Speculation: Who Will Survive?

[Meredith Quill]

Speculate about Designated Survivor here!

[marinw]

My name is Marinw and I'm a Kieferholic! 

love the idea of President Kiefer. This role is age appropriate and K can approach the terrorism thing from a different perspective. I hope he gets to play a well-adjusted guy with most of his sh*t together, in so much as possible given the circumstances. And that his kids aren't too annoying. And that his on-screen wife isn't fridged so that K can man-pain over it. And that this show is more successful than Touch.

[paigow]

Hi Marinw...that's 4 wishes...the genie guild will contact you soon about retracting 1 of them....

[marinw]

Thanks for the warning paigow. Maybe I have to accept that annoying kids are a integral part of the genre. These two look fine from the few seconds we saw of them.

[paigow]

Most of The Senate and House members are dead. Some of the Supreme Court Justices as well? Guess POTUS Bauer can do whatever he wants.No debates / filibusters/ confirmation hearings. Son of POTUS looks like a Kylo wannabe... Should we be shocked when the FBI determines it was an inside job, unrelated to the usual suspects? 

Edited May 25, 2016 by paigow

[marinw]

Tom Kirkland wanted to be POTUS all along!

That is already a theory going around. I don't buy it myself, the guy seems terrified.

[paigow]

On 15/06/2016 at 6:30 PM, marinw said:

Tom Kirkland wanted to be POTUS all along!

That is already a theory going around. I don't buy it myself, the guy seems terrified.

Kiefer knows how time consuming it is to use the 25th Amendment. Killing everyone is much faster.

[ketchuplover]

Establish a perimeter !

[marinw]

"We Don't have TIME to negotiate bipartisanship immigration reform!" *Tortures Speaker of the House*

The idea of President Bauer does make for delightful fan fiction. But Jack Bauer would be a terrible POTUS. Patience and diplomacy are  clearly not his things. Kiefer seems to be going for something else here, a meekish guy who has greatness thrust upon him.

Does anyone know if the exact premier date has been nailed down?

Edited June 22, 2016 by marinw
Grammer

[Hanahope]

One of the 3 I'm adding this fall, because I like Keifer too.  And I like the premise the most of the new 3.

[shapeshifter]

On June 22, 2016 at 4:10 PM, marinw said:

"We Don't have TIME to negotiate bipartisanship immigration reform!" *Tortures Speaker of the House*

The idea of President Bauer does make for delightful fan fiction. But Jack Bauer would be a terrible POTUS. Patience and diplomacy are  clearly not his things. Kiefer seems to be going for something else here, a meekish guy who has greatness thrust upon him.

Does anyone know if the exact premier date has been nailed down?

I have noted Wednesday, September 21, at 9 CDT. If anyone knows something else, please do post.

I just counted, and this is one of 8 new shows I am going to watch for at least 10 minutes.

Edited July 19, 2016 by shapeshifter

[marinw]

Thanks Shapeshifter.

Quote

I just counted, and this is one of 8 new shows I am going to watch for at least 10 minutes.

I am going to try this show and Time After Time. And Westworld. We will see what takes. 

[paigow]

Who stored the Wildfire under the Capitol???? 

[Scarlett45]

I don't normally like these types of shows, but I'm adding this one to my list. Looking forward to Maggie Q and Kal Pen. 

[theredhead77]

I am super excited! Besides my undying fandom of Keifer (starting way back when) I'm a fan of this genera. As someone pointed out in the media thread, it reads a lot like Executive Order but I could sure use an original series to watch.

[marinw]

 I join you in the excitement! I have literally waited years for Kiefer to find another TV project that is worthy of him. I have charitably relegated Touch to the category of Noble Failure.

[TV Anonymous]

When I think deeper into the premise of the show, I have my doubt about the longevity of the show.

So we have a lower-profile cabinet member that got unexpectedly ascended to the Presidency. I would think that the story will focus around how he, who may not have enough knowledge, experience or ambition to be a President, take the reign, fight the enemy and navigate the intricate political landscape.

However, after a season, would he still be a Designated Survivor or would he be the President of the United States? It would make no sense at all if after a season we will still see Kiefer's character in his naivete.

[Maverick]

 Well, the second season Quantico is still being called Quantico....even though it's going to be the CIA.  And The Last Ship (which had a subplot similar to Designated Survivor) is still called The Last Ship, even though there are more ships.

[marinw]

And VEEP is still called VEEP and not POTUS.

[paigow]

The last season of 24 was not really 24 episodes....

