Customer Reviews

Without a Trace - Season One

5 star:		(57)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Without a Trace focuses on the Missing Persons Unit of the FBI in New York City. This group of five headed by Jack Malone (Anthony Lapaglia) must find out who the missing person was to find out where they might be. They work backwards in time and forward in a race to find the missing person before 48 hours are up. Because after 48 hours chances of finding them alive are very slim.

This show is without a doubt one of the best on TV. I happened to stumble upon the reruns and was watching because I thought Anthony Lapaglia looked familiar. Of course I was thinking of Simon Moon from Frasier. By the time I could get my husband to confirm my suspicions I was hooked on this show. It is so well written and filmed that you can't watch and not become addicted.

The cast of this show is great. These five actors will make you forget your watching TV and make you believe your part of the team trying to solve the case. The writing is wonderful. In addition the way the show is filmed will leave you wanting more. I just can't say enough about this show. It has been awhile since I've been so excited about a TV show.

This DVD package is so great. The quality is excellent. And the extras are very entertaining. You go behind the scenes to learn how the show was developed and how the cast was picked. Then you can learn how the sets were made and discover that they actually have an ex-FBI man as an advisor to make the show look and feel real. This is just great. This shows the interest and pride the producers take in the show to go to the length of having an advisor help in making it real. I think this has a great deal to do with why the show is such a success and seems real.

This DVD is a must have for any fan of Without a Trace. It will provide some of the most entertaining hours on TV.

From the world of Jerry Bruckheimer comes a smartly written, smartly acted, and altogether intriguing drama. The series follows a group of specialized FBI agents through the time they learn of a missing person through the time that person is found (alive or dead). Periodically, subtitles pop up to let the viewer know how much time has passed, and as the hours tick by, the sense of urgency grows.

With a cast led by the great Anthony LaPaglia, this is well-written and well-acted television. On DVD, the episodes run about 40 minutes each.

Without a doubt, WITHOUT A TRACE is one of the finest dramatic series on the air. Executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer who helms the also excellent CSI trio brings us a cast made in heaven, superb storylines, and some gutwrenching episodes. Anthony LaPaglia is superb as head agent Jack Malone of the FBI's Missing Persons unit. Considered rather a maverick man, who sometimes bends the rules in the name of justice, LaPaglia brings a strength and sensitivity to his role that makes Jack Malone one of the best leading roles on t.v. He is given fine support by Poppy Montgomery as Samantha Slade, a lovely young agent whose cynicism belies her innate compassion; Marianne Jean-Baptiste is Vivian Johnson, the stoic team member who acts as the voice of logic and reason and whose delivery is so natural, she doesn't seem like she's acting; Enrique Murciano as the Latino, whose has a sharp sense of humor and a quick temper at times; and Eric Close is Martin Fitzgerald, the Deputy Director's son who wants to prove to his team he is a good agent and not just his father's puppet. Along with superior camerawork, editing and music, the series has given us some marvelous guest performances from actors like Charles S. Dutton (who won an Emmy for his role as the distraught father desperately searching for his missing son); Tim Matheson, Mackenzie Astin, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, Tom Irwin, Veronica Cartwright, Lawrence Pressman...they're have been a ton of really good performances from their guest stars.
All in all, WITHOUT A TRACE is gripping, superb entertainment!

A fascinating drama TV show. My favourite. Well written, casted and acted. You've got to love the writer who called a character Samantha Spade :+). The 'agents' work smoothly together and there is a real sense of teamwork between them. At the same time the introduction of a new team member - Martin - in the early episodes is realistically handled.

The DVDs are well proctected in their fold out case and slip cover. The on screen menus are easy to use and there is a hardcopy booklet with an episode guide as well. If I were being greedy more 'extras' would have been lovely (those that are included are good), but with 22 episodes of Without A Trace before you - would you watch them?

