Tracker (2024– ) User Reviews

Promising

[Plazeebo · 7/10 · 15 February 2024]

There was a similar show a while ago called The Finder (2012) which had a similar premise. This is a bit different though. While still light hearted, it's not a comedy/drama but a drama with occasional comedy.

It could have been cool if he was the guy doing stuff - like MacGyver - but this guy has a team on his rooster that are all superfluous. All of the things his team does, he could just as well do himself.

All the scenes with his team are boring and seems to be shoehorned into an otherwise promising show. The show has the same vibes as Human Target (2010), but based on what we've seen so far, I'm not sure if it will be as good as that was.

Still, happy to see a drama/action show with 0 supernatural stuff going on. If I could have my pick, we'd have a new Punisher episode every day, but these fillers will have to do for now.

First episode impressions

[Hitchslapped · 7/10 · 12 February 2024]

There's only one episode out so far but it's off to a good start.

I like the lead actor. He still looks like he did 20 years ago when he was in Smallville which should probably be illegal.

It's a little too early to tell where this show is going and how much of an ongoing storyline there'll be.

Additionally, there are some pleasant nature shots. The pacific northwest always makes for a good background.

Don't get me wrong, this won't be anyone's favourite show of all time but it doesn't have to be. This seems to be one of those shows where you just sit back and have a comfortable time once a week,

After a slow start, it's gotten better. I'm glad I gave it a chance

[tlutzy · 7/10 · 13 February 2024]

April 2024: I just changed my rating from a 4 to a 7. The show has gotten better all around. Definitely give it a try.

Original Review (before update above) I really wanted to like this new show and was eager to see it. After watching the first episode, however, I am extremely disappointed. It's just terrible. I don't think it's Justin Hartley but everything else about it: the other characters (all predictable, all caricatures, some terribly acted), and the plot (again, predictable and trite). Some other viewers have suggested Justin Hartley's acting is stiff and bad. I don't think so; in fact, I think he's pretty good in this. But that can't compensate for the banal script and terrible plot. I might give it one more try and watch the second episode, but if it isn't exponentially better, I'm giving up.

Missing character great show

[curlymamaw · 8/10 · 12 February 2024]

Knew I recognized Colters Mom. Had to search elsewhere in order to get the name. It was Wendy Crewson! You need to add her to the credits. Justin's a great actor. First saw him as Adam Newman on Y&R. Was sad to see him leave. Was great on This Is Us too. This is a mystery crime show but different than the typical cop shows. Liked it. Keeps moving so you don't get bored. Interesting scenery and good story lines. Could have explained a little better about who is two lady partners are. Thought one was his Mom until later on. Keep them coming.action interesting concept as so many TV shows and movies are just rewritten old movies or tv shows. This is off to a good start.

Watched 4 Episodes But More Disappointed Than Ever

[samcelroman · 6/10 · 13 March 2024]

As many reviewers have said, this COULD be a great show. The first 10 minutes of the pilot show the protagonist finding a lost hiker deep in the wilderness. Okay, cool! That, to me, seems like what a tracker should do.

Unfortunately, that's all the "tracking" you're going to get. The rest is standard TV BS of a backup team of "cool weirdo" hackers pulling up data in 5 seconds that the cops couldn't even find with a warrant, instantly giving the protagonist all the info he needs to find the lost person in question.

Okay, I admit, in episode 4, there is some "tracking" but it's literally the protagonist shining his flashlight on a bootprint next to a giant bloodstain in the middle of a forest. Um, no offense, but even I could follow that track, and I grew up in cities all my life.

Frankly, the writers don't seem to know what they want this to be - is it a Reacher clone? Well, the protagonist mostly sucks at fighting and never kills anyone. Is it NCIS? Well, they are finding criminals, but mostly they get a pat on the back at the end and a "tsk tsk you naughty boy."

