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New TV Show "Designated Survivor" (1 Viewer)

whoknew said:
Yea I think the odds of it being terrible writing in the rest of the series are pretty high. 

But his glasses are great. He should keep them. 
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Those glasses looked a bit too functional to be taking them off right before the speech.  I thought for a moment that he was going to say screw it and put them back on because he couldn't see without them.

 
simsarge said:
Short of an absolute vacuum, General Haig here wouldn't be on the Bat Phone an hour after the bombing moving carriers around and scrambling bombers. Especially since he didn't even know he was the rankingest guy left. He was on the phone in that war room chaos and wanted somebody to get him in touch with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and apparently didn't know they were all toasted in the bombing.....unless of course :tinfoilhat:
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Pretty sure the line was "the remaining Joint Chiefs" (or something similar).  He knew some of them were there, but thought some weren't.

 
the show should center around the 500 or so elections that now need to occur since everyone is dead.  X will privatize medicare while Y is dead.  yada

 
Thought it was pretty darn good. Not sure what all the complaints regarding family are about..they sent maybe ten minutes of the show on them, half of that timed before the bomb. If the regular episodes show that little, and conentrate on how they are trying to adjust, that seems more than reasonable...and even interesting. Not a fan of the over--used drug dealing teen boy though. They didn't need to make him a criminal for it to be interesting...teens have enough angst without that

 
jhib said:
It bugged me that I thought the daughter looked familiar but know didn't why until it finally dawned/donned on me - she looks more than a bit like little Sally from Mad Men.  
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Legitimately thought it could be her younger sister as they looked so much alike from the start of Mad Men. 

 
Walking Boot said:
I'll watch again. But this is really the kind of premise I hate, the single idea that makes a better movie than TV series. Where is this show in three years? In five? Doesn't seem to have those kind of legs. The "Prison Break" dilemma, what do you do when they break out of prison... What's the rest of the show about?

Anyway, not totally terrible... But not expecting too much.  
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Totally agree.  Once the government is back together, does this just become another show about a president?  Which is ok if it's a good show...

Maybe the timeline of that fictional world really goes off the rails, as I suspect would happen if that event occurred.

renesauz said:
Thought it was pretty darn good. Not sure what all the complaints regarding family are about..they sent maybe ten minutes of the show on them, half of that timed before the bomb. If the regular episodes show that little, and conentrate on how they are trying to adjust, that seems more than reasonable...and even interesting. Not a fan of the over--used drug dealing teen boy though. They didn't need to make him a criminal for it to be interesting...teens have enough angst without that
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Agree many shows try and have a little downtime and family drama or at the very least have a few plot lines that aren't all that interesting.

 
it's going to be the freelancers who did it. or a rogue mountain lion.

lol at all the attention the glasses are getting.

just watched London is Falling recently- this felt boring after watching that. and I agree with the family sub-dramas being potentially (and already) cringe-worthy. I'll give it another watch or two before deciding on pulling the plug- but I'm already leaning that way. (fwiw- I ended up finding 24 idiotic after a few seasons and stopped watching that too)

 
I happened to catch this show after pillaging and setting fire to a peasant encampment near my hut. WITCHES, ALL OF THEM, I SAY! 

I liked the show quite a bit, though, methinks! Verily!

Ser Bravely, however, was NOT a fan -- where are all the horses and mares he kept neighing! Ha! He slays me, he does. HO HO!

 
Yankee23Fan said:
I'm ok with the General so far.  The FBI scene tried to implicate that maybe it was an inside job somehow.  Frankly it would be massively tough for a foreign power to hit the Capitol Building like that with such total destruction anyway.  The security for the State of the Union is pretty ungodly, not to mention the basic security in the building itself.  So the inside job aspect isn't so far fetched to me for a TV drama.

