With more than a dozen Tracker episodes earning spots on the most-watched telecasts of the year, there is no denying the power of Justin Hartley.
In Variety‘s annual list of the year’s 100 most-watched primetime telecasts, 75 of the slots belong to sports including NFL games and Paris Summer Olympics installments. But on the scripted side it was Tracker’s time to shine with the CBS series scoring 15 spots, which was more than anything except the NFL and the Olympics. The other spots were secured by four editions of 60 Minutes and the two back-to-back final episodes of Young Sheldon.
NBC was the network that led the list with 38 slots courtesy of Sunday Night Football and the Summer Olympics coverage. CBS followed second with 25 slots then ABC and Prime Video with 10 each, Fox with nine and ESPN with five.
Tracker‘s success doesn’t come as too much of a surprise since the hit show has continued to come out on top. When Tracker returned with its season 2 premiere in October, it brought in 8.3 million total viewers, which was nearly 10 percent up in viewership from the season 1 finale. The season 2 premiere also marked the show’s highest audience since the series debuted in February after the Super Bowl.
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Tracker was officially coined the most-watched broadcast premiere since NCIS‘ final episode with Mark Harmon in September 2021. According to the ratings, Tracker even beat out CBS’ reimagined Matlock reboot, which drew in 7.7 million during its sneak peek premiere in September.
Earlier this month, CBS revealed that Tracker has averaged 18.2 million viewers per episode according to their Paramount+ and broadcast measurements. Matlock followed closely behind with 16.9 million per episode.
Tracker, which is based on Jeffery Deaver’s novel The Never Game, follows a survivalist named Colter (Hartley) who travels the country helping people and law enforcement tackle a variety of mysteries. As the series unfolds, viewers learn more about how Colter’s past shaped his current life as a lone wolf.
Hartley, 47, serves as both the lead and an executive producer alongside This Is Us producer and director Ken Olin. He previously shared his excitement about getting to bring the show to fruition in front of and behind the camera.
“I’m excited about it. It’s been a long time coming. Ken Olin and I built this show from the group up years ago, before This Is Us even finished filming our final season. We’ve been at this for years, through a pandemic, and a strike, and on and on,” he told Entertainment Tonight in February. “We poured our hearts and souls into this thing and started working on this what seems like forever [ago]. It’s a labor of love for sure. I’m really proud of it and just happy to finally get a chance for people to see it.”
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Hartley discussed how he wanted to make Colter appealing to all audience members, telling The Hollywood Reporter that same month, “I think a lot of times, it’s all about the message or this political topic. Sometimes, it gets lost in the shuffle that we are entertainers. I want people to watch something and to be entertained.”
He continued: “Colter Shaw is not agenda-driven, necessarily. He’s a businessman. He takes the money, that’s how he makes his living. He’s not politically driven. He’s driven by doing the right thing. And, where does that come from? Well, that comes from his childhood, and we unpack that in the series.”
Tracker returns to CBS Sunday, February 16, at 8 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day on Paramount+.
