PASADENA, Calif. – For his first post-“This is Us” series, actor Justin Hartley goes the procedural route with CBS’s “Tracker,” debuting Sunday after “Super Bowl LVIII” (approximately 10 p.m.; subsequent episodes will air at 9 p.m. Sundays, KDKA-TV).
Hartley stars as Colter Shaw, a self-described “rewardist” who tracks down missing people for the reward money (mostly in the West; the show films in Vancouver, British Columbia).
Alas, Hartley’s Shaw doesn’t take the advice of Han Solo, who said, “Never tell me the odds!” in “The Empire Strikes Back.” Shaw constantly tells the people he’s saving the odds of any given outcome if they do what he says. It’s one of Colter’s more annoying character traits, although the show’s writers wisely tone it down after overusing the gag in the pilot.
Other recurring motifs: Shaw removes his shirt to show off Hartley’s chiseled physique in two of three episodes made available for review. He only manages to sleep with one brunette who helps him on a case, though episode two suggests he might have bedded a second if given more than 42 minutes of program time.
Because this is a 2024 CBS show, “Tracker” can’t just be Shaw going from case to case. He has to have a traumatic backstory involving the death of his father (Lee Tergesen, “Oz”) and secrets kept by his mother (Wendy Crewson, who replaced the magnificent Mary McDonnell when producers reevaluated how much the character would be used).
Another modern CBS procedural requirement is that Shaw must have a support team, which works for better and worse.
Shaw’s former flame, lawyer Reenie Greene (Fiona Rene), shows up in every episode to help Shaw/throw barbs at him. Her ever-presence feels contrived. (She must have an understanding employer that she can take off so much time and spend so much money on last-minute airfare!)
In the middle ground, Shaw calls an old buddy, tech guru Bobby Exley (Eric Graise), who can break into computer files to advance the show’s plot.
The best, most novel element – and the characters one wishes were at the center of a show – are Shaw’s handlers, dog-loving married couple Velma (Abby McEnany, “Work in Progress”) and Teddi (Robin Weigert, “Deadwood”). In early episodes, “Tracker” never makes clear how Shaw knows the lesbian couple, who are a hoot in their depiction of a traditional, non-traditional marriage.
McEnany and Weigert have each starred in better series and this material is beneath them, but their lived-in performances prove they aren’t snobs, elevating “Tracker” every time they’re on screen.
One hopes “Tracker” showrunner Elwood Reid (“Big Sky”) recognizes the value of Teddi and Velma, the show’s strongest assets, and finds a way to work them into the stories further and explain how they came to work with Shaw in the first place.
‘Diarra from Detroit’
Streaming service BET+ had a creative and critical hit with last year’s Pittsburgh-set “Average Joe,” a drama with dark comedy elements. The upcoming series “Diarra from Detroit” (March 21) leans into a similar tone.
Created by and starring Diarra Kilpatrick (“Perry Mason”), the series, easily the best new comedy of 2024 so far, follows an elementary school teacher whose marriage is over. When her husband (Morris Chestnut) asks, “How do you feel about an open marriage?” she responds, “How do you feel about a closed casket?”
After her rebound Tinder date disappears, Diarra refuses to believe she’s been ghosted and begins an investigation into the missing man who pulls her into the Detroit underworld.
Executive produced by Kenya Barris (“Black-ish”), Kilpatrick said “Diarra” was inspired by her love of watching detective shows (“Perry Mason,” “Murder She Wrote” and “Matlock”) with her grandmother.
“I watched those shows from her point of view and that made them Black shows unintentionally. She was like Black Twitter housed right next to me,” Kilpatrick said.
As funny, profane and outrageous as “Diarra” can be, it also has grounded moments, including a scene in the pilot that shows Diarra really cares about her students.
“My mother was a teacher. I love teachers. I’ve always seen them as real people,” Kilpatrick said. “I’ve always seen them and valued them and wanted to show just how hard it really is to help somebody as a social servant.”
Filmed in New Jersey due to a better film tax credit situation than Michigan has, Kilpatrick said shows like “Fleabag” and “Insecure” informed the comedic elements of “Diarra,” which she considers a mystery comedy.
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“My favorite shows are dramas with jokes,” Kilpatrick said. “And being from Detroit, some of the most fascinating people there can’t help but be themselves and there’s such comedy in that even in a dramatic, grounded world.”
How will Morris Chestnut juggle his roles in “Diarra” and the upcoming Pittsburgh-set procedural “Watson”?
“There’s always room for him to come back but you kind of have to get to the end [of the first season] to see whether or not you will want him to come back,” Kilpatrick teased. “But he is a beloved actor and person to the ‘DFD’ family, so hopefully there will be room for him to come back as it moves forward.”
As for BET+’s “Average Joe,” BET+ general manager and executive vice president Devin Griffin said no decision has been made on whether the series will return for a second season.
New sports streamer
Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox will work together to create a new U.S. streaming service launching this fall that will include access to linear sports networks ESPN, ESPN+, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, ABC, FOX, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS and truTV with games from the NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB, NHL, NASCAR, College Sports, UFC, PGA TOUR Golf, Grand Slam Tennis, the FIFA World Cup, Cycling and more.
Subscribers to the new service can bundle the product with subscriptions to Disney+, Hulu and/or Max.
Channel surfing
Lifetime addresses the question “Where is Wendy Williams?” (8 p.m. Feb. 24 and 25) in a two-part special executive produced by Williams. … Hallmark Movies & Mysteries will be renamed Hallmark Mystery on March 6; Hallmark Drama will be renamed Hallmark Family later this month. … Because of Sunday’s Super Bowl, Sunday’s episode of HBO’s “True Detective: Night Country” will be available to stream at 9 p.m. Friday on streaming service Max.
You can reach TV writer Rob Owen at rowen@triblive.com or 412-380-8559. Follow @RobOwenTV on Threads, X, Bluesky and Facebook. Ask TV questions by email or phone. Please include your first name and location.