What even is this? Even poor "Reenie Green" (god what an awful name) can't spice this up with a little sexual banter. And Colter mostly looks like he's constipated as he spends his days driving around an enormous truck in order to ask witnesses one question, after which they just tell him literally everything he asks for.

Coulda been a contender. Instead, it's a yawn.

show is promising!

[MerryannF · 8/10 · 12 February 2024]

The premise of the show is entertaining, and the main character is not just another lone wolf guy with a chip on his shoulder - there's real warmth there. There were pretty quick intros to all the other characters but there was a lot of ground to cover to establish the show's premise so I get it - I look forward to learning how they all started working together and watching those relationships develop. It is a familiar formula in the sense that there are new cases each week with an overall background mystery to dig into, but hey - that's a formula that works for a lot of shows and this one does it well. Look forward to seeing more!

Does anyone know that this is a Jeffrey Deaver character?

[dhiller66 · 7/10 · 22 February 2024]

If you've read the books, you know that Colter Shaw is very matter of fact and quick to a plan and follows through that plan by his actions. Throughout his "rewards" he's trying to uncover the fate of his father and his brother. The other reviewers are making negative comments regarding Colter that are actually true to the books. If you liked the books, this is pretty much on the mark. I'm looking forward to more episodes and since I did read all the bools, I know Colter will get into more "outlandish" situations and get himself out of it. I've read Lee Childs, too and Jack is a lot more violent, but both he and Colter always hatch a plan, see it through without, well, almost, without a hitch and save the day. And not everything is political.

Not sure where the bad reviews are coming from

[facebook-793-477379 · 8/10 · 13 February 2024]

I've read all the bad reviews and honestly don't understand where all the negativity is coming from. My wife and I have a lot of series to watch so any new one better hook us in the first half hour, and this one did.

Regardless of the premise or likelihood of happening or whatever, it was engaging from the get-go. The ensemble has potential and work well enough together, it's a good premise with lots of places it could go (literally) and the banter between the characters is good.

Another good thing is that they gave us a lot of the back story right away, letting us know what the main character's motivation, while still leaving a mystery to unfold as the B story as time goes on.

And as far as the messaging Hollywood usually shoves down our throats, yes, there is a lesbian couple, but so far they are keeping it low key and not in our face, implying we're all homophobes if we disagree with that chosen lifestyle.

Hitting viewers with flashback less than 15 minutes into the first episode is a dealbreaker.

[mrscumbag · 22 February 2024]

Nope. You haven't even properly introduced the protagonist and you're already dumping us into flashbacks? Just terrible and an immediate dealbreaker. I'm tired of movies and TV shows repeatedly taking viewers out of the moment and ruining their own pacing.

They are tedious, lazy crutches for poor writing and characterization. Same goes for dream sequences. Won't hang around long enough to see if there are any of the latter.

Other than that, the lead actor doesn't seem to have any real charisma or presence on screen and felt like he was out of his depth. There's really no reason to watch this unless you have literally nothing else going on.

They better get better writers FAST!

[info-90701 · 6/10 · 21 March 2024]

How can you make something bad with Hartley in it? Everything about him works, and they started out promising, but they are going downhill fast, like very fast. St. Louis was just downright BAD! Really bad writing.

They are falling into the lazy habit of making women stupid, even the ones who are supposed to be smart, so it is always going to be bad when they do that. People standing outside of cars, especially women who know better, having conversations about killers and crooked lawyers in the hometown of said killers and crooked lawyers, soon after meeting with the same crooked lawyer, is an invitation to be kidnapped, hurt, etc. And any woman would know that, especially now that is supposed to be the smartest person in the show.

Then having two women, one smart enough to evade capture for years, and the other, again being the "smartest" person in the show, not pick up a gun while the men are fighting, when they could stop this nonsense. Utter stupidity.

Bad.

Surely they won't make it past this one season if they keep this nonsense up. Hartley is producing this growing atrocity, but he'd better step up if he want's it to continue.

