Tracker: "Klamath Falls" Books Included

April 4, 2024 6:17 AM - Season 1, Episode 1

Tracker is an American action drama television series created by Ben H. Winters based on the book, 'The Never Game' by Jeffery Deaver. The series stars Justin Hartley (Kevin - This Is Us) as Colter Shaw, a skilled survivalist and tracker who earns his living by assisting law enforcement and private citizens in exchange for reward money. Hartley is joined by principal cast members Robin Weigert (Calamity Jane - Deadwood), Abby McEnany, (Abby - Work In Progress) Eric Graise, (Logan - Locke & Key), Fiona Rene, (Gloria - The Lincoln Lawyer) with rotating guest stars as Colter's family members - the show features some flashbacks to Colter's younger life.

Episode Synopsis:
Colter's Team send him to Klamath Falls, Oregon, to investigate the disappearance of 14-year-old Gil Brown who is suspected to have been taken by his birth dad with a criminal background.

Trivia:
• Deaver is involved in the production but it's unsure (based on IMDB and Wikipieda) to know if his involvement is anything beyond script consultation / being the author of the original source material
• Young Colter is portrayed by Prestyn Bates, real-life brother of Parker Bates who portrayed the younger version of Justin Hartley's character Kevin Pearson on the television series "This Is Us."
• Not sure why, but Justin Harltey spends a lot of the first epside not wearing a shirt - which may or may not be to your taste
• Not to be confused with the 2019 (cancelled) crime show called 'Trackers', which lasted 6 episodes, and was also a book adaptation,
• The series is based on the first book in Colter Shaw Quadrilogy
  • The Never Game - 2019
  • The Goodbye Man 2020
  • The Final Twist 2021
  • Hunting Time 2022

The first two episodes were aired directly after the 2024 NFL SuperBowl LVIII Match.

I'm not based in America, but read that some Promo's / Trailers didn't do the series any favours by portraying it as a kind of 'Texas Walker 2024'.

Based on the first episode the show is .. very much not that.

Decider.com has a good write up of the first episode if you want to see if you want to try it.

The first season consists of 8 episodes and has already been successful enough that it has already been renewed for a second series.

Depending on where you are in the world (or where you tell your VPN to say you are) the series is currently (at time of writing) airing on the following networks / streaming services: Star, and Disney Plus (- and possibly Hulu and CBS?)

posted by Faintdreams (2 comments total)

I enjoyed the book The Never Game (with some reservations), so I was interested to see how this adaptation would work.

At first I though Hartley was horribly miscast (when reading the book I pictured a young Kurt Russell type ), but after watching the first episode I think I was biased because I'd only ever seen Hartley in 'This is Us' - which he was great in - and I didn't give him enough credit for his nuanced acting skills.

Although the stories are mostly told from Colter's point of view, the show seems to understand that the stories require a strong ensemble cast to work.

Colter's back story is sprinkled throughout the book until nearer the middle where it all becomes very important, but the show has decided to have Colter's back story shown in flashbacks waaay up front - we'll see if that pacing pays off.

All in all - enjoyable.
posted by Faintdreams at 6:23 AM on April 4

Not sure why, but Justin Harltey spends a lot of the first epside not wearing a shirt - which may or may not be to your taste

I haven't watched this yet but this made me laugh because Hartley's character in "This is Us" is an actor who struggles through most of the series to overcome being typecast as the guy who makes sitcom audiences cheer by taking his shirt off.
posted by mmoncur at 9:19 PM on April 8 [1 favorite]