By: Valerie Milano


In a recent Fox Entertainment Winter Press Day interview with the Television Critics Association (TCA), Executive Producer John Eisendrath was asked where he drew inspiration for each episode. He replies, well, there are a lot of cases that we could draw from if we chose to do just ripped from the headlines. Some of the episodes are ripped from the headlines. Still, some of them have that connection to, I hope, what a lot of people are thinking about, talking about, and in some ways as a parent worried about for their kids. Others are based on what we think would make for the most urgent, heart-pounding case we can think of and the ones with the highest stakes. And, again, one of the wonderful things about a missing person show is the range. Larger than any other range of storytelling available on procedural TV.

In some cases, people are taken and are desperate to be found; in some cases, people are running away and are desperate not to be found. And that’s part of the mystery our characters must unpack each week. So, some of them are ripped from the headlines, and some are just the coolest, most urgent, most desperate case we can think of.”



