DESIGNATED SURVIVOR - Episode 1x01 "Pilot" September 21, 2016 (Series Premiere)

DESIGNATED SURVIVOR
Air Date: Wednesday, September 21, 2016
Time Slot: 10:00 PM-11:00 PM EST on ABC
Episode Title: (#101) "Pilot"

SERIES PREMIERE

KIEFER SUTHERLAND RETURNS TO SERIES TELEVISION IN THE THRILLING NEW DRAMA 'DESIGNATED SURVIVOR' ON ABC

"Pilot" - Kiefer Sutherland stars as Tom Kirkman, a lower-level cabinet member who is suddenly appointed President of the United States after a catastrophic attack on the U.S. Capitol during the State of the Union, on the highly anticipated ABC series "Designated Survivor," airing WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21 (10:00 - 11:00 p.m. EDT). In this dramatic thriller, Kirkman will struggle to keep the country and his own family from falling apart, while navigating the highly volatile political arena and while leading the search to find who is responsible for the attack.

"Designated Survivor" stars Kiefer Sutherland as Tom Kirkman, Natascha McElhone as Alex Kirkman, Adan Canto as Aaron Shore, Italia Ricci as Emily Rhodes, LaMonica Garrett as Mike Ritter with Kal Penn as Seth Wright and Maggie Q as Hannah Wells.

Guest starring Tanner Buchanan as Leo Kirkman, McKenna Grace as Penny Kirkman, Kevin R. McNally as Harris Cochrane, Malik Yoba as Jason Atwood, Arjay Smith as Nolan, Alex Quijano as Lawrence, Richard Bekins as President Richmond, Elias Zarou as Ambassador Ahmed Fayad, Peter Outerbridge as Charlie Langdon, Rothaford Gray as Acting Defense Secretary, Krista Morin as Acting FBI Director, Catherine Tait as Acting Health & Human Resources Secretary, Matthew Olver as Acting Transportation Secretary, Michael Kinney as Acting Treasury Secretary, Dan MacKay as Air Force Major, Doug MacLeod as Acting Secretary of State, Robin Cunningham as Major Scott Cameron, Darlene Cooke as DC Appellate Judge and Tyler Burton as Caleb West.

"Pilot" was written by David Guggenheim and directed by Paul McGuigan.

"Designated Survivor" is from The Mark Gordon Company and ABC Studios. David Guggenheim is the creator and executive producer. Executive Producers of "Pilot" are Simon Kinberg, Mark Gordon, Jon Harmon Feldman, Nick Pepper, Suzan Bymel, Aditya Sood, Amy Harris and Kiefer Sutherland.

Read more: DESIGNATED SURVIVOR on ABC | TheFutonCritic

Promo pics for ep 1x01:

Maggie Q is part of it, so I'll give it a try!

I will check it out, have to say dont like maggies hair, looks silly as a blonde,
and if it is blonde streaks, I hate that.
But looks like a interesting show.

It is abc studio show, so it will get better treatment.

Saw ep 1 and it was ok, main thing is to see keifer become a good leader, and the
forces against him will be varied.

Cast is ok too, the general is from Turn, he was the judge/dad on turn.
and he wants to be in charge !! lol should be interesting.

Only a 1 hour show to start was dumb, it needed a 2 hour 2 ep start.

This one was all setup.
Maggie will be the one to figure out who did this, she is the "super woman" lol on this show.
and if any stalkers in this show, they better steer clear of her !

Here are 2 banners I made, I kinda like the blue one, do you like either of these better?
yours is a little dark. up to you.

T5000 wrote:

Here are 2 banners I made, I kinda like the blue one,  do you like either of these better?
yours is a little dark. up to you.

If you want to change the banner, no problem.
But if I had to vote for one of your two, I'd say this one ...

Ok, I think the premiere was quite ok. Will keep watching for now.
Though the basic plot, an attack on the U.S., has already been covered in all possible angles on 24 (Well, hello Jack Bauer! ), if biological, chemical, nuclear, domestic or foreign, it might be interesting, how this "underdog" president will deal with the circumstances and especially the "powers" around him like that asshole General ...
I just hope they don't concentrate too much on the family crap, for me it almost was already too much, especially the cliche with the troubled son.
Good to see Maggie again (and wasn't that Chief of Staff of the original President "Ari Tasarov" also from Nikita?). But she wasn't blond, why did you think or when did you see that? Maybe just in that bad promo pic above?
I also think to remember Maggie's FBI boss from Alphas (the super strong guy).
And I agree, that they should have started with a double ep. To end with just cutting off the first big speech of President Kirkman was kind of lame.