[TaraS1]

I'm just here for Maggie Q.  But hoping to be pleasantly surprised by everyone/everything else, since this is the only new show I'm really looking forward to this season.

[marinw]

I am completely unfamiliar with the work of Natascha McElhone, but she seems lovely.

[AimingforYoko]

3 hours ago, marinw said:

I am completely unfamiliar with the work of Natascha McElhone, but she seems lovely.

Ronin. You won't regret it. DeNiro actually gives a damn, Jean Reno with my second favorite performance of his (behind The Professional, natch) and a somewhat surprising role for Sean Bean as a wanker.

[paigow]

14 hours ago, marinw said:

I am completely unfamiliar with the work of Natascha McElhone, but she seems lovely.

Truman Show 

[marinw]

I loved the Truman Show.

[paigow]

22 hours ago, AimingforYoko said:

Ronin.  and a somewhat surprising role for Sean Bean...

that he does not die...

[piequinn35]

^ There are many other films that Sean Bean doesn't die :) 

 

It is good that is not the same time slot as Survivor,

2 Survivor shows in 1 day :))

[chitowngirl]

I am looking forward to this, but especially since I am so tired of seeing promos for it. After the pilot, we should at least be getting new promos. I didn't even know until today that Agents of SHIELD was back on tonight.

[scarynikki12]

It's only been two episodes but each has had someone mention that Kirkman wasn't elected.  A part of me wonders if this will come into play if one of the other characters tries to stage a coup.  We have a House Rep who survived and I fully expect at least one Senator to be shown as surviving as well (not counting anyone who didn't attend due to personal reasons like illness) and they hold elected office.  It's perfectly legal for the line of succession to include Cabinet members who have never been elected, nor are they required to be but it could very well be presented as a major concern as far as how people react and public opinion can have a very real influence on political figures. 

There was some spec after the pilot that Kirkman wasn't the original choice to be the DS and that he replaced someone who the conspirators knew they could manipulate.  Since he seemed to get the call in the afternoon, there could be some credence to this theory.  If true, I doubt the original DS would have been in on the conspiracy because being replaced would mean that he/she would have to then attend the SOTU and surely there would be someone who would know the original selection (on The West Wing, it was Josh, the Deputy Chief of Staff who made the choice and this show's DCOS is Aaron) and would find it suspicious if he/she still didn't attend.  So we could have any surviving elected conspirator use Kirkman not being elected as a reason to push him out of office and, since the intended puppet is now dead, then step into the position him/herself. 

[thewhiteowl]

He wasn't elected but he was Designated. And he has been sworn in. He is now a sitting President and those are extremely difficult to remove. Who would be able to remove him with no senate and no congress? The General could possibly use the military to stage a coup but he would need a hell of a lot of cooperation and that's still treason.  

[OtterMommy]

35 minutes ago, thewhiteowl said:

He wasn't elected but he was Designated. And he has been sworn in. He is now a sitting President and those are extremely difficult to remove. Who would be able to remove him with no senate and no congress? The General could possibly use the military to stage a coup but he would need a hell of a lot of cooperation and that's still treason.  

Well, there is one way to remove him....

It sounded from the beginning of the first episode that the President was nearing the end of his first term and was now looking towards his re-election campaign.  By that, Kirkman is coming up to a point where he either decides to just bow out and finish out the term or run for re-election himself.  If the show is a success, I think it is pretty easy to see where that is going.

Of course, the show could try to go the route of not having an election due to war or whatever.  I don't know if that's even remotely possible in real life, but who knows what the show will try to do.

[Danielg342]

I think an election campaign would be a better S2 storyline (and, after ABC just ordered a full season, a S2 looks likely)- there's just too much "getting the house in order" stuff to do this season that an election campaign would muddy things.

[OtterMommy]

2 hours ago, Danielg342 said:

I think an election campaign would be a better S2 storyline (and, after ABC just ordered a full season, a S2 looks likely)- there's just too much "getting the house in order" stuff to do this season that an election campaign would muddy things.

That makes sense.  From what was said in the pilot, the sitting president was starting to think about his second term, which makes me think that he was just past the 2 year mark on his first term.

[Happy Harpy]

Didn't someone mention "three years" ("the work we did during three years" or something?)? I remember wondering whether the campaign was about to begin or had begun. 

I agree that it would be a good storyline for S2. Particularly since Prez Kiefer wouldn't be able to campaign if he didn't rally a good chunk of people which is something that I'm looking forward to.

