Designated Survivor in the Media: Breaking News from the White House (Set)

[paigow]

4 hours ago, Happy Harpy said:

Considering the horrible state of the ABC drama department, I think the show is quasi-certain to be renewed. Unless, of course it crashes and burns. It still has a third of the season to go.

Going fractional is never a good sign. I'm not worried for this season, more that it could become another Quantico.

Agreed. Besides "How To Get Away With Scandal", not a lot of options...

[Danielg342]

Given all the heavy hitters this show gets- Kiefer Sutherland, Kal Penn, Virgina Madsen, Maggie Q, Reed Diamond, Rob Morrow, Natascha McElhone, Peter Outerbridge, etc.- as well as ABC's sorry state of dramas, I'm betting ABC wants this to succeed. I can't see ABC bringing in so many big name actors as well as a new showrunner in mid-season if they were content with cancelling it.

I see this show acting quite like Gotham for season 2- there will be a big push over the summer and to start the season to see if it can regain its heights before ABC really decides to commit to it. I have a feeling S2 won't be a ratings winner, but it'll do decent enough that it gets a S3 and thus a S4. There may be a S5 but I'm not holding my breath there.

[Happy Harpy]

On 02/04/2017 at 8:45 AM, Danielg342 said:

Given all the heavy hitters this show gets- Kiefer Sutherland, Kal Penn, Virgina Madsen, Maggie Q, Reed Diamond, Rob Morrow, Natascha McElhone, Peter Outerbridge, etc.- as well as ABC's sorry state of dramas, I'm betting ABC wants this to succeed. I can't see ABC bringing in so many big name actors as well as a new showrunner in mid-season if they were content with cancelling it.

I'm sure that ABC wants it to succeed. But there are wishes, and facts. 1.1 for all those heavy hitters? Let's face it, it's lame. And probably expensive.

I don't want the show to fail. I like the actors, and there's potential. But there's something the show is doing wrong.

Social media: The official twitter is heavily promoting the wife and kids. Aaron was nowhere in sight. Mm.

[marinw]

If Quantico made it to Season 2, than so should DS. I gave up on Quantico after season one because that show is too dumb even for me.

[Artsda]

[Princess Lucky]

Wow.

You know what, I'm not against it. The most recent showrunner switch showed some promise early on, but the show seems to still be suffering from the same problems. There was no real shift. I like that ABC is trying to make it work, but I don't know if they will succeed. That said, I am totally enjoying the show, so I'll be watching Season 2 for sure. My standards are pretty low when I enjoy the cast.

Suggestions: lose the kids completely, cast some villains, tell us (the audience) who the mole is but have none of the characters know, focus on Maggie Q, and find a way to make the politics less dull.

Conversely, just blow shit up. Have S1 end with another huge attack, and S2 can start from there, with America not just grieving but panicking.

[Happy Harpy]

Desperately seeking showrunner: Designated Survivor in a nutshell.

3 minutes ago, Princess Lucky said:

Suggestions: lose the kids completely, cast some villains, tell us (the audience) who the mole is but have none of the characters know, focus on Maggie Q, and find a way to make the politics less dull.

Conversely, just blow shit up. Have S1 end with another huge attack, and S2 can start from there, with America not just grieving but panicking.

I want my first family kaboom before the end of the season. Game changer, damn it! If they want to keep the wife, they should make her the villain.

As I said above, something isn't working and it isn't the cast. The show has no direction, and it's the showrunner's job to give it one. It's better to make some changes at this level.

[Danielg342]

The elements are there to make this a police procedural with the President as the chief. That's what this show should be about.

[OtterMommy]

2 hours ago, Princess Lucky said:

Suggestions: lose the kids completely, cast some villains, tell us (the audience) who the mole is but have none of the characters know, focus on Maggie Q, and find a way to make the politics less dull.

My suggestions...lose the kids, but in a benign way (military school?  convent school in Switzerland); try not address every IRL hot topic in this show.  Just focus on the conspiracy and leave social security and gun control alone.  Also, I would "up" Hookstraten in the hierarchy of characters.   She and Kirkman play off each other well and I think having the two of them more of a pair than sort-of adversaries would work for this show.

As for the mole, I'm with you--but only because I really get the feeling that the showrunner(s)--we're at 4 now?--don't seem like they have a plan.  I would much rather be in the know and watch the characters flail around than watch the entire show flail.

[marinw]

Fourth Showrunner is the charm...

[thuganomics85]

Quote

Suggestions: lose the kids completely, cast some villains, tell us (the audience) who the mole is but have none of the characters know, focus on Maggie Q, and find a way to make the politics less dull.

Maybe in her bid to uncover the truth, Hannah is assigned a new team.  A team that happens to be played by Lyndsy Fonseca, Shane West, Aaron Stanford, and Noah Bean.  Oh, and Melinda Clarke and Xander Berkeley are behind the attacks.  I kid! (kind of?)