But the General is very reason why I don't want the family drama.  The interworkings of what happens in the situation room after something like this is drama enough.  I'm actually surprised that it was just the General being the gung ho guy.  CIA and FBI didn't seem to have a voice at the table, no one from National Security seemed to be there.  And the whole point of the drama of the moment is that no one really does know who is in charge in the heat of the moment.

But I know I'm the nerd in this potential group that would get a kick out of things like simply the manner in which he rebuilds the government.  The Office of the President has the power to run the country for awhile without Congress if necessary.  With an attack like that on the homefront, there is no constitutional block to declaring martial law immediately, suspending habeas corpus and putting the country in a state of war by insurrection.  In that President 24 can pretty much do whatever he wants.  Mobilize the full military on the homefront, federalize the national guard, and use the military to run the country for a time.

But from there, what is the next step?  I would assume the first thing he has to do is suspend trading the next day.  The problem is that the SEC has to do that, and we have to assume that the commissioners were in the Capitol.  If a majority of them are still alive, he would need to tell them to do it before the floors open.  AT the same time he would need to call the German Chancellor, Prime Minister of Britain, Japan and France and beg them to do the same if they don't do it on their own. If there aren't any commissioners, he could argue it's a war measure and do it himself, and I doubt anyone would fight him too much, but that would have to happen.

But where do you go from there.  He can't operate in a vacuum indefinately and there needs to be a Congress.  I would think that the easiest thing to do is get all 50 governors to immediately appoint 2 temporary Senators and seat a new Senate.  That can be done in about a week.  Once the Senate is seated, he would need to nominate an entire new Cabinet, especially a Secretary of Treasury and Seretary of Defense.  Whoever is the highest ranking officer in the Attorney General's office would take temporary hold of that job.  He could let the highest living member of Interior, Commerce and those types of agenies just get bumped up for the time being to focus on the big cabinet posts.

From there, every state would have to hold special elections for the House.  Which would be a cluster.  I doubt he focuses on the Supreme Court at all anytime soon and he shouldn't.  The most important government arms after this crisis would be the top 3 cabinet spots and a full Senate.  I would think.

And all of that is the interesting thing to me.  None of it gets to other things that would have to be done like calling on NATO to active all military personnel in the world, requiring the UN to formally vote on measures to ensure as much stability in the world as possible until the US is running smooth again, and things like that.  All of that is like 3 seasons worth of drama.  I don't need angst teen drug dealer calling his dudes from the east wing looking for a score.
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Even 24 had the family stuff as a side story. Kind of annoying at times but not a deal breaker for me. I liked the pilot alot. It was weird watching Keifer in a different role than Jack Bauer on Touch. I think i like this one quite a bit more. I'm in.

 
Finally watched the pilot.  I'm in.  Even if it's just a season or two, it still is compelling imo.  Like others, I don't care for the son being a drug dealer story line.  But I like Kiefer in this role.  Looking forward to see how it unfolds.  

 
Great episode. It's compelling just to consider all the possibilities of what would happen in this scenario. 

 
Excellent episode.  "Phoenix is on the move."  "What was my code name when I was the Secretary of HUD?" ...  "Glasses."  

 
I missed the pilot but I watched yesterday's episode.  I never watch any drama tv series but I'll probably keep watching this for a while.  

 
Ep 2 wrap:

So they let it slip that he is a Democrat.  Ok.  Who cares.  I enjoyed the Congresswoman and the potential for that with basically the highest ranking leaders of both parties working together but it seems from the final scene that she will be a thorn. When they dealt with the Michigan Governor my wife and I both said that he will be who runs against him for President in the next election, but maybe this Congresswoman does.

It seems fairly easy writing for the anarchy general to team up with the Congresswoman so that could be interesting. The first meeting in the Oval Office was perfect in every way I thought.  The topics that were being discussed were what I thought they would be and his reaction was, to me, very realistic if not weak.  I hadn't thought about the population of Michigan being an issue but that was really good and seemed very realistic.  Kal Penn's scene was a bit much but whatever.

