Without a Trace is an American television show set in New York City. The show is about a fictitious FBI missing persons unit, each episode usually following the investigation into one person's disappearance.
The series debuted as part of the CBS fall line-up in 2002, created by Hank Steinberg and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. The show was the first ever to score strong ratings opposite longtime NBC hit ER—which, like Without a Trace, is produced by Warner Bros. Television. The first two showrunners were Steinberg and Ed Redlich. Between Seasons Two and Three, Steinberg and Redlich moved away from active participation in the series, with staff writers Jan Nash and Greg Walker taking over.
The unit the show follows is a fictitious one; the real FBI has no dedicated missing persons unit, with investigations into disappearances occurring as needed on a case-by-case basis. The series also focuses on the personal lives of the team members, and illustrates how their different experiences give them insight—and sometimes traumatic reactions—to certain cases. In many episodes a team member makes an emotional connection to a case that causes him or her to take the proceedings personally.
One element that sets the show apart from other current TV crime dramas is the display of information on real-life missing persons at the end of most episodes. Occasionally such information is replaced, in cases such as the episode containing an attempted suicide when information on a suicide help line was aired instead. Showings in other countries tend to omit this information; however, Australia's Nine Network usually shows information on missing persons in Australia, and in Hong Kong the TVB Pearl showed information of missing persons in Hong Kong after each episode during the first two seasons.
In 2003, the TNT Network acquired syndication rights to the series for US$1.4 million per episode.
Without a Trace was run on Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS until September 2006, when it was moved to Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS. As of the 2007 season it will swap timeslots with Shark, returning it to its old timeslot. However, this lasted only until the 2008 season, with a move to Tuesdays. Canadian affiliate Global had dropped the show starting Season 6 but its competitor CTV decided to pick it and scheduled for Fridays 10pm timeslot.
The show is also the only prime-time U.S. drama to feature two Australians and a Briton playing Americans in the regular cast.
Regular cast
Seasons
The FBI's New York Missing Persons Squad consists of the boss, Jack Malone, and his team: Vivian Johnson, Danny Taylor, Samantha Spade. Martin Fitzgerald joins the team at the start of season 1. In addition to working for the FBI, Jack is trying to be a decent father and deal with a separation from his wife. Samantha is overcoming the secret affair she had with Jack, her boss. Martin is adjusting to being the newest member of a well-established team. His father is a Deputy Director for the FBI, which makes Martin worry about receiving special treatment.
As the team continues to track down missing persons, Jack and his wife slide towards divorce, while Jack must also care for his father (Martin Landau) who has Alzheimer's disease. We learn more about the team members' life histories, including the fact that Martin was practically raised by his aunt and uncle, and Danny is an orphan whose brother (Alex Fernandez) is a convicted felon. Martin fatally shoots a man whom he provoked, and both he and Vivian must keep quiet in order to keep their jobs. Jack makes a last ditch attempt to save his marriage by moving to Chicago with his family, giving Vivian a long-awaited promotion to his post, but at the last minute his wife leaves without him, taking their daughters with her.
Vivian loses her promotion when Jack returns to his job, causing some friction among the group. She also experiences heart trouble that endangers her life and her career, and undergoes risky surgery. Martin and Samantha begin a secret office romance, but it ends badly. Jack undergoes a brutal custody battle with his ex-wife. Danny has to confront his traumatic past and his estranged brother. The season ends with a cliffhanger as a hired mercenary opens fire on Martin and Danny's car while they transport a prisoner.
After barely surviving the gun battle that ended Season Three, Martin must recover from near-fatal gunshot wounds while Danny battles PTSD. Stretched for help, the team gets a new member, Elena Delgado, a former NYPD vice squad officer with an aggressive, streetwise attitude. She has a past connection to Danny, the nature of which is unknown until Season Five. Martin develops an addiction to painkillers, and Jack begins a romance with the widow of a former mentor killed in the line of duty.
Jack's girlfriend miscarries and abruptly ends their relationship. Danny and Elena begin to date each other, while her ex-husband, Carlos, sues for custody of their daughter, Sofia, and later abducts the child. More about Samantha's difficult past is revealed, including her strained relationships with her mother and sister. Jack is abducted and tortured by a psychotic woman, but initially appears to show few effects. At the end of the season, Carlos is freed, leaving the team worried about Elena's safety, and a serial kidnapper appears to be preying on young women.
Vivian is put in charge of a task force to locate the serial kidnapper, who appears to be part of a sex trafficking ring. Jack begins a pattern of roughing up suspects to make them talk, which appears to be related to PTSD. Samantha reveals that she is pregnant from a one-night stand with a bartender, Brian. Jack Malone and his team work with Gil Grissom in the episode "Where and Why", to track down a serial killer who may be responsible for the disappearance of a boy six years ago that is investigated by Jack.
Episodes
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Universe
Without a Trace takes place within Bruckheimer's C.S.I. Universe.
WGA Strike Impact
The LA Times reported that Without a Trace completed twelve episodes of Season Six before the Writers' Guild of America strike [1]. Because the show's writing staff all joined the strike, there were to be no more new episodes until the issue was settled.
However, once the strike ended, CBS announced that the show will return April 3, 2008 with 6 episodes. [2]
U.S. Television Ratings
Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Without A Trace on CBS.
Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.
| Season |
Timeslot |
Season Premiere |
Season Finale |
TV Season |
Ranking |
Viewers
(in millions) |
| 1st |
Thursday 10:00PM |
September 26, 2002 |
May 15, 2003 |
2002-2003 |
#15 |
15.09 |
| 2nd |
Thursday 10:00PM |
September 25, 2003 |
May 20, 2004 |
2003-2004 |
#11 |
16.74 |
| 3rd |
Thursday 10:00PM |
September 23, 2004 |
May 19, 2005 |
2004-2005 |
#8 |
18.68 |
| 4th |
Thursday 10:00PM |
September 29, 2005 |
May 18, 2006 |
2005-2006 |
#7 |
18.54 |
| 5th |
Sunday 10:00PM |
September 24, 2006 |
May 10, 2007 |
2006-2007 |
#16 |
14.7[3] |
| 6th |
Thursday 10:00PM |
September 27, 2007 |
May 15, 2008 |
2007-2008 |
#12 |
13.1 |
DVD Releases
Season Releases
Without A Trace Season 1 has been released on Region 1, Region 2 and Region 4 DVD. Season 2 (region 1 DVD), which was thought to be indefinitely scrapped, was released on March 13, 2007.[4]
Seasons 1–3 have all been released under region 2 and region 4 encoding.
Season 4 comes out in the UK on the 14th of July 2008
References
- ^ [1] The Los Angeles Times
- ^ CBS Sets Series Return Dates. Retrieved on 2008-02-13.
- ^ The Hollywood Reporter
- ^ [2] From TVShowsOnDVD.com
External links
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