There’s a reason Tracker is TV’s biggest show — and it all has to do with leading man Justin Hartley.
Before introducing Us to Colter Shaw, Hartley got his start on soap operas, including Passions and Young and the Restless. He then moved on to Smallville, Revenge and Mistresses ahead of his fan-favorite role as Kevin Pearson on NBC’s This Is Us. Hartley walked away from the hit series with three nominations for the Critics’ Choice Television Awards and ultimately branched out with movie roles in A Bad Moms Christmas, Senior Year, The Noel Diary and more.
But it was Hartley’s passion project — Tracker — that proved that the actor knows what TV fans want. The show, which premiered in February 2024, quickly found success after being coined the most-watched broadcast premiere since NCIS‘ final episode with Mark Harmon in September 2021. Its average viewership was reported to be 18.2 million per episode, according to Paramount+ and broadcast measurements.
Variety‘s annual list of the year’s 100 most-watched primetime telecasts revealed that Tracker episodes earned 15 top spots. Despite making Us wait 11 weeks for new episodes, the second season dominated viewership with the season 2 premiere bringing in 8.3 million total viewers — a nearly 10 percent increase in viewership from the season 1 finale. The season 2 premiere also marked the show’s highest audience since the series debuted in February 2024 after the Super Bowl.
At the center of the series is Hartley’s Colter, who welcomes the audience week to week while solving various missing cases across the country.
“One of the things I really love about Colter and the way we’ve built him is that he doesn’t apologize for his masculinity,” Hartley told Men’s Journal in August. “I think that’s what people are looking for. You’re asking yourself, ‘What kind of people do I want to hang out with?’ And particularly: ‘What kind of male friends do I have in my life that I really value?’”
The actor was thrilled with the example they are able to set with Colter.
“I think we’ve crafted a character that is so emotionally evolved, and he really does want to get to the root of why people do things,” Hartley continued. “The facts are that [executive producer] Ken Olin and I set out to do a show that was in fact a throwback. We wanted a new spin on a procedural, meaning our character would evolve over time.”
Hartley added: “He would not just remain the same exact person every single week. We were hopeful people would like it. People ended up loving it. I think there’s a huge appetite for this kind of show.”
Keep scrolling for a visual breakdown of Hartley’s hottest onscreen moments as our favorite TV hero Colter Shaw:
CBS Finding an Excuse for Justin Hartley to Take His Shirt Off
Tracker deserves some applause for writing in a scene where Colter is coming out of the shower just to give the people what they want.
Ready for His Close-Up
While not necessarily a scene from the show, CBS has gotten creative with its themed photo shoots for each season of the show. Our personal favorite has to be Hartley hanging out in an Airstream while channeling his inner Colter.
Saving His Friends
Colter’s work doesn’t just help him solve cases for strangers. Three seasons in, Tracker is dedicating certain episodes to Colter helping either free of charge or as a favor to a friend because he is just that selfless.
A Risk Taker
Tracker wouldn’t be the show that it is if Colter wasn’t jumping out of planes, running around during snowstorms and pushing himself to the limit for others.
A Wife Guy
Hartley has found a way to have some very star-studded guest appearances on Tracker but the best addition was his real-life wife, Sofia Pernas. The scenes between Colter and Billie (Pernas) make fans hopeful that the duo could get together — or at least lead their own show.
Getting in a Workout
Just another instance of CBS finding a way to show off their leading man, which none of Us are mad about.
Reuniting a Dog With His Owner
The only thing better than a man who saves people is one who stops to investigate an abandoned dog, which then became Colter reuniting the pet with a young boy after they got separated.
A Family Man
Despite Us marking Colter’s family drama down as messy, the Shaws do have their sweet moments. One of those includes Colter visiting his mom and finding time to enjoy some pancakes before being pulled into yet another missing persons case.
Colter’s ‘Yellowstone’ Moment
It is frankly a little surprising that it took three seasons for Hartley to show off his cowboy skills while riding a horse in the desert.