UPDATE: These last two episodes have gotten much better, thankfully.

This is just painful

[jonbuck-91923 · 2/10 · 9 April 2024]

I liked Justin Hartley on This is Us, so I thought I would give it a shot. This show is so bad. I'm not sure if it is Because of trying to make each of the episodes self supporting, but the simplicity of the plots has been laughable. The characters are boilerplate, from the chiseled, indestructible lead, to the hacker dude that can access data in seconds that evidently Iowa enforcement can't find, to the multitude of attractive women with little depth all fawning over the lead.

This dude can somehow home in on people that have been missing long enough to require a reward being posted without a single stray thread to chase down or a single wrong turn in the expanse of the Rockies. Even more miraculous is that he has cell reception every time he needs it, and he never gets hurt despite being in fights in every episode.

I'm still trying to determine what exactly differentiates the roles of the supporting characters. There is no depth for any of them. They all seem to be caricatures of roles the writers once saw on other shows and the actors do nothing to add to their parts.

This would have been so much more watchable if they would have allowed each trek to span multiple episodes which would have allowed for a few red herrings and less predictability. Then they wouldn't have needed the road grader to flatten the plot and character development.

Simply fun

[Nikar4 · 9/10 · 14 February 2024]

Edit** episode 2 had no reference to statistics whatsoever. Action scenes slightly paired back.

This is a welcome change to the dark and convoluted shows that have become popular in recent years. This is lighthearted and easy to follow.

Only one show so far but I like the premise. It has the same vibe as many of the popular shows of my childhood, think littlest hobo, one man a-team etc.

Like these shows the writing can be a little corny, eg. The character's need to give statistics in situations they would elicit panic?

But so far it's a lovely, feel good kinda show you can watch to wind down and relax without any effort.

I'd have given a better review but I can't get past those really annoying stats!

Good show until 10th episode

[drbreakwell · 7/10 · 29 April 2024]

Have been watching every episode and found it to be a good show until the10th episode. They are supposed to be tracking people to get a sister and brother rescued from men that are looking to get their money back. The bad men kill everyone along the way but the brother. A random guy shows up, kills the "client." One guy gets shot in the stomach but manages to fly out? Really does this guy have super powers? The lawyer finds out that someone gets passport pictures done for Canada and the shop just happens to know the criteria? He makes it to the ranger stn, but doesn't kill the ranger and leaves on an ATV? But leaves the truck? Then Coulter makes his way to a set of cabins in the woods and these cabins are cleaned by staff pushing by carts pushed along a rustic path--not believable. The writers really need to think about the logustics of the story line for this series to continue beyond this season.

Yet another procedural

[vinsma · 5/10 · 13 February 2024]

It always amazes me how many people watch these generic procedurals. I know I'm not the target audience, but basic cable keeps churning out these objectively bland shows that has no character development, no chemistry between romantic partners, sex is extremely cheap (girl cop falls into bed because he tells one sob story about his dead dad), and annoying plot holes that's waved away very easily. Lead guy always makes the right call (even if logically it doesn't make sense in real life), always partnered with a tech person that basically does half the job for said lead character. All while the music sounds like it's made by the same person across all 50 or so of these shows.

A Fantastic Beginning...

[robdavis381 · 10/10 · 4 March 2024]

I've watched Justin Hartley since he was Green Arrow on Smallville (Young Superman) 2006-2011. He has always been very well built, very nice, and had an easy big smile. His acting has only gotten better, and in "Tracker" he displays his fullness in exciting tales reminiscent of Lucas Till and "MacGyver" which CBS should NOT have cancelled. This show is NOT dark and full of Violence like most shows these days so it may not appeal to younger people who seem to flock to those types of shows. It's not just for older people either; it's just a nice. Mostly calm mystery each week - of course everything has to be solved, per network tv formulas, but the cast is competent and the stories interesting as well as the surrounding nature shots.

