Cold Case, Without a Trace, NCIS, Las Vegas - Must See in Order?

[bicker]

Due to the writers' strike, we're about to pick up some shows (Cold Case, Without a Trace, NCIS, Las Vegas) in syndication that we didn't catch in first-run. I'm wondering which ones we need to see in order, versus which ones we can see out of order.

We've already seen the first three episodes of Cold Case, and have the following waiting for us in our To Do List: (Yes, we missed a few episodes of some of the shows, due to a mistake in setting up the Season Passes.)

Broadcast Time Program Num Episode
20-Dec-07 12:00 PM LAS VEGAS 215 A Whale Of A Time
20-Dec-07 01:00 PM WITHOUT A TRACE 520 Skin Deep
21-Dec-07 12:00 PM LAS VEGAS 216 Can You See What I See?
21-Dec-07 01:00 PM WITHOUT A TRACE 522 One and Only
25-Dec-07 12:00 AM WITHOUT A TRACE 501 Stolen
25-Dec-07 01:00 AM WITHOUT A TRACE 502 Candy
25-Dec-07 12:00 PM LAS VEGAS 217 Tainted Love
25-Dec-07 01:00 PM WITHOUT A TRACE 524 The Beginning
25-Dec-07 07:00 PM COLD CASE 104 Churchgoing People
25-Dec-07 08:00 PM COLD CASE 423 The Good Death
25-Dec-07 09:00 PM COLD CASE 424 Stalker
25-Dec-07 10:00 PM COLD CASE 105 The Runner
25-Dec-07 11:00 PM COLD CASE 106 Love Conquers Al
26-Dec-07 12:00 AM WITHOUT A TRACE 503 911
26-Dec-07 01:00 AM WITHOUT A TRACE 504 All for One
27-Dec-07 12:00 AM WITHOUT A TRACE 505 The Damage Done
27-Dec-07 01:00 AM WITHOUT A TRACE 506 The Calm Before
27-Dec-07 01:00 PM WITHOUT A TRACE 102 Birthday Boy
28-Dec-07 12:00 PM LAS VEGAS 220 Hit Me!
28-Dec-07 01:00 PM WITHOUT A TRACE 103 He Saw, She Saw

In case anyone else can finds this information useful, this is what I see coming up for these shows in the next month:

Broadcast Time Program Num Episode
31-Dec-07 06:00 AM WITHOUT A TRACE 401 Showdown
31-Dec-07 07:00 AM WITHOUT A TRACE 402 Safe
31-Dec-07 08:00 AM WITHOUT A TRACE 403 From the Ashes
31-Dec-07 09:00 AM WITHOUT A TRACE 404 Lost Time
31-Dec-07 10:00 AM WITHOUT A TRACE 405 Honor Bound
31-Dec-07 11:00 AM WITHOUT A TRACE 406 Viuda Negra
02-Jan-08 12:00 AM WITHOUT A TRACE 507 All the Sinners, Saints
02-Jan-08 01:00 AM WITHOUT A TRACE 508 Win Today
02-Jan-08 12:00 PM LAS VEGAS 221 Hide And Sneak
02-Jan-08 01:00 PM WITHOUT A TRACE 104 Between the Cracks
02-Jan-08 09:00 PM NCIS 101 Yankee White
02-Jan-08 10:00 PM NCIS 102 Hung Out to Dry
03-Jan-08 01:00 AM WITHOUT A TRACE 509 Watch Over Me
03-Jan-08 02:00 AM WITHOUT A TRACE 510 The Thing With Feathers
03-Jan-08 12:00 PM LAS VEGAS 222 Letters, Lawyers And Loose Women
03-Jan-08 01:00 PM WITHOUT A TRACE 105 Suspect
04-Jan-08 12:00 PM LAS VEGAS 223 Magic Carpet Fred
04-Jan-08 01:00 PM WITHOUT A TRACE 106 Silent Partner
07-Jan-08 12:00 PM LAS VEGAS 224 Centennial
07-Jan-08 01:00 PM WITHOUT A TRACE 107 Snatch Back
08-Jan-08 12:00 AM WITHOUT A TRACE 511 Fade-Away
08-Jan-08 01:00 AM WITHOUT A TRACE 512 Tail Spin
08-Jan-08 12:00 PM LAS VEGAS 301 Viva Las Vegas
08-Jan-08 01:00 PM WITHOUT A TRACE 108 Little Big Man
08-Jan-08 09:00 PM COLD CASE 109 Sherry Darlin'
08-Jan-08 10:00 PM COLD CASE 110 The Hitchhiker
08-Jan-08 11:00 PM COLD CASE 111 Hubris
09-Jan-08 09:00 PM NCIS 103 Seadog
09-Jan-08 10:00 PM NCIS 104 The Immortals
15-Jan-08 08:00 PM COLD CASE 112 Glued
15-Jan-08 09:00 PM COLD CASE 113 The Letter
15-Jan-08 10:00 PM COLD CASE 114 Boy in the Box
16-Jan-08 09:00 PM NCIS 105 The Curse
16-Jan-08 10:00 PM NCIS 106 High Seas
23-Jan-08 09:00 PM NCIS 107 Sub Rosa
23-Jan-08 10:00 PM NCIS 108 Minimum Security
30-Jan-08 09:00 PM NCIS 109 Marine Down
30-Jan-08 10:00 PM NCIS 110 Left for Dead

