The Super Bowl is always guaranteed to draw a ton of viewers, whether for the football showdown of the year or the plethora of star-studded commercials that up the ante from usual Sunday ads. This also means that the show that airs directly after the big game is getting a strong push by the network; for the enviable time slot in the 2024 premiere schedule, CBS is debuting new drama Tracker, starring This Is Us alum Justin Hartley. And I can safely say that viewers of the San Francisco 49ers vs. Kansas City Chiefs game should stick around for Tracker!
What To Expect From Tracker After The Super Bowl
The new show is based on the bestselling novel called The Never Game, penned by Jeffery Deaver before being adapted to TV for CBS. Justin Hartley leaves his This Is Us role as Kevin Pearson squarely behind him as he embodies the character of Colter Shaw, whose survivalist skills – which, as you might guess, include tracking – help him solve mysteries and collect the rewards.
There’s more to the equation, as he has a complicated past with his own family to contend with, but the format is fairly straightforward in a procedural way that has been hugely successful for NBC for decades. (See: the NCIS, CSI, and FBI franchises.) The first episode airs directly after the Super Bowl on February 11, and is called “Klamath Falls,” which… will make complete sense if you tune in!
For the first case of the series, Colter will investigate the case of a missing teenage boy seemingly abducted by his birth father. Despite being on the road, he’ll have the help from some familiar faces in his life, including his handlers and attorney Reenie Greene. As indicated by the trailer, there’s plenty of action, and Hartley displays a commanding yet also soothing presence that proves he has range beyond Kevin Pearson.
Is Colter only in this job for the money, or is he motivated by more than rewards? Critics seem to largely agree that Hartley is a suitable leading man for his first solo series, even if the format isn’t entirely unique.
Why Super Bowl Viewers Should Stick Around After The Game
Having seen the episode, I can say that there are more reasons than Justin Hartley going shirtless to give the show a shot. Without spoiling anything, I tend to have faith in any procedural that CBS puts on the air, as the network has found the winning recipe with that format over the years.
Hartley already proved his acting skills on This Is Us; for all that Colter is definitely not Kevin Pearson 2.0, fans of that NBC drama should enjoy seeing a new side of the actor on Tracker. The premise is also much more straightforward than The Company You Keep, which was his TV dad Milo Ventimiglia’s first attempt at a return to primetime in 2023. (It was ultimately a first-season victim in the spring 2023 cancellation bloodbath.) This is a show that gets off to an easy-to-follow start.
And to be honest… if you’re already watching the Super Bowl, why not just stay tuned to CBS for an extra hour to give the show a chance? Tracker’s official time slot after getting the post-Super Bowl slot will be on CBS Sundays at 9 p.m. ET (and streaming with a Paramount+ subscription), so it’s not as if the show is debuting on Super Bowl Sunday only to be moved over to Wednesdays or Thursdays. If you’re still on the fence, take a look at the trailer:
While there’s no official time for the first episode of Tracker, you can expect Justin Hartley’s new show to arrive on CBS following whenever the Super Bowl ends on February 11. If you’re more a fan of Hartley than of the NFL (or the commercials between football plays), you can always check out a rundown of his TV shows prior to both Tracker and This Is Us.