I still think before getting an actual cabinet he needs a Senate, and fast.  I don't see what someone hasn't told him to get all 50 governor's to get their legislatures into special session to appoint 2 Senators.  The deputy AG lawyer guys were funny.

Still a lot of good here.  Really really hoping that they do a little bit more of his kids and then they just fade into the background.  The rest of this just massively interesting to me.

 
Yankee23Fan said:
Ep 2 wrap:

So they let it slip that he is a Democrat.  Ok.  Who cares.  I enjoyed the Congresswoman and the potential for that with basically the highest ranking leaders of both parties working together but it seems from the final scene that she will be a thorn. When they dealt with the Michigan Governor my wife and I both said that he will be who runs against him for President in the next election, but maybe this Congresswoman does.

It seems fairly easy writing for the anarchy general to team up with the Congresswoman so that could be interesting. The first meeting in the Oval Office was perfect in every way I thought.  The topics that were being discussed were what I thought they would be and his reaction was, to me, very realistic if not weak.  I hadn't thought about the population of Michigan being an issue but that was really good and seemed very realistic.  Kal Penn's scene was a bit much but whatever.

I still think before getting an actual cabinet he needs a Senate, and fast.  I don't see what someone hasn't told him to get all 50 governor's to get their legislatures into special session to appoint 2 Senators.  The deputy AG lawyer guys were funny.

Still a lot of good here.  Really really hoping that they do a little bit more of his kids and then they just fade into the background.  The rest of this just massively interesting to me.
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I'm intrigued with the logistics too.  It's hard for me to imagine him and two young "staffers" sitting around and debating who the next Attorney General would be...but then you remember that the entire "hill" is gone...I mean, who is really left?  

Sure, there are going to be moments where we're like "no way would THAT happen", but it's a drama.  I do like though that they seem to be going down a relatively realistic path of what would happen in this scenario, 2 episodes in.  

 
shader said:
I'm intrigued with the logistics too.  It's hard for me to imagine him and two young "staffers" sitting around and debating who the next Attorney General would be...but then you remember that the entire "hill" is gone...I mean, who is really left?  

Sure, there are going to be moments where we're like "no way would THAT happen", but it's a drama.  I do like though that they seem to be going down a relatively realistic path of what would happen in this scenario, 2 episodes in.  
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Yeah.  Look we all know that American history/government/politcs - that type of stuff - is my good clean pron.  It all insterests me.  So this kind of show is right up my ally - and in that I don't really think that anything that has happened is unrealistic save the actual bomb.  But I'm accepting the suspension of disbelief on that one.  The military attack on the White House in Olympus Has Fallen was more realistic to me that being able to completely destroy the Capital building and everyone in it.  But that is a minor quibble really.  After that, how everyone is acting, I think, is about as close to kinda real as it would be.

 
snogger said:
Enjoyed the premiere except for the Cliche "We must go to war NOW!" General..

I understand they have that certain mentality, but I would hope most would wait for evidence of who did it before jumping into the tired WE MUST BOMB NOW!!! :angry: speech. 
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Not shocking. It was the very Liberal ABC trying to portray the Right as war mongers.

 
huh... I found the writing distractingly heavy handed. I'm still in to see where it goes, but not loving this yet. hopefully it'll hit its stride eventually- interesting concept (is this the prequel to Revolution?)

 
Just watched the second episode. I was pleasantly surprised. I thought it was going to be really dumb and conspiracy and family based. But they are still keeping with the rebuilding gov't theme - which is BY FAR the more interesting.

I would've like to have seem him tell them all to SHUT THE #### UP when they were yelling in his office - but that will come.

The Michigan story was annoying. Especially if you know the relationship between the Dearborn police and the local residents. Its hard to believe that would happen.

 
Predictions:  

Kirkland will grow more ballsy by the end of season 1 while they reveal that general to actually be a coward in some way.