I do think think a new showrunner is called for, but if this really is the fourth one, then I don't know what to think.  It just feels like no one knows what this show should be.  A conspiracy thriller?  An actual look at politics and how to deal with a crisis?  A family drama?  I'm all for a show now wanting to be just one thing, but it all still feels half-baked at times, and they really need to settle on an actual direction here.  

[Princess Lucky]

9 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Maybe in her bid to uncover the truth, Hannah is assigned a new team.  A team that happens to be played by Lyndsy Fonseca, Shane West, Aaron Stanford, and Noah Bean.  Oh, and Melinda Clarke and Xander Berkeley are behind the attacks.  I kid! (kind of?)

I do think think a new showrunner is called for, but if this really is the fourth one, then I don't know what to think.  It just feels like no one knows what this show should be.  A conspiracy thriller?  An actual look at politics and how to deal with a crisis?  A family drama?  I'm all for a show now wanting to be just one thing, but it all still feels half-baked at times, and they really need to settle on an actual direction here.  

In your dreams! And mine! I still miss Nikita.

And I agree on the overall wishy-washiness. At this point, we have three storylines playing out concurrently:

a) Daddy Kirkman misses his daughter who can't draw a horse

b) some backstabbing Congressman is trying to pass legislation

c) WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE

If you ask me, there's a clear winner here, in terms of importance. Give me a conspiracy thriller, please. With a smattering of politics, if you must.

I think the showrunners probably feel trapped, on both ends. They have a great group of actors on the "Politics" side (Virginia Madsen and Kal Penn, especially, but all of them, really), and there's a lot of material to mine, but the actual storyline is boring. And then, they have a very exciting storyline on the "Conspiracy" side, and a great group of actors (especially Maggie Q and Malik Yoba who is killing it) but I get the feeling they haven't figured out a solid answer. I don't know if the writers themselves know who's behind this, or if they just have a vague idea. So both storylines keep stalling.

A steady hand at the helm is a necessity.

[marinw]

Just hire Aaron Sorkin and be done with it.

10 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Maybe in her bid to uncover the truth, Hannah is assigned a new team.  A team that happens to be played by Lyndsy Fonseca, Shane West, Aaron Stanford, and Noah Bean.  Oh, and Melinda Clarke and Xander Berkeley are behind the attacks.  I kid! (kind of?)

And they enlist the help of CTU. And they get Tom's twin brother out of Russia. Hey, as long as we are dreaming...

[Dowel Jones]

Or we could go the other way and the crowd from Scandal stumbles onto the set.

[shapeshifter]

I saw Mckenna Grace, who plays Penny Kirkman, in an ad for a movie she's staring in, Gifted. She looks really engaging in it, and IMDb shows she's also busy with Once Upon a Time and other projects. That could be another reason why the kids were sidelined —besides that it was a good idea plot-wise.

[newyawk]

The new issue of Mad has a "Designated Survivor" parody in it and I have to say, I was disappointed. They should have gotten a different artist to draw it, and instead they assigned it to Tom Bunk. None of the characters looks like the actors who play them, and the character who is supposed to be the version of Hannah is drawn as an auburn redhaired. blue eyed woman.  Very, very meh. 

[marinw]

Mad Magazine is still be published? Good to know. Sounds like the artstist confused Hannah with Renee from 24.

[Hanahope]

I haven't watched the show since its return, as I was pretty frustrated with the first half of the season.  The episodes are on my DVR, I just haven't had much desire to watch.  I figure if the show gets a second season, I'll try to watch the episodes to see if I'll stick with it or not.

[OtterMommy]

37 minutes ago, Hanahope said:

I haven't watched the show since its return, as I was pretty frustrated with the first half of the season.  The episodes are on my DVR, I just haven't had much desire to watch.  I figure if the show gets a second season, I'll try to watch the episodes to see if I'll stick with it or not.

I will say the episodes in the second half are better....but "better" is a very subjective word.  I do think this show will be renewed, but only because ABC doesn't have much better on their plate.

[Happy Harpy]

And 0.9 it is.

[BellyLaughter]

On 09/04/2017 at 11:27 PM, marinw said:

Just hire Aaron Sorkin and be done with it.

And they enlist the help of CTU. And they get Tom's twin brother out of Russia. Hey, as long as we are dreaming...

Aaron Sorkin's wordy scripts + Kiefer Sutherland's breathy mumbling = brain bleed.

Edited April 14, 2017 by BellyLaughter

[jhlipton]

On 4/8/2017 at 10:57 PM, thuganomics85 said:

Maybe in her bid to uncover the truth, Hannah is assigned a new team.  A team that happens to be played by Lyndsy Fonseca, Shane West, Aaron Stanford, and Noah Bean.  Oh, and Melinda Clarke and Xander Berkeley are behind the attacks.  I kid! (kind of?)