Without a Trace is gritty, realistic (it profits from the extensive input of a former FBI agent), the personal lives of the five main agents, never in the foreground, but always running through the series like a red thread, make Jack Malone and his crew human and believable, and yes, invariably one of the agents will come into the scene and say "I have a lead on the car (or phone number). I'm going to check it out." That's real life in a unit like the Missing Persons Bureau of the FBI, a lot of it is routine and repetitive stuff. The scripts are taught and fast-moving (the extra scenes you get on the DVD release of The Complete First Season show how every episode is honed down to a fine edge, eliminating everything that slows down the plots. The acting is flawless, these are five different people with different profiles and characters, and I personally can believe every one of them. This is a first-rate series, action-packed yet focusing on the human beings and the plight they are in, riveting and quite addictive.

$20 for a season of any show is a good deal, even a half season.. I was expecting the DVDs to be low quality, lacking subtitles, or something else stupid, but there's plenty of special features and the quality is great.

As far as the show goes, it tells a good story, and most of the episodes are well thought-out.. Definitely worth the buy and would be worth it at 1.75x the price.

As a longtime ER fan, I wanted to see the show that's been beating it in the ratings lately. It took me 2 weeks to finish the set. (Who else is grateful for libraries?) Wow! I'm not through with ER. But this show deserves a look too. TNT's carrying reruns. Also, CBS is moving it to Sundays this coming season. This isn't just another crime show. You get involved with these characters. I have to commend the cast. Ironically, 3 of the five principals aren't from the USA. Anthony and Poppy are from Australia. It was strange to hear Marianne using her native English accent on a bonus feature. Lynn Whitfield, from my home state of Louisiana, has a recurring role as Jack's boss. Not all of these missing persons cases have happy endings. Some turn up alive. Others are dead. Or you just don't know what happened. I only occasionally guessed the ending. That's something you can't say very often about many TV shows. How about the guest stars? Charles S. Dutton (Roc) won an Emmy for playing a father obessed with finding his missing son. It's been years. We see the future Joan of Arcadia. 24 fans can see Gregory Itzin before he became the evil President Logan. ER fans will note Frank the retired cop/desk clerk. That episode also featured William Sanderson (Newhart, Lonesome Dove), who did an ER episode. I like that we only got glimpses of their personal lives. This apparently changed in later seasons. The bonus features are quite good. There's a commentary for the pilot. Hank Steinberg, the creator of the series, has a fantastic commentary for the season finale. This two-part episode has been reedited, with additional footage. One of my few beefs is including two other bonus features on Disc 4. Together, they're about 25 minutes. Both are good. But why not just add them to a previous disc? That's all you get on Disc 4. Still, I give this set 5 stars. Get ready to join the team! If such a team doesn't really exist, the FBI should create one.

Without a Trace is a great crime drama; the show breaks out of the mold that its genre has fallen into. The episodes are loosely tied together, with some elements of an overarching storyline. You can watch them out of order, but I think the most entertainment can be had from a straight through viewing. Unlike some series, Without a Trace manages to establish great characters that the viewer cares about early on. From episode 2 on, you'll be attached to the investigators and eager for more.

This is one of my very favorite shows on TV- unfortunately, I've been out of the states so long now that I haven't had a chance to see any of Season 2, and am eagerly awaiting its release!

During thanksgiving holidays, my wife and I fully concentrated on this DVD every night after my son went to bed. We really enjoyed it, and are waiting for next season. Don't hesitate to buy this.

I had never seen the show before buying the DVD set, but knew a few things about. A team of FBI agents search for missing people in the NYC area, and Anthony LaPaglia was the lead character. That right there was the hook for me. We have a multitude of dramas out there, so why this one?

Focus on FBI Missing Persons Unit. Nice change from forensics or detectives.

Premise: Person goes missing, they have roughly 48 hours to find the person before odds are that they are dead. So in that time crunch they have to learn everything they can about this person, write a life story from a blank slate as it were.

Acting: LaPaglia is great, and the supporting cast is really developing along nicely. At first you can see the actors feeling their way into the characters, but by the end of the first season they have found their niche.

Writing: Besides Law And Order: Criminal Intent, this show has some of the best drama writing on TV today. The plots are creative, not at all predictable, and the good guys don't always win. Which is what sadly happens in real life.

So take a chance, you won't regret at as you get drawn into the show and the lives of the characters.