7 Reasons Tracker Dethroned NCIS as CBS’ Most-Watched Show
The key differences between Justin Hartley’s action drama and NCIS helped Tracker dethrone the police procedural as CBS’ most-watched show. According to TV ratings released by TVLine, NCIS had 9.7 million viewers tuning in each week during the 2023-2024 season, while Tracker topped the charts with 10.8 million viewers each week during its first season. Tracker’s feat is even more impressive considering it dethroned NCIS for the first time in five years.
While NCIS is one of the network’s most successful shows of all time, its lone protagonist Colter Shaw had a successful first season on the network. Tracker scored an early renewal for Tracker season 2 after airing just four episodes. This prize-seeker brings something new to the channel, with many of the things that worked with Tracker in its first season being things that NCIS couldn’t achieve as an older series. The show has been renewed for NCIS season 22, but the big differences between the shows will make for worthy competition in the next TV season.
So far, Tracker has only been a single season, unlike the long-running NCIS series and its spin-offs. To watch the entire Colter Shaw series, you’ll need to watch all 13 episodes of the first season, which clock in at just over 40 minutes each, which could take a day or two if watched consecutively. When looking for something new and exciting to watch, Tracker makes for a fun weekend binge. This simple starting point is insignificant compared to the overall NCIS universe, which includes five existing NCIS shows and many more in the works.
With the series recently celebrating its 1,000th NCIS episode, it’s going to take some getting used to to this iconic police procedural. NCIS has been airing on CBS since 2003 and has four spinoffs, each with a handful of episodes, including NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, NCIS: Hawai’i, and NCIS: Sydney. To get the full story, you’d have to watch over 1,000 episodes across the five shows. If you binge-watched it, it would take you about a month to get through the entire NCIS universe, even if you watched it straight without a break [via CBS].
Colter’s past is complicated, but his present story is simple. One thing that makes Justin Hartley’s character so compelling is Colter Shaw’s duality of mystery and straightforwardness. Although he has a complicated past that he will continue to deal with in Tracker season 2, Colter doesn’t question much about how he should operate in the present. He’s a percentile person, using statistics and probabilities to guide his decisions with more logic than anything else. The ease with which Colter navigates traumatic situations has a calming effect when watching the show.
In NCIS, the characters’ pasts and futures become more messy and complicated, as do the difficult family relationships that come with their busy schedules as NCIS agents. Many of them struggle to balance work and home life, and that’s something Colter Shaw has. Even though he’s worked hard to bring his loved ones back to his family, Colter is still able to enjoy the adventure that comes with his lifestyle in Tracker’s season 1 finale. The duality of Hartley’s character makes following the track a balanced and enjoyable experience.
Tracker’s storyline provides a more connected story than NCIS and provides the familiarity with the characters that can make a successful television show. While the variety of cases keeps the show fresh, there is a central story in the first season of the show involving Colter’s family, maintaining interest in how he navigates his personal life. Furthermore, all of his family members appear on the show in some form in the first season, such as a reunion with Colter’s sister, and that adds to the familiarity the audience can have with the characters.
Overall, Tracker’s story is more cohesive than the flagship NCIS series, and naturally it has a cult following, as viewers are able to develop a more direct understanding of the characters. On NCIS, it took years to fully reveal the mystery surrounding its central character, Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon). The show had to begin the process of re-acquainting the audience with its main character after Mark Harmon left NCIS, with the audience having to get used to a new team leader.