Kirkland's son will wind up having some connection to the bombing.  Drug dealer, running off to make mysterious phone calls.  I'm not saying he planted the bomb, but probably the people selling him the drugs also are mixed up in the bombing.  In gathering the facts on the suspects, the FBI finds out Kirkland's son is mixed up with them.

I'm going to guess the Russians (or maybe some Russian mafia or KGB faction) bombed the Capitol, since there a ton of negative press about the Russians these days, but that's just a guess.

 
I think you guys are focusing way too much on the son.  They showed him dealing drugs in a club for like 10 seconds -- hardly a distractions. I don't see a teenage kid going to a club and being involved in club drugs as something that takes away from the show.

 
If this really happened in our world, I think you'd reassemble as much of Bill Clinton's former staff combined with as many people who left Obama's staff as possible since they were the last democrat administration prior to the current one.   They would act as a transition team and pick up where they left off on their old jobs since they already know the ropes. Willliam Cohen as sec defense.  Robert Rubin as treasury sec.  Tom Donilon as NSA.  Go down the list where you can. Even if they don't want to come back, just make a deal with them that's its only temporary to establish continuity of government with experienced executives.  Maybe they can serve 6 months and get things back on their feet again.  Its most important to do this with the cabinet since that's the group advising on executive decisions.  Things like the Supreme Court can be totally new people.  

 
Ep 3 was good.  Solid way to deal with the teenage son.  Perfect mix of "family drama" within the story in this one.  Hopefully that continues.  The inside job aspect now seems to have legs which is fine.  He made the right call in picking his Chief of Staff.  The congresswomen is a really good character so far.  

So he is just in the beginning of the second term of the former President, so there isn't an election coming soon.  Which is good.  And we are still only about two days from the attack so they seem to be staying with crisis management and not jumping the story line too far in advance.  The general is getting a little too comical but I guess they need someone to be the "let's go to war!" antagonist.

Solid show so far.

 
huh. I still find the writing not tip-top, and some of the relationships already cliche (family drama, chief of staff sexual tension and ball-breaking, general jack d ripper, etc)... but it's an interesting premise and they haven't ####ed it up yet. still in to see where it goes, but with increasingly lowered expectations.

eta: the quality of cable shows has exploded on all fronts- so I think my expectations are raised and quashed pretty easily when watching most network stuff these days.

 
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I wish this was a continuation of jack bauer 24........kiefer solved his Russian problem, returned home, earned the seat.  Now Jack Bauer is President and after the terrorists.

Awesomeness!!!

 
How is it a question that Kirkland is not president?  If I was him and I was asked if I was fired, and say no I wasn't and the proof is that the president's staff pulled me into a secure location.  Because he was still secretary and still the designated survivor.  Why would the president pull me into a secure location if I was fired?  Stupid question, but Kirkland is dumb for not squashing it.

 
Riversco said:
How is it a question that Kirkland is not president?  If I was him and I was asked if I was fired, and say no I wasn't and the proof is that the president's staff pulled me into a secure location.  Because he was still secretary and still the designated survivor.  Why would the president pull me into a secure location if I was fired?  Stupid question, but Kirkland the writing is dumb for not squashing it.
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Riversco said:
How is it a question that Kirkland is not president?  If I was him and I was asked if I was fired, and say no I wasn't and the proof is that the president's staff pulled me into a secure location.  Because he was still secretary and still the designated survivor.  Why would the president pull me into a secure location if I was fired?  Stupid question, but Kirkland is dumb for not squashing it.
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He answered all of your questions later with one line "This is what being honest gets you in D.C. " and is the reason he choose the guy as chief of staff instead of the woman he has known for years.. to survive you need to be cut throat and he needed help in that regards... Unfortunately chief of staff is the general's right hand man and now has some dirt on Kirkland. :oldunsure:

 
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Haven't seen it but just hope the calamity from the beginning of the first episode also resulted in the lobbyists also being taken out.  Then we'd see some progress.

 
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