# "Without a Trace" Beats "ER"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-a-trace-beats-er/266033
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 25, 2004, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-a-trace-beats-er/266033 "2004-09-25T13:06:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2004, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-a-trace-beats-er/266033/1 "2004-09-25T13:06:32Z")
The season opener of the CBS series, **Without a Trace** had higher ratings than the season opener of the NBC series, **ER**. From the [Washington Post](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48922-2004Sep24.html)
> [@](#):
>
> Most stunning, CBS’s “Without a Trace” became the first drama ever to cop a bigger audience than an original episode of “ER” in the 10 p.m. slot. More than 21 million tuned in to the third season debut of CBS’s crime drama, compared with just under 20 million for the 11th season debut of “ER.”
Also noted in the article: **Without a Trace** had a strong lead in from the season opener for **CSI** but lost 30% of those viewers; **ER** failed to crack the 20 million viewer mark, for the first time ever for an season opener; **ER** _added_ four million viewers from its lead-in, **The Apprentice**. It was clearly a very close contest: **Without a Trace** with 20 million viewers vs. **ER** with 19.7 million. **ER** also won the ratings battle for the 18-to-49 year old viewers beloved of advertisers. No contest next week - the Presidential Debates will air.
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2004, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-a-trace-beats-er/266033/2 "2004-09-25T13:16:55Z")
Does anyone but me find it odd that ratings – and movie box-office – have become standard news items? They’re given not only on _Entertainment Tonight_ but the local news.
What significance is this supposed to have in my life? Why am I supposed to find this interesting?
**PP** – this isn’t a slam against you, though it undoubtedly sounds like one – this is something I’ve been wondering about for a while.
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### Author:  [@monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monster)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2004, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-a-trace-beats-er/266033/3 "2004-09-25T14:25:27Z")
I’ve watched ER from day 1, and I wasn’t all that into watching this season premiere. The show has turned into a soap opera. If I have to watch Luka chase the girl and her child around once more, I will stop watching. When it first came out, the show centered the drama around the ER - its patients and their cases. Sure, there was some character drama (Doug and Carol, for example) But now I’m just sick of Carrie and her baby, Carter and Kim, and Luka and how he turned from nice guy to weirdo obsessed guy.
They need to just go back to the ER and stop creating all this external drama for the characters.
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2004, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-a-trace-beats-er/266033/4 "2004-09-25T16:22:12Z")
Per usual, I watched ER and taped Without a Trace. I still haven’t finished watching season two of WaT, so I wouldn’t do it the other way around. I thought I’d catch up during the summer, but I never do…
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### Author:  [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2004, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/without-a-trace-beats-er/266033/5 "2004-09-25T21:30:44Z")
The blind-girl-uses-her-newfound-powers part at the end of “Without A Trace” was a real :rolleyes: moment for me; it was a cliche more suited for shows of much-lower quality. And when the two agents were being dressed down at the end for ruining the case against the one perpetrator – how ruined could it be with one eyewitness and an earwitness?