The supporting staff he enjoys with his adventures tracking people who are missing are mostly one dimension but good. The emphasis is on Justin Hartley and his actions to find people as he displays traits he has learned from childhood on self reliance, survival and an ability to read signals left everywhere.

Please support this show and watch every episode on CBS or Paramount+

Just embarrassingly bad

[savvypatachonica · 25 March 2024]

It's going to take me more effort to hit the required character count in writing this review than it took to write any given episode of this show. I'm almost annoyed with myself for bothering to spend any time at all on this sad attempt of a series, but I feel insulted by this show on several levels. It is pure lowest common denominator, like a bad soap opera except those lean into to the absurdity so much that they are at least funny. This is not funny, or entertaining on any level at all, and I am genuinely concerned for the careers of anybody who touched this show. The actors seem like they're reading from a teleprompter half the time. Do they not have the budget to do a second take? I've been to table reads that felt more natural. What a total waste.

Why the Negativity?

[amb-03131 · 7/10 · 19 February 2024]

Why does everyone think they're a legit film & TV critic? For what this show is, it's wonderful! While they're are airways going to be the WTF moments in a show, it's a show. It's to entertain us with fake scenarios. I do wish it was more outdoorsy, since the opening scene showed different elevations from a map. As a geographer, that's what drew me in initially, but I'll stick with it though. I thoroughly enjoy seeing this side of Justin Hartley. I also love the lesbian couple, though I don't think they've even explained who they are. I think, in time, they'll flesh out all the characters for us.

Omg I love this

[jack_e-25042 · 10/10 · 15 February 2024]

Just watched the first episode and loved it. Can't wait for more. Justin just found another hit series- good for him. I may need him to find a missing dog or two as well. Love his support staff/handlers that find the cases for him. They are funny and smart. Enjoy the pace of the show, it's quick and yet easy to follow. The back story with his family seems to have some important meaning and I'm normally not a fan of time jumps but I'm sure it will reveal more than just the trauma he survived. A mystery in a mystery type of show it seems. We get to see where his compassion for people in pain comes from. I may need to read some more of the books.

Wish it were better

[pattyrusciano · 6/10 · 19 April 2024]

It's got all the ingredients but it falls flat and I can't pinpoint why. I watch it because it is not weird, fantasy, evil or superhero. It's average, not great, not awful . But I also play a game or read a magazine while watching because it doesn't keep my attention. We were really hoping it would be an 8 or 9, but I can't go above a six. Does it need new writers? More suspense? I can't figure out who the target audience is, teen? Young adults? Middle Ages? It doesn't even come close to shows I think it try's to stand beside like Will Trent and the Rookie, Lincoln Lawyer, Old Man, Blue Bloods, or Wild Cards, So Help Me Todd. It's just under the dried up NCIS. And as a side note, living in Kentucky, it was an insult to film in Canada and call it Lexington 🙄.

I missed shows like this

[raptorclw · 8/10 · 9 April 2024]

This is a very clean-cut and overly-done show but I really missed them. I rated it a 8/10 for what it is. It's not Game of Thrones. It's unpretentious, doesn't take itself too seriously and is the perfect Saturday fare that I used to watch as a kid.

The protagonist is a lone wolf, bad boy with a golden heart, dark past, falls in love with a new love interest each episode, is better than anyone else at fighting, thinking, policing, tracking, etc.. and defeats the "villain of the week" with ease.

I missed this so that's why I rated this so highly, but it's really cute and cozy and you definitely know what you're getting into. Simple entertainment, without any agenda. Just a decent guy trying to make the world a better place, one reward at a time. Quite fun.

Elements of Justified and vigilante shows like Reecher and Predator

[t-d-t-m82 · 7/10 · 28 April 2024]

It's a nice show. It's just very formulated and it's got a lot of Reacher and Justified tracking and character elements. A tough but good-looking guy goes around the USA in his personal RV and truck seeking tracker targets.