I wonder when Kirkman will begin to have true wins? An embryo of support among the population? A non-Pyrrhic victory? I noticed that he had little wins in both episodes so far (against the Iranian ambassador and Governor Gaston) but I'd like something bigger. I know that a big pay-off needs build-up.  I know that Kirkman has to fumble before he finds his ground.  And I know that the situation is dire but precisely because the situation is dire, I need a bit more of "Hell Yeah" moments.

[OtterMommy]

1 hour ago, Happy Harpy said:

Didn't someone mention "three years" ("the work we did during three years" or something?)? I remember wondering whether the campaign was about to begin or had begun. 

 

Three years could include a year of campaigning.  To me, it just makes sense that the President was just past the midpoint of his term because:

1 - They were just starting to talk about re-election

2 - If you were going to replace a cabinet member for political purposes (which is what it sounds like it was with Kirkman), midterm would be the time to do it.  It isn't so important to me to actually wikipedia it, but just from my memory, it seems like when these sort of replacements happened, it was usually around the 2 (or 6) year mark, unless there was some other force at play--which doesn't seem to be the case in this show.

I mean, it doesn't really matter.  I think we are pretty much guaranteed at least talk of re-election if there is a season 2, which I think has a high likelihood of happening.  

[ZoqFotPik]

Maggie Q's husband, boyfriend, lover, SO, or whatever he is to her is going to be involved in the bombing.

[Morrigan2575]

On 10/2/2016 at 11:06 AM, OtterMommy said:

Three years could include a year of campaigning.  To me, it just makes sense that the President was just past the midpoint of his term.

I didn't pay that much attention but, I thought this was the start of the new term. I thought when the former Chief of Staff brought Kirkman in to fire him before the State of the Union, he mentioned something like this is a new term and the President wants someone new.

[rab01]

I think that's right and I also think that the chat with Hookstratten from the second episode gave us the timing -- I think they said it's 3 years until the next president and a year-and-half until primary campaigning starts.   

[Happy Harpy]

Maybe I've been burned too many times with my favorite characters, but for a couple of days I've been feeling a dim worry that Aaron will be revealed as a traitor.  I hope I'm wrong, because character-wise I watch for Aaron/Emily/Seth/Hannah and I don't want to lose any of them. I love Kiefer S. yet after a promising start, Kirkman has been quite a disappointment to be honest.

[Princess Lucky]

1 hour ago, marinw said:

To torture us further, here is a maddening promo for next March:

http://www.spoilertv.com/2016/12/designated-survivor-episode-111-promo.html

Apologies as I can't seem to embed this

Okay, from this (possibly misleading) video it appears that Aaron and Emily witness the shooting, but are not hit. Hannah is also shown alive, clearly post-shooting, so she's safe too (which we pretty much knew).

From Emily's horrified reaction, combined with Aaron's shocked but less than distraught expression, I'm going to assume it's the FLOTUS who gets it. If it were Kirkman, I don't think Aaron's top priority would be to grab Emily, nor would he be (almost) nonchalant (we know he doesn't really give a shit about the FLOTUS, and who can blame him?). Also, Seth was standing to their left (at least earlier in the scene), but they're both looking to their right (and at the victim), so that leaves the POTUS/FLOTUS and the MacLeish couple, right? And Mike (who also appears in the promo, seemingly after the shot is taken, but we don't know that for sure). Would Emily freak out over MacLeish? Maybe, because she's a nice person, and she's just shocked (though would anything be shocking to her, after the attack?). But she seems a little too emotional.

Anyway, Chuck better come through and help Hannah out. It looks like she'll need him.

[marinw]

I think that's Hannah in the handcuffs,

Well at least we know that whomever got shot makes it at least as far as the OR. So there's that.

[scarynikki12]

I don't like that the show has such a long haitus, including completely missing Feb sweeps, but ABC has done this for a few years now with a lot of the shows I've watched so I'm used to it.  My real issue is that there isn't any interim programming that interests me (like Agent Carter filling in for Shield the last two years) and the promos reminding me of the return dates were always helpful.  I do have DS on my DVR, so I'll get the next episodes no matter what but I might forget to watch live that first week.  We'll see.

The snippet of promo that shows the operating room looks like the shootee has boobs so I think it's Alex or (long shot) Lady MacLeish (love the name!).  None of the viable male candidates have that.

[marinw]

47 minutes ago, scarynikki12 said:

The snippet of promo that shows the operating room looks like the shootee has boobs so I think it's Alex or (long shot) Lady MacLeish (love the name!).  None of the viable male candidates have that.

I did not notice that. Good catch.

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, scarynikki12 said:

...The snippet of promo that shows the operating room looks like the shootee has boobs so I think it's Alex or (long shot) Lady MacLeish (love the name!).  None of the viable male candidates have that.

