The relocation was announced in May, after the procedural secured a record-breaking $48 million California tax credit, as part of the state\u2019s strategy to woo film and television productions home through its expanded tax incentive program, as my colleague Cerys Davies reported.<\/a> I recently spoke with \u201cTracker\u201d showrunner Elwood Reid about the move now that the series is settling into its new home base. (Filming was nearly wrapped on Episode 7.) Reid is at least familiar with relocation shuffles since the ABC crime drama \u201cBig Sky\u201d(which ran for three seasons from 2020 to 2023) relocated from Canada to New Mexico ahead of its second season \u2014 just as Reid took over showrunning duties. His No. 1 priority is the same now as it was then.<\/p>\n \u201cWhenever you move a show, the first thought is: Do no harm,\u201d he said. \u201cAm I going to get a benefit from it? Can I write the same show that we were writing up there and and do it here? And I have to say, the answer for all of those was \u2018yes.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s Reid\u2019s first time shooting in California since 2008. (2008!) Though he\u2019s been involved with projects since that filmed elsewhere, he\u2019s thrilled to bring a major network series and hundreds of production jobs back to the region. The action-drama is a road show that primarily films on location and often features rural settings, so the move to California provides new landscapes to masquerade as other locales. Already, Lancaster has doubled for a Texas town; Griffith Park for the Pacific Crest Trail and locations in Newhall and Burbank have subbed in for Salt Lake City. Read more from my conversation with Reid about the move in Guest Spot.<\/p>\n Also in this week\u2019s Screen Gab, our writers recommend titles that lean into the past: get reacquainted with a bygone police procedural about an LAPD unit that tackles high-profile cases, or properly usher in spooky season with a collection of horror films. Though, let\u2019s be real \u2014 our true jump scare is checking the weather forecast this weekend! Stay cool and see you next week. \u2014 Yvonne Villarreal<\/p>\n Turn on<\/p>\n Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times<\/p>\n Harvey Stephens as Damien in the 1976 movie \u201cThe Omen.\u201d<\/p>\n (American Movie Classics)<\/p>\n The Horror Collection (The Criterion Channel)<\/p>\n October is the one month when watching people get stalked, possessed or hacked to pieces counts as getting into the holiday spirit, and the Criterion Channel is marking the occasion with an unusually generous feast of horror, organized into a series of themed collections. <\/p>\n \u201cHighway Horror\u201d makes the open road a place to fear, from Steven Spielberg\u2019s \u201cDuel\u201d (1971), in which an unseen trucker relentlessly pursues a lone motorist, to \u201cThe Hitcher\u201d (1986), with Rutger Hauer as the nightmare stranger you really shouldn\u2019t pick up, and the deeply unsettling Dutch thriller \u201cThe Vanishing\u201d (1988), about a man consumed by the disappearance of his girlfriend at a highway rest stop. \u201cUnwelcome Guests\u201d moves the danger indoors, with Roman Polanski\u2019s \u201cRosemary\u2019s Baby\u201d (1968), Michael Haneke\u2019s sadistic home-invasion provocation \u201cFunny Games\u201d (1997) and the bloody, darkly funny \u201cYou\u2019re Next\u201d (2011). \u201cPossessions\u201d offers all manner of body-snatching mayhem, from the demonic-child classic \u201cThe Omen\u201d (1976) to Andrzej \u017bu\u0142awski\u2019s feverish \u201cPossession\u201d (1981), in which a disintegrating marriage takes a decidedly monstrous turn. \u201cMade-for-TV Terror\u201d digs up small-screen nightmares from the 1970s and early \u201980s heyday of the TV movie, including Tobe Hooper\u2019s creepy Stephen King adaptation \u201cSalem\u2019s Lot\u201d (1979). And there are retrospectives devoted to Dario Argento, the Italian master of stylish, blood-soaked giallo, and Kiyoshi Kurosawa, whose eerie Japanese thrillers include \u201cCure\u201d (1997) and \u201cPulse\u201d (2001). Horror may now be respectable enough for its own sprawling exhibition<\/a> at the Academy Museum, but Criterion\u2019s October lineup proves there are still plenty of disreputable pleasures to be found. \u2014 Josh Rottenberg<\/p>\n Mary McDonnell stars in\u201dMajor Crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n (Karen Neal \/ TNT)<\/p>\n \u201cMajor Crimes\u201d (Netflix)<\/p>\n As if they were making not merely recommendations but programming decisions based on my personal viewing habits, Netflix has supplemented my rewatch of \u201cThe Closer,\u201d the great L.A.-set police procedural, by posting its immediate sequel, \u201cMajor Crimes,\u201d which ran on TNT from 2012 to 2018. Not wanting to waste a good ensemble after the departure of Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, it put former internal affairs investigator Capt. Sharon Raydor, played by Mary McDonnell, in charge of her team, an endearing, quirky crew of veteran detectives who show up en masse at every crime scene like Mystery Incorporated. It\u2019s less overtly comic than the series that preceded it \u2014 though there are hilarious individual episodes \u2014 with Sharon soft-spoken and contained (where Brenda flew all over the place) and serving as a surrogate mother to Rusty Beck (Graham Patrick Martin), a teenage street hustler waiting to testify in a murder trial held over from \u201cThe Closer.