Samantha Spade (Without a Trace)

Poppy Montgomery is Samantha Spade at Without a Trace

I got to admit Samantha Spade was quite a while the sole reason I stuck through Without a Trace. 7 seasons with 160 episodes, and not all was equally interesting to say the least. The character of Samantha Spade was however one of those cops balancing her personal emotional state interestingly with her work at the New York Missing Persons Unit at FBI.

Jack Malone and Samantha Spade

Still. Their cases was always the most important part of Without a Trace, and they didn't go as far into personal issues as NYPD Blue went. I do however think Without a Trace balanced it out quite well, and Samantha had more than enough of a personality to not be just another cop in just another cop show.