Editing Without a Trace (section)

==Production==
''Without a Trace'' debuted as part of the CBS fall line-up in 2002, created by [[Hank Steinberg]] and produced by [[Jerry Bruckheimer]]. The show is the only primetime American drama to feature two Australians (LaPaglia and Montgomery) and a Briton (Jean-Baptiste) playing Americans in the regular cast. It was the first show to achieve strong ratings opposite longtime [[NBC]] hit medical drama ''[[ER (TV series)|ER]]'' which, like ''Without a Trace,'' is produced by [[Warner Bros. Television]].

''Without a Trace'' ran on Thursdays at 10&nbsp;pm until September 2006, when it was moved to Sundays. In the 2007–2008 season, it swapped timeslots with ''[[Shark (American TV series)|Shark]],'' returning it to its old timeslot on Thursdays. However, this lasted only until the 2008–2009 season, when it moved to Tuesdays at 10pm.

The first two [[showrunners]] were Steinberg and [[Ed Redlich]]. Between seasons two and three, Redlich moved away from active participation in the series, with staff writers Jan Nash and Greg Walker taking over. In the middle of season four, Steinberg left to produce the series ''[[The Nine (TV series)|The Nine]],'' while remaining executive producer.

=== Cancellation ===
On May 19, 2009, the morning the series finale aired, it was announced that the show had been cancelled. In season seven, the ratings sank lower, to an average of a 2.7 rating but climbed up to 12 million viewers and ranked 18th. However, CBS had to make a choice between renewing either ''Without a Trace'' or ''[[Cold Case]]'' due to budget cuts. They chose to keep ''Cold Case''.