Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
27 Days. We just have to get through the next 27 days and then our long national nightmare — the 2016 Presidential Election — will finally be over.
You can spend the next four weeks leading up to Election Day hemming and hawing and feverishly refreshing FiveThirtyEight.com or you can find relief in pure escapist fantasy. No, I’m not talking about Game of Thrones or Harry Potter. Rather, ABC’s new fall drama Designated Survivor is the show that will help you fantasize your way through the upcoming election.
The concept of Designated Survivor is rather simple. Every year when the President gives his State of the Union address, one cabinet member, called “the designated survivor” doesn’t attend in case of a catastrophe that wipes out the President, Vice President, and everyone else in the line of succession. The show imagines such a horrific scenario. A series of bombs takes out the Capitol and propels Kiefer Sutherland’s character, Tom Kirkman, the designated survivor, into the presidency at a time of turmoil. Adding to the drama, he’s the newly fired U.S. Secretary of of Housing and Development. So, he’s not exactly anyone’s first pick for the job.
Designated Survivor has a lot going on. There’s the cutesy family drama as Kirkman’s family adjusts to life in the White House. There’s fun, brainy, behind-the-scenes political drama that reminds one of Aaron Sorkin‘s The West Wing. Maggie Q plays a bewitching FBI agent — perhaps straight out of ABC’s soapy Quantico – trying to make sense of the attack. Oh, and then there’s a crazy conspiracy burbling behind-the-scenes to try to oust Kirkman. All in all, it’s a ripping yarn that would make for a great show in any time. However, there’s something really compelling about seeing a smart, decent guy thrust into the Presidency. As our collected frustrations with the current political climate reach a rolling boil, Designated Survivor is a show that boldly lets us play out the fantasy of tearing the whole corrupt system down to try to make sense of it all. I mean, wouldn’t we all like to see what a nerdy Jack Bauer would do as our president? Sadly, heroes like that don’t seem to exist in our world – but that’s why we can tune into Designated Survivor.