I wonder what Trump would say after having seen this ep ...
"See, I told you! That's what will happen, when you let in all the Muslims, Mexicans, Asians etc. etc. (just fill in all the scape goats you like to blame)"...
Seriously, everyone can vote for the canditate he likes of course, and you might say, how should I as a non U.S. citizen even care to have an opinion on this matter, but I can't help to think, is that guy actually the best the Republicans can come up with??? I can't believe that, because if so, it would actually worry me. Not that Hillary is all gold, but still she seems the significantly "lesser evil", given that a better man like Sanders obviously will never get an actual chance to run for President, because according to a for us Europeans weirdly completely different understanding of the word in the U.S., he's easily to be blamed as a - God forbid! - "socialist ... ;-)

Well this could wind up being a coup of some sort?

As for trump he is a wildcard, who wasnt selected by the rep party, he just ran
and got the nom.
Read his book, he may be good for america.

T5000 wrote:

...
As for trump he is a wildcard,
1) who wasnt selected by the rep party, he just ran
and got the nom.

2) Read his book, he may be good for america.

1) Sorry, but I don't understand your point here. Isn't Trump the canditate, who was officially nominated by the Republican party to run for President?
So yes, he very well was selected by them and they obviously didn't have anyone better to beat him for the nomination. And I still think that's sad, because this guy ... seriously???

2) Do you have a link for some extracts of this "book", because I definitely wouldn't want to let a guy like Trump earn a single cent from me, when it might be just a summary of all the lies and nonsense he's spilling all day long ...
Did he btw reveal his tax declaration by now? I guess still not ... And why is he afraid of fact-checking in a debate (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/trump-says-debate-moderators-shouldnt-fact-check/)???
No wonder ... LOL ... Just take a look at this:
http://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/
http://www.politifact.com/personalities/hillary-clinton/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/09/23/trump-versus-clinton-a-debate-fact-check-cheat-sheet/
And that cannot be ignored just as some Democratic propaganda.
Trump's trick is simple. Ignore the facts and lie as much as possible without any regret or moral restraints, create your own virtual reality and feed the anger and the hate of the many frustrated and disappointed (of whom many even might have understandable reasons) and possibly many of them might vote for him just out of spite to "punish" the "establishment" not caring at that moment, what a dangerous and incompetent phoney he actually is.
If that wasn't about the job of the leader of the still mightiest country in the world, it almost would be just entertaining to watch the actual outcome ...

BTW, sorry if I was getting a bit too political here for someone who actually doesn't have a vote, but I kind of can't help, because too much of this Mr. Trump guy is just wrong and lets alarm bells start ringing in my head.

I got the book at the library and read it.

I like some of the stuff he said, and the thing is every 4 years we get 2 guys
who are basically the same, lifetime politicians, owned by special interests,
and somehow they all get rich.

Trump is already rich, and isnt owned by any special interests.
So he doesnt owe any favors, and isnt owned by the R party either.

They didnt ask him to run , like sanders and the others, he just did and won, so
they have to roll with him.

He says he wants to change things, and I think he will try, but since he would have to
deal with congress, I wonder how he plans to do things they wont want to do.

Nothing ever changes no matter who is elected, so that is why many find him appealing.

from your ratings thread thanks for doing that !!

Designated Survivor (ABC) – P 2.2/8 10.04

10 mil is good, but the 2.2 sadly isnt, that always drops 1st few eps,
so the show must skew older viewers.

have to see how much it drops.

________________
OT but ratings stuff

Bull the ncis spinoff, I like the lead but the show is just not my kind of show.
it had
2.2/8 15.56
So same as  DS in demo, but I think that might be ok as P of NCIS also had 2.2,
and with NCIS as a lead in and the 15 mil , it should hold  a 2.0 demo.
dont really care either way, I quit NCIS  as it was getting old, and MW  left for this new
show, so dont watch either one.

Agents of SHIELD (ABC) – P 1.1/4 3.44 not good, amazing they keep this on, abc studio helps
but I dont see how they make money on it.