Oh, goody! Those are two of my top picks! Heh. But seriously, they are — for reasons stated in the finale thread — except we don't want blood ruining the FLOTUS's fabulous coat.

So no chance of a comatose Peter MacLeish? BTW, is he officially Veep, or did the shooting leave him a congressman, or did he not run in the recent election because he was going to be Veep, and, if so, would that make him Veepus Interruptus if he did get the bullet?

Having given this more thought than even JR warranted, I'm guessing the POTUS just gets winged.

But ETA: I just looked at the promo and I don't think that's boobage, but rather surgical apparatus, and it's open chest surgery, so no chance of it being a brain or an arm, unless there is more than one victim?

Edited December 17, 2016 by shapeshifter

[scarynikki12]

If the attack had occurred weeks before the scheduled House elections in the fall, then he'd have needed to get reelected.  But, with the SOTU in January and only a handful of weeks having passed, we're dealing with special elections and, as a current congressman, he wouldn't have to worry about that.  Same with Hookstraten. 

I'm not sure if he's officially Veep.  It depends on when the bullet was actually fired.  I think it's more dramatic if the shooting happened moments after it became official so I'm assuming he is.

[Moose135]

1 hour ago, scarynikki12 said:

I'm not sure if he's officially Veep.  It depends on when the bullet was actually fired.  I think it's more dramatic if the shooting happened moments after it became official so I'm assuming he is.

He's the Veep - I still had the episode on the DVR, and he has finished the oath and is waving to the crowd when the shot is fired.

[Princess Lucky]

11 hours ago, scarynikki12 said:

I don't like that the show has such a long haitus, including completely missing Feb sweeps, but ABC has done this for a few years now with a lot of the shows I've watched so I'm used to it.  My real issue is that there isn't any interim programming that interests me (like Agent Carter filling in for Shield the last two years) and the promos reminding me of the return dates were always helpful.  I do have DS on my DVR, so I'll get the next episodes no matter what but I might forget to watch live that first week.  We'll see.

Agreed. Now that I'm used to watching a dumb but fun action-packed mess, I'll really feel the void. And I know it's on another network (so no promo to remind us), but I'm hoping the Prison Break revival airs in the meantime (they've said "early 2017", so I have hope). If I can't get my dose of batshit action and nonsensical twists from Designated Survivor, I'm guessing Prison Break will have me covered.

7 hours ago, Moose135 said:

He's the Veep - I still had the episode on the DVR, and he has finished the oath and is waving to the crowd when the shot is fired.

I agree. What I don't know is, what happens if he's killed? They appoint a new one (who'll have to go through the same vetting process)? And what if he's injured and incapable of serving, but only temporarily? Will there be an interim Veep? Wait, quick googling tells me that the line of succession falls to the Speaker of the House. So Hookstraten? Count me in!

[shapeshifter]

7 minutes ago, Princess Lucky said:

...And what if he's injured and incapable of serving, but only temporarily? Will there be an interim Veep? Wait, quick googling tells me that the line of succession falls to the Speaker of the House. So Hookstraten? Count me in!

And count me in for Hookstraten vs. Lady Macleish! Cat Cougar Tiger fight for the interim vs. defacto Veep position!

Did anyone else notice the almost sinister look on Seth's face in the promo? 

[eagle]

I think Kimble Hookstraten was shot.  She threatened MacLeish.  I think the idea of shooting Kirkman was all smoke and mirrors and she was the intended target all along.  Another clue is in the list of cast members.  She is the only one not listed as coming back after episode 10.

[Princess Lucky]

2 hours ago, eagle said:

I think Kimble Hookstraten was shot.  She threatened MacLeish.  I think the idea of shooting Kirkman was all smoke and mirrors and she was the intended target all along.  Another clue is in the list of cast members.  She is the only one not listed as coming back after episode 10.

Hm. If Hookstraten dies, what changes? Maybe it enhances MacLeish's position, because no one is actively out to get him (especially with Hannah presumably arrested). But the plan to make MacLeish the new POTUS obviously hits pause, because Kirkman is still alive and fit to serve without distractions (since the FLOTUS is also okay), and the bad guys will need to find a way to work around that. I'm not sure this is important enough dramatically (or like, 'twisty' enough), but I could see it.

I was thinking, if it's Mrs MacLeish who gets shot, that could be interesting, because we've already seen MacLeish himself wavering. What if he panics and decides it's not worth it, and he comes clean? Somehow? Or he contacts his "friends" and says it's too much, and he didn't sign up for this, etc? I could see that happening too.