[MikeMar]

I can only speak for Las Vegas, but I would only watch the first 2-3 seasons of Las Vegas, order doesn't really matter as it's a popcorn show really.

[TivoZorro]

Cold Case and Without A Trace do have continuing storylines with the cops and FBI Agents. They don't happen on a weekly basis, more periodic, but things do happen that figure in other plots down the road. Other people may have a differenet opinion, but I would watch them in order. In case you are interested, here are the episode lists from both shows from epguides.

Cold Case Episode List:
http://epguides.com/ColdCase/

Without A Trace Episode List:
http://epguides.com/WithoutaTrace/

[balboa dave]

Of those four, only NCIS focuses as much on character development as the story of the week, and also has mysteries that stretch out over several episodes, sometimes a whole season. Even so, each episode is usually good enough to stand on its own. Go to http://www.epguides.com/ to get the correct episode order of almost every show.

ETA: I'm a slooow poster.

[dianebrat]

Cold Case, Without a Trace, NCIS, are all shows I've regularly watched.

I'd say that of all 3, NCIS is most affected by watching out of order, you can do it, but there's decent character development and a few long term arcs that won't make sense. (what Dave said)

Both Cold Case and WOAT, while having arcs, aren't as sensitive to viewing in order (IMNSHO)

[dswallow]

Generally speaking I'd say all those series have very minimal multi-episode arcs to worry about. I'd watch them in order if you have all the episodes, but if you have to skip an episode here and there and come back to it later, don't sweat it... it's unlikely to make that big a difference in your enjoyment of the shows.

Jumping around 3 or 4 seasons at a time might confuse you to some extent as far as long-term development goes, though. But even then, none of these shows really have significant continuing storylines.

[marksman]

Vanessa Marcil is in like Every episode of Las Vegas I think, so you are good to go.

[bicker]

I just realized that USA HD is also broadcasting the first eighteen episodes of Monk on Tuesday, so I think we'll also plan to watch them over the next few weeks. (We missed Monk in first-run, as well.) That will reduce the amount we need to watch episodes of the other series out of order.

[Dreaday]

I just realized that USA HD is also broadcasting the first eighteen episodes of Monk on Tuesday, so I think we'll also plan to watch them over the next few weeks. (We missed Monk in first-run, as well.) That will reduce the amount we need to watch episodes of the other series out of order.


OMG I watched Monk all day on Tuesday and it was great! I got to see one of my favorite episodes with Willie Nelson! They showed so many great commercials for the new season. I can't wait to see them all.