Lucifer (FOX) – P 1.3/4 4.36 not that good, on either one, enjoy it as this
could be the final season.

The Blacklist (NBC) – P 1.3/5 6.40  not a good demo, could be last season
for this too, they better end the story if it is.

Lethal Weapon (FOX) – P 2.2/8 7.93  about like DS, I like the movies
but didnt care for the cast or writing on this.

Empire (FOX) – P 4.2/13 10.87  best rating aside from wd, nielsen people love this show
I could not watch it.

The Goldbergs (ABC) – P 2.0/8 6.90   only comedy show I watch,
I like the cast
and some good writing and acting,  fav is barry the dumb brother and then the older sister.
the young kid I just tolerate.
Dad is good, and sometimes mom is.
This show is rare in that ratings actually have gone upward.

Presidential Debate (NBC) (9-10:30 p.m.) 5.4/14 16.60
Presidential Debate (ABC) (9-10:30 p.m.) 3.1/8 12.46
Presidential Debate (CBS) (9-10:30 p.m.) 2.8/7 11.00
Presidential Debate (FOX) (9-10:30 p.m.) 1.8/5 5.25


Wow, regarding the fantastic ratings they should immediately renew this mini series for a second season ... ;-))

Ok, so I couldn't resist and I've watched the great Donald vs Hillary show.
I've already seen some of the news coverage before about who has "won" and made a better impression, mostly seeing Hillary more or less in front, but also some seeing Donald up.
After having watched by myself I just can say, that all that efforts by the news media to desperately press this whole debate into some numbers just to be able to declare someone as the "winner" is wrong imho.
It's not about the percentages of some after-debate poll, who I'd vote for. It's about my personal impression and the arguments they brought up (combined with some fact-checking by myself), on which I'd have to make a decision. And from that personal impression and experience I have to say, Donald Trump was not that terrible, but also Hillary Clinton made a better impression than I had expected. And some of both their arguments are simply claims and hopes, about which only time can tell, who is right. So it's about who I believe or trust more to a large extend, not just about logic and numbers, especially not about those after-debate poll numbers.
In the end (yeah, I know, I have no vote in this) despite some issues, I'd prefer Hillary (and yeah, she's not all gold too, but who is), because I have more problems to stand Trump's personality and behaviour and due to some fact-checking it clearly looks like Donald - though he actually might not be the end of the world - does have greater problems with sticking to facts and truth (I just can't ignore some of his statements, even if he himself has no problems with ignoring and denying).
Some really funny line from Donald I remember ... "every single country in the world is ripping off the U.S." ... For a second I almost shed some tears out of pity ... ;-)

Well I watched it too, I got in about 20 min after it started, and I dont care what
others say post debate.
Like you I watch and make up my own mind.
Hilliary did good, but she has many years of experience making speeches
and I am sure bill helped her prepare, and she did prepare.

But in the end, she is still just a politician, and she wants to be president because
it is a longtime goal just to do that.

Trump wants to be president because he thinks he can change things and fix things
And I like that better.
That makes him better no matter who the other candidate is.

I think he will try to change things, and hillary wont, she will just have fun being president.
and maybe achieve some personal goals while president.

I also dont care about trump and his tax returns or his personality , or if he is a asshole,
many presidents are but they hide it.
So we will find out soon, who gets it, and then what they do, but if hillary gets it
nothing will change at least nothing significant.

And trump surely didnt mean to imply germany was ripping us off lol, but many countries
are.

T5000 wrote:

...
Trump wants to be president because he thinks he can change things and fix things
And I like that better.
That makes him better no matter who the other candidate is.

I think he will try to change things, ...

I also dont care about trump and his tax returns or his personality , or if he is a asshole,
...

Wow, do you actually mean this???
Ok, not that it matters, since I don't have a vote ... but this is a serious question ...
You don't even care about his personality??
Can all the possible anger and frustration with the "establishment" really be enough to vote for something like Donald just out of spite?
Is it really possible to ignore enough of the BS and lies he's spilling out all day long to actually consider him as President??? I really do have difficulties to get that ...
And believe me, I know that Hillary is far from being all gold ... but Donald? There really was no better canditate against Hillary? What a disaster for the Grand Old Party ...
I'd still like to see this as a big bad joke, if it wasn't that sad ...

PS: I think I'll watch ep 1x02 of the Donald/Hillary reality show on Sunday ... ;-)