I see what you did there (I didn't watch Nikita, but Wikipedia is my friend!).  Can we add Nicole Beharie, though?  I love her and think she'd be a great addition to the team.

[marinw]

On 4/9/2017 at 7:19 PM, newyawk said:

The new issue of Mad has a "Designated Survivor" parody in it and I have to say, I was disappointed. They should have gotten a different artist to draw it, and instead they assigned it to Tom Bunk. None of the characters looks like the actors who play them, and the character who is supposed to be the version of Hannah is drawn as an auburn redhaired. blue eyed woman.  Very, very meh. 

I got a peak at it today. You are right, it is pretty bad.

Edited April 22, 2017 by marinw

[Fawneb14]

Was the number of episodes for season one officially set at 22? Just read on twitter that season one has wrapped and the season finale date (and number of episode titles) seem to indicate there are only 21. Unless of course I can't count. 

[OtterMommy]

11 hours ago, Fawneb14 said:

Was the number of episodes for season one officially set at 22? Just read on twitter that season one has wrapped and the season finale date (and number of episode titles) seem to indicate there are only 21. Unless of course I can't count. 

Perhaps the last 2 episodes will air back to back on the same night?

[Moose135]

IMBD lists 22 episodes, but Episode 22 does not have a name, nor an air date. Episode 21 lists May 17 as the air date.  The stories published when ABC picked it up for the full season said 22 episodes.  I guess we'll know in a few weeks...

[Moose135]

Replying to my own post...at the end of tonight's show, they said "Only two episodes until the season finale..." which I take to mean three episodes left.  Since tonight was Episode 18, it looks like we are going to get 21.

[Princess Lucky]

We have a new (fourth!) showrunner.

It might be harsh, but perhaps we need some casting changes in a hypothetical S2? I would hate to lose any of the actors (even Natascha McElhone who is wonderful, despite the poor writing for Alex), but the weak attempts to "shift" the focus of the show have all failed. Maybe we need harsher changes, including cutting a few roles. I don't know which roles (we can't exactly lose the Kirkman side of things, and the FBI side is just Hannah and a bunch of recurring actors) but something drastic needs to happen. I'd recommend a season finale with another attack and a bunch of casualties. Just don't replace the dead, trim down the cast and keep it like that. Maybe that'll help with the tone. Instead of having a bunch of regulars off in their isolated storyline, just kill 'em.

[marinw]

Interesting @Princess Lucky. The Good Wife was a good show for several years.

24 replaced at least of the cast every season. Maybe DS should do the same

[TimWil]

When Alex is revealed to be EVIL! I think Natascha McElhone will be great. I think Italia Ricci should definitely go-she's way too bland. And Maggie Q is a fecking robot. So those two would top my list. I'd be OK with Aden Canto if his character is also specified as EVIL! but otherwise I think he's expendable, too. Virginia Madsen sure isn't, though.

Edited May 3, 2017 by TimWil

[shapeshifter]

On May 3, 2017 at 0:30 PM, Princess Lucky said:

. . . I'd recommend a season finale with another attack and a bunch of casualties. . . .

Make it an apocalypse so Aden Canto can wear his hair au naturel.

[Driad]

When might we hear whether this gets a second term, I mean season? They could use the apocalypse scenario either way. But I want Kimble back!

For a contest to write new descriptions of movies, someone described "Independence Day" as "Aliens destroy Washington, DC, but later turn out to be hostile."

[thewhiteowl]

Renewed! We will get season 2, yay?

I'm not terribly surprised maybe show runner no#4 can make some sense of this directionally challenged mess.

It does have a pretty great cast.

[marinw]

Good news. I am working on accepting this show for what it is. It’s easier that way. Depending on how this season ends, I look forward to suspending my disbelief yet again next fall.

Edited May 12, 2017 by marinw

[Moose135]

I hope it gets better, at this point, I'm not sure I'll be back.

[Chas411]

Happy to see if will be back. While it's not been the best show due to the above mentioned issues it's not the worst either.

[Palomar]

Great to see it will be back.  There is definitely potential for a compelling series. Like most of the cast and hate some enough to know they are doing their job. :)

[Princess Lucky]

I'm happy for the renewal, even though I've fallen behind on this show. I've yet to watch the last 2 episodes, and I thought I might just marathon them along with the finale, but watching 3 episodes of DS back-to-back? Will it be awesome or will I fall asleep? Who knows.

I used to be really excited to watch this every week, but the last few episodes were a chore to watch. I'm hoping for a balls-to-the-wall finale, so I can get excited for season 2.

[Dowel Jones]

On 5/3/2017 at 10:30 AM, Princess Lucky said:

We have a new (fourth!) showrunner.

