Without a Trace

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For other uses, see Without a Trace (disambiguation).
Without a Trace
Format Drama
Created by Hank Steinberg
Starring Anthony LaPaglia
Poppy Montgomery
Marianne Jean-Baptiste
Enrique Murciano
Roselyn Sanchez
and Eric Close
Country of origin United States
No. of seasons 6
No. of episodes 133 (List of episodes)
Production
Location(s) New York City, New York
Running time 60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel CBS
Picture format 480i (SDTV),
1080i (HDTV)
Original run September 26, 2002 – present
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Without a Trace is an American television show set in New York City. The show is about a fictitious full-time FBI missing persons unit. (The real FBI has no such unit; it investigates disappearances periodically as the situation warrants.)

Each episode usually follows the search for one individual under tight time pressure. The stories 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.

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.

One element that sets the show apart from other current TV crime dramas is the display of information about real-life missing persons at the end of most episodes. Occasionally such information is replaced with other public service announcements, such as an episode about an attempted suicide which presented information on a suicide help line instead. Showings in other countries tend to omit missing persons info; however, Australia's Nine Network usually shows Australian cases, and in Hong Kong the TVB Pearl showed information about local missing persons 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 at 10 pm. Canadian affiliate Global had dropped the show starting Season 6 but its competitor CTV decided to pick it and scheduled for Fridays 10pm timeslot but is now Shown on Both CTV and sister station A-channel.

The show is the only prime-time U.S. drama to feature two Australians and a Briton playing Americans in the regular cast.

Contents

[edit] Regular cast

[edit] Seasons

[edit] Season 1

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.

[edit] Season 2

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.

[edit] Season 3

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.

[edit] Season 4

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.

[edit] Season 5

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.

[edit] Season 6

Vivian is put in charge of a task force to locate the serial kidnapper, who is part of a sex trafficking ring. Samantha reveals that she is pregnant from a one-night stand with a bartender, Brian; by the end of the season, he waives paternal rights and she gives birth to a son. Jack begins a pattern of roughing up suspects to make them talk, which appears to be related to PTSD. He also gets into a dangerous situation without backup and is nearly killed, and becomes over-involved in the life of a teenager he saved from the sex traffickers. In the season finale he is demoted and put in mandatory therapy with Dr. Clare Bryson (Linda Hunt).

This season also contained a two-part crossover episode with C.S.I., as Jack and Gil Grissom and their teams track down a serial killer responsible for the disappearance of a boy six years ago.

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Without a Trace episodes

[edit] Universe

Without a Trace takes place within Bruckheimer's C.S.I. Universe.

[edit] WGA Strike Impact

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 no more new episodes until the issue was settled. Once the strike ended, the show returned April 3, 2008 with six episodes. [2]

[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 #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 #20 13.1[4]

[edit] DVD Releases

[edit] Season Releases

DVD Name
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
The Complete 4th Season July 14, 2008[5]

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.[6]

Seasons 1–3 have all been released under region 2 and region 4 encoding.

Season 4 DVD will be released in the UK on July 14th 2008.[7]

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1] The Los Angeles Times
  2. ^ CBS Sets Series Return Dates. Retrieved on 2008-02-13.
  3. ^ The Hollywood Reporter
  4. ^ Season Program Rankings. ABC Medianet (2008-05-28). Retrieved on 2008-06-02.
  5. ^ [2]
  6. ^ [3] From TVShowsOnDVD.com
  7. ^ [4]

[edit] External links

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Without a Trace
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