\u201d Themes of parenting, coming of age and sexual identity are highlighted. As did \u201cThe Closer,\u201d it makes brilliant use of local locations and culture, providing at once a guide to how much the city has changed in the years since and a reminder of how much of what plagues us has remained the same. \u2014 Robert Lloyd <\/p>\n Catch up<\/p>\n Everything you need to know about the film or TV series everyone\u2019s talking about<\/p>\n Mike Faist as Charles Trask, Christopher Abbott as Adam Trask and Florence Pugh as Cathy Ames in Netflix\u2019s \u201cEast of Eden.\u201d<\/p>\n (Netflix)<\/p>\n If you want a mix of something old and new, this week also brought the arrival of new retelling of a John Steinbeck classic: \u201cEast of Eden.\u201d Seven decades after Elia Kazan\u2019s film adaptation, his granddaughter Zoe Kazan has distilled her interpretation of Steinbeck\u2019s multigenerational saga, which is deeply structured around biblical allusions, into a seven-episode series for Netflix. Even before its launch, the series stirred spirited discussion from enthusiasts of the book overs Kazan\u2019s decision to center the story\u2019s chilling antagonist Cathy Ames, played by Florence Pugh. The adaptation explores the immediate and long-term the disruption she brings to the lives of half brothers Charles and Adam Trask, played by Mike Faist and Christopher Abbott, respectively. <\/p>\n In his review of the series<\/a>, TV critic Robert Lloyd praised Pugh\u2019s performance: \u201cPugh impressively represents Cathy\u2019s outward self through successive stages; she\u2019s not a character born to develop, though she will have various crises to navigate, and the actor imbues her with as much nuance as the part allows.\u201d Meanwhile, I spoke with Pugh, Abbott and Faist<\/a> about the debate over nature versus nurture and the daunting pressure of taking on Steinbeck\u2019s timeless story: \u201cI\u2019m excited for people to do the stuff that I\u2019m doing now, which is [to say], \u2018Oh my God, let\u2019s read this and see how it fits against what I\u2019ve got in my head.\u2019\u201d \u2014 Y.V.<\/p>\n Guest spot<\/p>\n A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they\u2019re working on \u2014 and what they\u2019re watching<\/p>\n Justin Hartley as Colter Shaw in \u201cTracker.\u201d Ahead of its fourth season, the action-drama relocated production to Los Angeles from Vancouver.<\/p>\n (Mike Taing \/ CBS)<\/p>\n Think your family has secrets? The Season 3 finale of \u201cTracker\u201d delivered a major Shaw family twist: Russell Shaw (Jensen Ackles), the brother of the show\u2019s rugged problem solver Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley), made a secret, dark deal to protect his brother \u2014 he agreed to a dangerous job in exchange for securing (and burning) a file detailing the dark childhood trauma and secrets inflicted on Colter by their late father. The series returns for Season 4 Sunday on CBS \u2014 it will stream on Paramount+ \u2014 and Colter\u2019s dark and mysterious backstory remains an unfinished through-line even as it falls to the deep background of the action drama. But now the audience knows something that Colter doesn\u2019t, and that will fuel some tension. But big stuff is happening behind the scenes, too, this season. Production relocated to Los Angeles from Vancouver. Over a video call, showrunner Elwood Reid discussed the show\u2019s big move, what\u2019s coming in Season 4 and the police drama that had him hooked this summer. \u2014 Y.V.<\/p>\n \u201cTracker\u201d is very much a road show. How has the move to L.A. re-energized the show or broadened the landscapes you can mimic? <\/p>\n I got to reunite with a locations manager I worked with way back in my career \u2014 Veronique Vowell. She\u2019s been pretty vocal about moving shows back to L.A. We did a show together, \u201cCold Case.\u201d It was a flashback show. Every week she had to find a different look \u2014 \u201840s, \u201850s, \u201830s \u2014 which was its own challenge. I knew when when we got the show [moved to L.A.], she would be one of my first calls. There\u2019s a reason people shoot in L.A., because it can look like so many different places. It takes a little bit of work and a lot of driving, but you can do it. The thing I\u2019ve noticed, from a creative standpoint, is we can be a lot wider. I love shooting in Canada. I\u2019ve shot a bunch of shows up in Canada \u2014 Montreal, Quebec, Vancouver. It\u2019s hard to avoid that Pacific Northwest look with the trees. We did a great job doing that, but we shot tight. Now we\u2019re able to shoot a lot wider. We had one alleyway in Vancouver that could look like New Orleans. So, you never move the camera. Here we we\u2019ve been able to really open the show up, and I think when you see the show, you\u2019ll see a big difference. <\/p>\n What was the trickiest thing to emulate out here? <\/p>\n Veronique has been like: \u201cDon\u2019t write rivers, don\u2019t write lakes!\u201d The other thing is row houses. Can\u2019t find row houses in L.A. But there\u2019s a section of downtown that was fashioned like Art Deco, New York. It\u2019s been invigorating for me and the writers. We have access to the ocean, which has been awesome. But yes, rivers and lakes \u2014 that\u2019s something that Vancouver had. You threw a rock and you hit one. I\u2019ve been studiously avoiding those settings and locations. That\u2019s been a big challenge.