interest" ran for five years, so the demand was still clearly there for more stories with this crew. Unfortunately, the TV business doesn't run on pure fan love, or our faves would all run for more than 10 seasons, and viewers would get the kind of closure that they desperately crave more often than not!
Throughout 5 seasons, Jim Caviezel and Michael Emerson played John Reese and Harold Finch, a crime-fighting duo charged with a "Minority Report"-style machine that can isolate people about to be involved with violent crimes. In fact, when you think about it, "Person of Interest" plays a lot like "Minority Report" on a TV budget, and is set in the present rather than some nightmarish dystopia that we're careening towards faster every passing day. That's probably where some of the appeal lies. Well, that and the fact that TV viewers love seeing bad guys get foiled in multiple different contexts. You would think this kind of show would have gotten maybe 8 seasons on a network like CBS, but it just wasn't in the cards.
Person of Interest was too expensive to sustain
Unfortunately, CBS just didn't think the spending was worth it anymore to continue "Person of Interest," and the decision was made to air a truncated season 5 to try and put a bow on the series in the time they had left. The first three seasons of "Person of Interest" managed to bring in around 9 million viewers comfortably, but after season 4, the cast figured out the end was coming when CBS didn't choose their show for the network's annual Upfronts presentations, a clear sign that "Person of Interest" was no longer a priority on the programming side. "Blue Blood's" crew found out in largely the same way and had to inform the fans of the program's abrupt ending.
Former CBS chief Leslie Moonves explained the decision in even more detail during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter back in 2016. He told the outlet that "Person of Interest" and "Elementary" ended because Warner Bros. Television helped produce them, and "got all that additional revenue" from ads through the contracts signed. That means CBS broke even on the shows rather than posting a massive profit on programs that the network's viewership clearly enjoyed, a fact that would probably sadden a lot of "Person of Interest" fans.
"Person of Interest" is not unique in that decision, as the big networks in the United States like NBC, Fox, and ABC all run their primetime slots similarly. Namely, only the biggest draws that draw the most advertising revenue get to stay in the long run, and that means meager success with a steady, reliable fan base doesn't mean as much to the people making the decisions up top. Just ask anyone who really loved "The Equalizer" what happened to that show. It's sad for viewers who are just looking to see the resolution of their favorite stories, other interviews have seen actors from "Person of Interest" talk about how there were plans for season 6 of the show, and that's always a bitter pill to swallow as networks struggle to identify why people come to TV in the first place.