He doesn't have the skills to look them up online so utilises a geek guy (very typical role again but nice to see a bit of diversity in the role here) who does the job of finding the electronic finger prints.

Additionally he has a team of girls looking after other reseources of information. It's a bit strange that he relies on three people yet expertly manages to navigate his way in the field.

There was enough interesting plot-lines to keep me hooked and I binged it in a whole afternoon however it is already a genre which has been used a lot and the acting was ok not amazing. Therefore it gets a good 7. I feel the creators directed it well and there is some talent with the directing and screenplay.

Unfortunately there's just already so much good stuff like this and it is not as good as those despite it coming across with a fresh tracker concept. You can change a little script point but the concept and execution are similar to others.

Derivative, predictable and formulaic mediocrity

[setheisenberg · 5/10 · 20 February 2024]

I SO much wanted to like this series. I really did. But the pilot was just borderline, so I optimistically waited for S1E2. Unfortunately, it further confirmed my initial reaction: this is Déjà vu TV and not in a good way. So far everything has been done before--and better.

Older viewers can probably remember shows that have used this same formula: protagonist with baggage in his past works with a somewhat nerdy guy/gal who does the tech behind the scenes, and is supported by handlers that behave like office managers. The story lines have been superficial, the action sequences forced and illogical.

There's also some very amateurish editing. For example, in S1E2 at approximately 11 minutes, it's raining and his truck is wet, windows dotted with drops. The very next scene right afterwards the truck is not only dry and detailed spotless, but the passenger window is rolled down. Seconds ago it was a downpour. Really? Most scenes are not filmed contiguously, but since these shots occur sequentially, it was quite an obvious gaffe.

I know we live in a world of remakes, re-issues, re-mixes and sequels to the max. It's a sign of no originality and lack of writing talent. Yes, this show *might* survive past S1 as we've seen that quality does not correlate with success (and the opposite is also true). Intelligent shows have suffered premature deaths while drivel like could potentially live on. Perhaps Paramount will put it out of its misery sooner than later.

No, it's not the worst show on TV, but I'm going to pass on the remaining episodes.

Love the premise!

[gnc6971 · 8/10 · 18 February 2024]

Loved the first episode, this show is right up my alley so I look forward to more, but one thing kinda annoyed me- he seems to know the odds of survival for pretty much every situation he's caught in and they're ALWAYS either 10-15% or 90-95%. Is he Sheldon Cooper or what? Or is he just spouting off the same odds for every scenario to sound like he knows what he's talking about- lol. Other than that, I like where it's headed. Can't wait to see more. The app is telling I have to write another 140 some characters but I really don't have much else to say, but I guess this last sentence was just enough- lol.

Reminds me of the movie The Accountant.

[jimjames1 · 7/10 · 26 February 2024]

Seems to be the guy solving problems for people who are unable to handle the situation themselves. It looks very familiar that it really looks like a TV version of the movie The Accountant. They had to wind it down a little. They didn't want an R rating or TV a PG14. I have enjoyed the first 3 episodes and hope it continues to have good writing and quality characters. I shall continue to watch and see if it stays at an above average level. I like the main character but I also like the support people. The guy he calls that is a wizard with computer stuff and the two women who find assignments for him. His lawyer is good too. And he has some interesting history too.

A cast of androids that checks all the boxes

[TheRealPuffyC · 3/10 · 10 March 2024]

This show has some promise but is ultimately let down by terrible acting and cliched casting choices. If you told me this was created by an AI trained to check all of today's required boxes and that all the characters were either CGI or androids I'd totally believe it. The stories are decent but predictable and lack any real creativity, but on the upside it's not another generic cop procedural although in the end it plays out about the same. Basically the setup is some rando with no personality roams the country and lucks into finding missing people while being aided by your standard cast of unbelievable characters. Like another reviewer mentioned, is it good TV? No, not even close, but when your only other choices are game shows and various reboots of The Gong Show, what else are you going to watch.