Aaron and Josh Sarnecky are here to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Designated Survivor.
Designated Survivor is a political thriller drama series. It premiered on ABC on September 21, 2016. It ran on the network for two seasons before being canceled. Netflix picked the show up for a shorter third season, which debuted in June 2019. Netflix canceled the series the following month, leaving the episode total at 53.
In the pilot, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Tom Kirkman (Kiefer Sutherland) becomes the President after an attack on the State of Union address, by virtue of being the designated survivor. Kirkman, his wife (Natascha McElhone) and his children (Mckenna Grace, Tanner Buchanan) abruptly move into the White House. During the show, he must rebuild federal government, find those responsible for the attack, and run for election.
Kirkman is assisted by many characters, including Chief of Staff Emily Rhodes (Italia Ricci), National Security Advisor Aaron Shore (Adan Canto), Press Secretary Seth Wright (Kal Penn), Secret Service Agent Mike Ritter (LaMonica Garrett), and FBI Agent Hannah Wells (Maggie Q).
Political players include Speaker of the House Kimble Hookstraten (Virginia Madsen), Former President Cornelius Moss (Geoff Pierson), the duplicitous Vice President Peter MacLeish (Ashley Zukerman), and Kirkman’s campaign manager Lorraine Zimmer (Julie White).
Other characters include attorney Ethan West (Michael J. Fox), aerospace businesswoman Andrea Frost (Kim Raver), White House Political Director Lyor Boone (Paulo Costanzo), geneticist Dr. Eli Mays (Chukwudi Iwuji), and Deputy Chief of Staff Isabel Pardo (Elena Tovar).
Designated Survivor Season 1 earned solid reviews, but the show lost steam shortly after Season 2 premiered. The show had five showrunners in three seasons. The revolving door of showrunners plus declining ratings led to its first cancelation. Upon its second cancelation, Netflix said the third season’s finale was a satisfying ending (and remains Pop Break’s most well-read article of all-time).
Designated Survivor received a South Korean adaptation titled Designated Survivor: 60 Days.
Aaron and Josh discuss watching and reviewing Designated Survivor before going into the show’s storylines and characters, how the show was affected by real life politics, and its relevance back then and today.
You can listen to Aaron and Josh talk about Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer in their 24 podcast. You can also hear about his role in Stand by Me on last month’s podcast.
