Designated Survivor Pilot

So its been a while since I've done TV reviews in this format. I used to watch the pilot for a show, make a judgement on whether or not I was gonna keep on watching, and then do a full season review when I had completed the season. I'm bringing it back because Designated Survivor is the first show in a long time that I will be watching week to week and it will be a couple months before I give my full series review (if I do at all... that's a long term commitment and if you're a fan of this blog, you know I'm not good with long term committments. I.E. my review of all the Batman movies). But I have a good feeling about Designated Survivor. 

I heard about Designated Survivor a while back (it might have been at the super bowl) and I immediately was interested. By far the biggest reason was because the show is starring Kiefer Sutherland. Sutherland has gone down as one of my favorite actors because of his work in the show 24. I will watch almost anything with Sutherland in it and this alone was a good reason to watch Designated Survivor. 

But what got me intrigued as well was the story. 

Designated Survivor follows the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Thomas Kirkman

(played by Sutherland). From the beginning of the episode, it is laid down that Kirkman is a straight shooter and doesn't really know how to play the games of Washington DC. He's portrayed as a good guy at the bottom of the totem pole. He has a spot in the cabinet but its the most inconsequential position one could have. (Sorry current Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro, your job isn't given much credit in this show). Furthermore, Kirkman is being replaced in his position so he's basically fired at the beginning of the show.

The first episode takes place the night of the State of the Union where every member of Congress and the cabinet are present to hear the President speak. Kirkman is chosen as the designated survivor, the one member of the cabinet who does not attend the State of the Union in case of a catastrophic attack. And because this is a television show, that catastrophic event happens. 

Tom and his wife Alex (played by Natascha McElhone) are rushed to the White House and Kirkman is sworn in as the President of the United States. The rest of the pilot is Tom reeling from the events, trying to stay afloat while the United States is in absolute chaos. He has trigger happy generals (one played by Kevin McNally) who want to start World War 3, he has staff and speech writer (one of them played by Kal Penn who actually was part of the White House staff for President Obama's first term) who don't believe he's the right man for the job. And you have his family who he needs to make sure are alright despite the shock of an unthinkable event. 

On the other side of things, Maggie Q plays an FBI agent who is quickly brought into the investigation of the explosion at the Capital and she does some kind of cool FBI stuff... I feel like she might have a bigger part later in the series, but for now she was just there to kind of introduce the audience to her. 

Despite the fact that Maggie Q probably didn't need to be in this pilot episode, For a pilot, Designated Survivor starts off very strong. 

The show plays off both like an episode of 24 and an episode of the West Wing with a weird feeling of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington thrown in there for good measure. Like I said, Maggie Q's role is pretty limited in the first episode because the main focus is and should be on Tom Kirkman. The show is called Designated Survivor because this is a situation we've prepared for but we've never been in. Tom Kirkman is the last person you would expect to take up the seat of the President of the United States in a time of crisis like this and yet we find ourselves in this situation. 

Now I must make mention of the fact that it is Kiefer Sutherland. As normal of a guy they dress him

up to be, and to be fair he does a decent job at it, its going to take a couple of episodes for me not to think that Jack Bauer has taken up the seat of President after 9 seasons of being at the disposal of the President. I have faith that Kiefer Sutherland will be able to create a different character and he has, I mean Tom Kirkman is just a much happier guy than Jack Bauer ever was. But again, I'll need an episode or two.

The thing that I really liked about Kirkman was the uncertainty and the fear. You see it as he is quickly inaugurated as the President and quickly rushed to a situation room he has no idea how to run. While I still see Jack Bauer, I get the feeling Tom Kirkman is going to be a really interesting character and one that I want to see more of. 

But the part that really excites me about this pilot is that it sets up for a season of TV that I really have no idea where it could go. 

If you've seen the trailer for the show you basically know what happens in the pilot episode. There's a couple of thing that hint towards the future of the season but the pilot in essence is the chaos of rushing the Designated Survivor through the process of becoming the President and some preliminary things he needs to do. The real test will be future episodes. 

Like I said before, this is really a situation we as Americans have never experienced and it could be

hard to comprehend. It could be as simple as a political episode of the West Wing where Tom Kirkman needs to fill his cabinet and guide the country in our darkest hour. But at the same time you have a conspiracy of terrorists who we have established may not be done attacking our soil. We have Kevin McNally slightly proposing treason, a lot can happen in this show and I really have no idea where it could go... And I love it.

Could this all go awry and could it be disappointing? Of course. And the fact its on a standard network like ABC does worry me a little bit. But if the rest of the show is like the pilot, I'm actually really interested in Designated Survivor.

In an age where even if I think a show is good, I usually wait until its all on Netflix or some streaming system to binge watch it, Designated Survivor really brings out the old way of watching TV in me and I want to watch this show week to week. 

Of course this is all based off a pilot with a pretty good cast and a subject matter I'm pretty interested in. Things like this have gone wrong before. What do you think? Have you checked out the pilot of Designated Survivor? Is it a show you'll watch week to week or are you gonna wait till its on Netflix to binge watch it? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as send me your request for future movies and TV shows I should review on this blog. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog. 

I'll leave you with this. So this is only barely related by Jimmy Kimmel did a new edition of Mean Tweets last night and Kiefer Sutherland is in it... so there's your connection. Enjoy!