<\/p>\n How much will L.A. or Southern California be itself in the show? Is there an L.A. episode?<\/p>\n We just started breaking one. I don\u2019t want to call it a Hollywood episode, but if we can pull it off \u2014 it\u2019ll be our midseason finale and the midseason opener \u2014 the story is going to wend its way into Hollywood. And we\u2019re not faking it, we can go right there. I\u2019m super excited to do that.<\/p>\n Erica Hernandez as Becca and Justin Hartley as Colter Shaw in \u201cTracker.\u201d<\/p>\n (Mike Taing \/ CBS)<\/p>\n Season 3 ended with Russell\u2019s decision to leave Colter high and dry. How do the revelations about Ashton\u2019s death set the stage for the next chapter?<\/p>\n That\u2019s going to play in the deep background. The real cost of that is \u2014 if I can pull this off with Jensen, who is one of the busiest actors I\u2019ve ever worked with \u2014 Russell was forced to take a job for somebody he may not be wanting to work for. The first time we see him, we\u2019re going to see some part of that. But if we can play our cards right, and I can convince Jensen to come back on the show, he\u2019s going to get into a situation where Colter has to come rescue him and get him out of trouble. The big theme we\u2019ve been playing with this season is, we\u2019re meeting some cool characters who do things that are similar to what Colter does \u2014 I put Russell in that camp too. We\u2019re looking at: Why does Coulter do this? What\u2019s the cost of it? And what happens when he loses people, which we don\u2019t normally see him do? What happens when he meets his match with someone who\u2019s better or as good or formidable an opponent? And what happens when he has something to lose? These are all things we built in the season. We\u2019re building some characters that are going to sort of really shake up Colter\u2019s world [and] making him question why he does what he does and why couldn\u2019t he save that person. That\u2019s I think a darker place, which I think we\u2019ve earned a little bit because now that we\u2019ve got the family stuff out of the way. But who is Colter outside of that family background? Who is he right now?<\/p>\n Would you say Season 4 focuses more on standalone cases? <\/p>\n Yes, but not when it comes to Russell. We\u2019re going to see the cost of that on Russell\u2019s side. But we spent a lot of time in the past, but now, for the viewers who are like, what does this guy [Colter] do when he\u2019s not working for people? Does he have relationships? Why does he do this? Are there cases in his past that haunt him? That\u2019s the arc we\u2019re taking for the season. We\u2019re going to bring Russell back into it at the end. And I have to be honest, I don\u2019t know the answer to this [yet]: Does Russell tell Coulter the quid pro quo that he took to get them free, or does he not? Does that secret fester? I don\u2019t know. There could be something really interesting with that. Again, it all depends on whether I can get Jensen.<\/p>\n What\u2019s the last show you were obsessed with that you encourage everyone to watch?<\/p>\n I have daughters. I watched \u201cFurious\u201d with them. Liz [Meriwhether, the show\u2019s creator] is such a good writer. There was just something about that show and those actors \u2014 Emmy Rossum. I\u2019ve done a lot of police procedurals, and I just found Liz\u2019s take on that really interesting. <\/p>\n What is your go-to comfort watch? <\/p>\n From a movie standpoint: \u201cThe Big Lebowski\u201d or \u201cThere Will Be Blood\u201d [Paramount+]. As far as TV goes, \u201cThe Sopranos\u201d [HBO Max], also \u201cThe Wire\u201d [HBO Max] is just one of those shows. A show that gets forgotten a lot is \u201cNYPD Blue.\u201d I tried to reboot that. We had a script and everything but it didn\u2019t work out … it almost had no familiar bleed through or anything because I thought they told that story. It had a lot to do with race in New York City. It was one of my favorite projects. You forget that David Milch and Steven Bochco started this thing we all live in right now. <\/p>\n ICYMI<\/p>\n Must-read stories you might have missed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When CBS\u2019 hit procedural \u201cTracker,\u201d which follows a reward-seeker who travels the country to help crack missing persons…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":914150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[9716,51959,64,63,134,481726,8280,2391,481725,403167,1833,175335,2585,161,9672,481727,34256,427,14850],"class_list":["post-914149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-actor","tag-ariana-madix","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-islander","tag-life","tag-love-island-usa","tag-mr-polaroid","tag-new-film","tag-peacock","tag-polaroid-camera","tag-relationship","tag-season","tag-series","tag-taskmaster","tag-thing","tag-tv","tag-week"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=914149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/914150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=914149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=914149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=914149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1790994016_828_.jpeg\")
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