You won't regret watching Designated Survivor...
The premise for ABC and Netflix's show Designated Survivor is relatively simple. One member of the president's government will always sit out of the State of the Union address in case the unimaginable happens, and everyone at the address is killed.
It's a practice dating back to the Cold War when the threat of a nuclear strike was very real.
Well cue the ominous music, because the unimaginable happens at the start of the pilot episode. Tom Kirkman (Kiefer Sutherland), a man not wanted by the president in his cabinet and about to receive the heave-ho far out of the public eye, winds up as President of the United States following the bombing of the Capitol Building.
The best way to describe the series is a hybrid of the idealism of The West Wing combined with the sneaky, underhandedness of House of Cards and a little sprinkle of 24's dramatic and complicated action plots.
Sound like something you'd be interested in? You're damn right it does.
Kirkman, finding himself thrown in at the deep end, is faced with the unenviable prospect of leading the country in a time of crisis. When people are looking to point fingers. When people are scared.
The potential for more attacks is very real. Radical groups are threatening the security of the US. It's unclear if there's a conspiracy going all the way to the top in Washington. People are dying.
Meanwhile, Kirkman must face these challenges head on, surrounded by staff who don't believe in him, and generals who don't respect him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_f1v0Nx5Sw
Video via ABC Television Network
It's difficult to write about this show without giving too much of the story away. We're ten episodes in but there's just been so many plots and twists with so much drama I feel I'd be spoiling the series for you if I say too much.
The first episode sets the tone for the series, but it's only a teaser of the drama that will unfold throughout the ten episodes. There's expected to be 22 episodes in total in the first season.
That's a lot of watching...