Lozano seems to be a busy man.

[nitrofishblue]

All I can say is that I could care less that the show was renewed. It has become very silly. The political views of the producers/writers takes precedence over actually writing a show.

[Hanahope]

So I slogged through the first 3 episodes after the break and I just can't drum up the interest to carry on.  Everything seems so contrived and so much same-o same-o in plot lines.  I'm not seeing much that's really original, like the premise seemed to imply.

[blackwing]

Out of all the shows I watch, I was very indifferent to this one getting renewed.  I'm hoping this new showrunner makes some major changes.  Less political crap, more FBI and spy action.  Because if it continues the way it has been going, I'm going to give up early on rather than invest myself in an entire season.

Kimble Hookstraten was a great character, and by making her Secretary of Education, it seems like we are done with her.  Big mistake.

This is what I want to see for Season 2.  Kimble ends up becoming VP after all.  Kirkman and Hannah are kidnapped.  They spend the season trying to escape.  Meanwhile, Kimble as Acting President is doing her best to try and find him, with the help of a not-dead Atwood and a young FBI agent played by ______ (generic young buck type actor who is currently unemployed).  At the Winter finale, before all ABC shows go on their customary 2 month break, Kimble is revealed to in fact be very much tied in with the Evil Alliance and she has been sabotaging the investigation all along.  The leader of the Evil Alliance, revealed 3/4 of the way through, turns out to be Alex Kirkman.  She has a Russian mother!  She's clearly evil.

Lose all of the political stuff.  Bye Emily, Seth, Aaron, etc.  I couldn't care less about any of them.

[jhlipton]

On 5/13/2017 at 2:50 PM, nitrofishblue said:

The political views of the producers/writers takes precedence over actually writing a show.

By and large, I agree with the political views of the producers/writers, but still don't like the way they're handled.  West Wing did it better.

7 hours ago, blackwing said:

Meanwhile, Kimble as Acting President is doing her best to try and find him, with the help of a not-dead Atwood and a young FBI agent played by ______ (generic young buck type actor who is currently unemployed). 

Sanna Lathan is suddenly available (I know she's not a "buck type" actor but representation matters).

[Chinspinner]

This show badly needs some direction. It feels like every episode is written on the fly, and the writer's room are scratching about for ideas to fill the next forty minutes. This rudderless, writing-by-committee is something I often dislike about US drama, you can almost see the increasingly desperate and derivative suggestions getting thrown in the "ideas box".  

The central mystery was horribly over-blown and required a huge suspension of disbelief. However, it had the potential to be interesting until it became convoluted, confused and incoherent.

The moral dilemma du jour, and political drama is tedious, juvenile and pedestrian compared to the state of real world politics. For me, this is actually the weakest part of the show, and tonally feels incredibly out of place.

I am enjoying this as car crash TV, but I am shocked it got renewed because it is a mess.

Edited May 16, 2017 by Chinspinner

[Scott]

12 hours ago, Chinspinner said:

I am enjoying this as car crash TV, but I am shocked it got renewed because it is a mess.

Yup.  I was enjoying watching this assuming that it had to be ending soon.  I dunno if I want to deal with it for another season.

[marinw]

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/may/17/kiefer-sutherland-designated-survivor-24-still-tvs-best-action-hero-even-as-president-dadbod

 

"President Dadbod?" Harsh!

[Macbeth]

On 5/15/2017 at 11:03 PM, jhlipton said:

Sanna Lathan is suddenly available (I know she's not a "buck type" actor but representation matters).

Seriously.  This has been a problem.  We lost Malik Yoba.  Sanna Lanthan is great. 

I also agree with the poster above that Xander Berkeley is so needed for this show.  Right now he is being wasted on The Walking Dead where he appears occasionally and acts rings around the other actors.

[Roseanna]

On ‎15‎.‎5‎.‎2017 at 10:28 PM, blackwing said:

the Winter finale, before all ABC shows go on their customary 2 month break, Kimble is revealed to in fact be very much tied in with the Evil Alliance and she has been sabotaging the investigation all along.  The leader of the Evil Alliance, revealed 3/4 of the way through, turns out to be Alex Kirkman. 

No, the leader of the Evil Alliance is Kirkman himself (that's why he was chosen to DS!) but in the last moment Kimble and Alex save America. 

[Happy Harpy]

Virginia Madsen is officially out (TV Line). Boo.

[Princess Lucky]

9 hours ago, Happy Harpy said:

Virginia Madsen is officially out (TV Line). Boo.

Wow. I still have the last 3(?) episodes on my DVR but I haven't felt the urge to watch them. Losing Malik Yoba was bad enough, but now she's gone, too? A great actress, and arguably the best character? It's like they want me to lose interest. I just hope they bring in a few interesting actors of Madsen's caliber, and then maybe I can get excited again.