CBS’ Tracker is a major success, with high ratings and critical acclaim, but its supporting characters are underdeveloped.
Supporting characters like Teddi, Velma, and Bobby deserve more background and depth in future seasons.
The talented supporting cast of the show, including Robin Weigert and Eric Graise, are being underutilized in Season 1.
The drama series, Tracker, has been a clear runaway hit for CBS. Not only is it the most-watched new network series of the 2023-2024 season, it’s also the most-watched network television series altogether. It even snagged an impressive 18 million viewers for its premiere episode, which debuted after the Super Bowl on February 11. After just four episodes into its first season, CBS renewed the well-received show for a Season 2. Tracker isn’t just popular with viewers; critics have also praised the show, earning it a Rotten Tomatoes score of 88 percent.
Tracker is based on a series of novels by Jeffery Deaver. The first book, called The Never Game, came out in 2019. The television show follows the same main character, Colter Shaw, who is portrayed by Justin Hartley. Colter is a survivalist and tracker who helps locate missing people (often with a hefty reward payout attached). He is supported by a team who assist with each case he takes on. There’s Teddi (Robin Weigert) and Velma (Abby McEnany), who often find cases for Colter to investigate and do background research for him, Bobby (Eric Graise), who acts as a skilled hacker for Colter, and Reenie (Fiona Rene), an attorney who helps Colter with legal matters (which frequently includes bailing him out of jail). It’s obvious that Colter couldn’t find these missing people without the help of his dedicated team. But the series has made a massive mistake by not spending any time diving into who these characters actually are during Season 1.
‘Tracker’ Should Dig Into the Backstories of All Its Characters
It makes sense that Tracker focuses mainly on Colter’s journey. Each episode needs to consist of a case that Colter must solve using his impressive tracking skills and innate powers of observation. However, by ignoring its side characters, the series ends up feeling formulaic. Velma and Teddi are often only on screen for a few seconds; they’re either quickly telling Colter about a case he should work on, or they’re doing searches on their computers for information Colter requires about specific suspects or persons of interest. Bobby also shows up usually pretty fleetingly, though he did get a little more of a spotlight in Episode 7 when a friend of his disappeared. Overall, he acts as a tech guru for Colter in just a few brief scenes per episode. Reenie has more to do than the other three — she pops in to flirt with Colter, and, so far, has received more storylines where she gets to be featured (including being kidnapped in one episode and getting to work alongside Colter to find missing individuals in a few instances). But the other side characters are treated like their entire purpose is just to serve Colter, which makes them feel bland and under-written.
There are so many questions that could be answered about who the supporting characters are as people. How did they get involved in this field? How did they get connected with Colter in the first place? How do their backgrounds inform the work they’re doing for Colter? For each character, the tasks they’re completing are complex and risky (particularly since they’re digging into people that are often criminals or who are linked to nefarious acts). Plus, the field they’re working in is connected to stories that are dark and offer a view into the twisted side of human behavior. It would be interesting to see how Teddi and Velma specifically got drawn into this work, and how they deal with these types of triggering situations in their day-to-day lives. Without this dive into their backstories, these characters feel wooden and one-dimensional. They say a few lines to Colter, and then exit. With more in-depth histories, Teddi and Velma could feel like they’re truly part of Colter’s team, not just there to add in a few pieces of boring information.
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