[spoilers ahead]
So the setup of the show is this: An elite former special forces soldier named John Resse, dressed as a bum, is arrested for beating up some punk kids on a subway. In the middle of it all, lawyers spring him at the behest of their employer, a wealthy mysterious man, Mr. Finch, who makes Reese an offer: He can help stop murders that have yet to happen but will. At first Reese brushes him off but Finch shows that he's for real. He explains that all he knows is that there are people in deep trouble and all that he has is their names. After exploring the first case, a zealous DA, he finally prods Finch into revealing his source.
As it turns out before 9/11 Finch was a brilliant programmer and was enlisted after the Towers fell to design a program that could sift through and analyze immense amounts of surveillance data and discover conversations that are linked to crimes. Those the program deemed were likely to be linked to national security were listed as "relevant" and sent to the NSA and FBI. The "irrelevant" crimes were sent to a list that was deleted every day at midnight. Eventually Finch leaves the project but not before he installs a backdoor into the program that sends him only the social security numbers of people on the "irrelevant list" (as it seems both the victims and perps) as any more information sent out would likely get noticed. Thus, Finch hires Reese to help him track down the people on the list before they come to harm.
Personally I thought this was fantastic stuff and I"m thrilled to watch more. Plus the idea of a super advanced program (or AI) reading millions of emails listening to millions of calls looking at millions of surveillance cameras and putting together a list for a enterprising Robin Hood-esque employer and his/her Johnson is too good to pass up. Thoughts?