(ABC / Sven Frenzel)
Vulture Watch
What’s This TV Show About?
A political thriller, airing on the ABC television network, Designated Survivor follows HUD Secretary Tom Kirkman (Kiefer Sutherland). After an attack on Capitol Hill, during the State of the Union Address, wipes out the presidential line of succession, this lower-level Cabinet member becomes President of the United States. Kirkman struggles to keep the country and his own family from falling apart — while navigating the highly-volatile political arena. In addition, he must lead the search to find who is responsible for a horrific attack. The cast also includes Natascha McElhone, Adan Canto, Italia Ricci, LaMonica Garrett, Tanner Buchanan, Kal Penn, and Maggie Q.
Season One Ratings
Currently, the first season of Designated Survivor is averaging a 1.25 in the demo and 5.84 million total viewers. Find out how Designated Survivor stacks up against other ABC TV shows.
5/11 update: On May 11, 2017, Designated Survivor was renewed for a second season.
Season two will debut on September 27, 2017 at 10:00pm.
Stay tuned for further updates.
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Telly’s Take
With all the death and destruction on this show, you might expect to find this humble vulture in the midst of a gluttonous gorge. It seems, however, that Designated Survivor could find itself safe for a second season, despite its performance. Mirroring its lead character’s journey, this TV series finds itself in its present position, largely due to the catastrophic state of ABC’s drama slate.
Although it has been on hiatus since mid-December, Designated Survivor will not return until March 8th. That means the network is keeping it off the air, during Nielsen’s crucial February ratings sweeps. In addition, back in December, Jeff Melvoin boarded as the third showrunner — replacing Jon Harmon Feldman, who in turn, replaced Amy B. Harris. While I’ll remain on my perch for now, I’m keeping an eye on this one. It looks to me as though the network is trying to shore up this series and doing what they can to help it be a success.
5/11 update: ABC has renewed Designated Survivor for a second season. Details here.
Designated Survivor Cancellation & Renewal Related Links
- TV show ratings are still important. Follow Designated Survivor’s weekly ups and downs.
- How do this show’s ratings compare to other network TV shows?
- Find more Designated Survivor TV series news or other ABC TV show news.
- Explore the ABC status page and other TV show status pages.
- Check out our lists of already cancelled and ended TV shows.
What do you think? Should the Designated Survivor TV show have been renewed for season two? How would you feel if ABC had cancelled this TV show, instead?
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