Without a Trace

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Without a Trace
Genre Drama
Creator(s) Hank Steinberg
Starring Anthony LaPaglia
Poppy Montgomery
Marianne Jean-Baptiste
Enrique Murciano
Roselyn Sanchez
and
Eric Close
Country of origin Flag of United States United States
No. of episodes 113
Production
Running time 60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel CBS
Picture format 480i (SDTV),
1080i (HDTV)
Original run September 26, 2002 – present
Links
Official website

For other uses of "Without a Trace," see Without a Trace (disambiguation).

Without a Trace is an American television show set in New York City. The show is about an FBI missing persons unit; each episode typically follows the investigation into one person's disappearance. (The unit is fictitious; the real FBI has no dedicated missing persons unit, but investigates disappearances as needed on a case-by-case basis.)

The series debuted as part of the CBS fall line-up in 2002. It was created by Hank Steinberg, and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. The show was the first to ever score strong ratings opposite longtime NBC hit ER -- which, like Without a Trace, is produced by Warner Bros. Television and CBS Paramount Television. The first two showrunners were Hank Steinberg and Ed Redlich. Between Seasons Two and Three, Steinberg and Redlich moved away from active participation in the series, and staff writers Jan Nash and Greg Walker took over as showrunners.

The show 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 that, at the end of most episodes, they show information about a real-life missing person. This is not the case all the time: for example, at the end of an episode in which the missing person attempted to commit suicide, a promotion for a suicide help line was aired in place of the missing persons report. This extra element does not happen in the UK.

This is generally not the case for showings in other countries. (Although, in Australia, the Nine Network usually shows information on missing persons in that country after episodes. In Hong Kong, the TVB Pearl showed information of missing persons, provided by Hong Kong Police, after each episode in the first two seasons. But since season 3, such information is not shown.)

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.

The show is also the only prime-time US drama to feature two Australians and a Briton as performers in the regular cast, even though they play Americans.

Contents

[edit] Regular cast

Special Agents Sam Spade, Jack Malone, Danny Taylor, Martin Fitzgerald and Vivian Johnson.
Special Agents Sam Spade, Jack Malone, Danny Taylor, Martin Fitzgerald and Vivian Johnson.

[edit] DVD Releases

[edit] Season Releases

DVD Name
Cover Art
Release dates
Region 1
Region 2
The Complete 1st Season September 14, 2004 January 10, 2005
The Complete 2nd Season March 13, 2007 January 16, 2006
The Complete 3rd Season July 24, 2006


Without A Trace Season 1 has been released on Region 1 and Region 2 DVD. While season 2 (region 1 DVD), which was thought to be indefinitely scrapped, has recently been announced for March 13, 2007.[1]

Seasons 1 - 3 have all been released under region 2 encoding.

[edit] Seasons

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Special Agents Malone and Delgado
Special Agents Malone and Delgado

Season One 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.

Season Two 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 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.

Season Three Vivian loses her promotion when Jack returns to his job, causing friction. 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.

Season Four 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 receives a new member, Elena Delgado, a former NYPD vice squad member with an aggressive, streetwise attitude. Martin develops an addiction to painkillers, and Jack begins a romance with the widow of a former mentor killed in the line of duty.

Season Five (ongoing) Jack's girlfriend miscarries and abruptly ends their relationship. Danny and Elena begin to date each other, while her ex-husband sues for custody of their daughter. More about Samantha's difficult past is revealed.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Without a Trace episodes

[edit] 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 #16 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 2006-2007


[edit] Broadcasters

Without a Trace is broadcast around the world by the following stations:

Country Name Translation Station
Australia Nine Network
Arena (cable)
Austria Without a Trace - Spurlos verschwunden ORF1
Dutch-speaking Belgium Without a Trace Kanaal Twee (cable)
Brazil Desaparecidos Missing persons Warner Channel (cable)
SBT
Bulgaria Безследно изчезнали Without a Trace Nova Televizia
Canada Global
Colombia Sin Rastro RCN Television
Denmark Forsvundet sporløst Disappeared - No Trace TV3
Finland Ilman johtolankaa Without a Trace MTV3
France and French-speaking Belgium FBI : portés disparus FBI: Reported Missing France 2
Germany Without a Trace - Spurlos verschwunden Without a Trace - Lost without a trace Sat.1(new episodes), Kabel1 (reruns)
Greece Χωρίς Ίχνος Without a trace Alpha TV
Hong Kong 尋人密探組 The Missing Persons Division TVB Pearl
Iceland Sporlaust Without a Trace RÚV
Ireland TG4
India Zee Cafe
Israel ללא עקבות Without a Trace (Literally Without Tracks) Israel 10
Italy Senza Traccia Without a Trace Rai Due
Japan FBI失踪者を追え (Efubīai (FBI) Shissōsha o Oe) FBI, Follow the Missing People NHK (new episodes)
Super Channel (reruns)
Korea, South 위드아웃 어 트레이스 (Wideuaut eo teureiseu; loanword from the original name) Without a Trace Catch On, SkyHD
FBI실종수사대 (에프비아이失踪搜査隊; Epeubiai (FBI) Siljong-susadae) FBI Disappearance Investigation Team OCN
Malaysia ntv7
Middle East MBC 4
The Netherlands Without a Trace Without a Trace Avro
New Zealand TV2
Norway Sporløst forsvunnet NRK
Peru Without a Trace Without a Trace Warner Channel
Philippines Without a Trace Without a Trace RPN9
Poland Bez śladu Without a Trace TVN (new episodes)
TVN Siedem (reruns)
Portugal Sem Rasto Without a Trace RTP1
AXN
Romania Disparuti fara urma Without a Trace Pro TV
Singapore Channel 5
Slovenia Brez sledu Without a Trace POP TV
South Africa SABC 3
Spain Sin Rastro Without a Trace Antena 3 (new episodes)
AXN (reruns)
Sri Lanka Without a Trace Without a Trace Channel One MTV
Zee Cafe (cable)
Sweden Brottskod: Försvunnen Crime-code: Disappeared SVT1
Taiwan 失蹤現場 The Disappearance Scenes Public Television Service
Thailand True Series
Turkey Without a Trace CNBC-e
United Kingdom More4 (new episodes)
Channel 4 reruns
United States CBS
TNT Network (syndication)
Venezuela Warner Channel (cable)
Televen
Hungary Nyomtalanul Without a trace Viasat3

[edit] External links

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