Despite surviving severe showrunner shuffle in season one, ABC renewed its Designated Survivor TV show for second season. In the wake of the departures of Amy Harris, Jon Harmon Feldman, and Jeff Melvoin, Keith Eisner has taken the reins of the political drama. Can this veteran of The Good Wife, Law & Order, and Gilmore Girls earn the Nielsen ratings needed to keep it on the air? Will Designated Survivor be cancelled or renewed for season three? Stay tuned. *See update below.
A political conspiracy thriller, Designated Survivor stars Kiefer Sutherland, Natascha McElhone, Adan Canto, LaMonica Garrett, Kal Penn, Maggie Q, Malik Yoba, Paulo Costanzo, Zoe McLellan, Ben Lawson, Tanner Buchanan, and Mckenna Grace. The ABC TV series centers on Tom Kirkman (Sutherland). After an attack on Capitol Hill wipes out the line of succession, this HUD Secretary becomes President of the United States. In Designated Survivor, season two, President Kirkman is on the hunt for the terrorists who destroyed the Capitol, even as he handles the daily Oval Office crises.
The ratings are typically the best indication of a show’s likelihood of staying on the air. The higher the ratings (particularly in the 18-49 demo), the better the chances for survival. This chart will be updated as new ratings data becomes available — typically around 11:30am EST/8:30am PST. Refresh to see the latest.
5/17 update: You can see the rest of the latest night’s ratings.
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Note: These are the Live + Same Day Ratings which include “live” viewing plus delayed DVR viewing, up until 3am local time that same night. Ratings marked with an “*” are the fast affiliate ratings and will be updated with the Live+SD numbers when they are made available. Typically, networks get paid for C+3 ratings which includes DVR viewing within three days of the original airing when commercials are watched. Those numbers are rarely released to the press.
For comparisons: The first season of Designated Survivor on ABC averaged a 1.25 rating in the 18-49 year old viewer demographic and a total audience of 5.840 million viewers.
What do you think? Do you like the Designated Survivor TV series? Should it be cancelled or renewed for a third season on ABC?
9/5/18 update: Designated Survivor was cancelled by ABC but Netflix later ordered season three.
The show ended with a fabulous cliff hanger, Please renew!
How often do you get to see a show where someone in politics displays such high moral and ethical character? I think this show and Madam Secretary are the only two that I know of. I will really miss Designated Survivor if it is taken off the air. Especially in this time,with such a tremendous politically divisive and alienating leader in our country, we need a show that displays how the “game” of politics should be played. KEEP THIS SHOW ON THE AIR. WE NEED IT!!!
I love Designated Survivor! How can people not be interested in our country and the problems that come about! It is a great show with good characters and very important current and past topics… we get a good show and then lose it to a show about games or Supernatural stuff or ones that don’t get us like this show did! Keifer Sutherland did an amazing job in this role- a very different role than 24 and he did a superb job! As he does in most anything he is in! I hope and pray others will write in to… Read more »
Every time a great show comes on they cancel it!! I am so mad that the stupid bachelor and bachelorette and bachelor paradise gets renewed those shows ha e no substance and it’s not reality it’s scripted!!! This is one very mad viewer !!!!!
This is a very innovative show that is well written. To cancel it is a mockery of keeping quality programs on ABC. Will it be replaced with ANOTHER reality show that is (actually) scripted?
Perhaps the people in the real white house, would have some positive
ideas by watching the Designated Survivor. Please renew
please renew the show… there is still so many stories to tell and we love the show… well written… casts are perfect and it should be very unfortunate to cancel show like this…. this has story about real life ….. not the artifical life like comics or dragons??? keep it please
If this is real and it is cancelled I am devastated. It is one of the better television series on now and I am simply not okay with it being over.
PLEASE DO NOT CANCEL THIS SHOW IT’S ONE OF THE VERY BEST WELL WRITTEN AND ENTERTAINING. ITS SAD THAT WE TAKE OFF THE GREAT SHOWS AND LEAVE THE EMPTY
STUPID ONES ON
Don’t Cancel This Show!!!! It’s one of the few shows I actually love to watch. Please don’t cancel it! This thriller of a show depicts a good guy in the white house and the country is starting to believe in him and you go and cancel it? NOOOooooooooo!!! So the ratings aren’t what you want… give it some time! It’s a great TV show, it will gain momentum.
Please don’t cancel it!
First, “DS” is not “24”. Why try to wrap up everything in an hour? Second, we want Jack Bauer, not Jack and Jill. Shows will add characters to create new storylines because they are running out of ideas. How man times has that happened already? Here’s an idea: Bring back Jack by having him using all that power he has to use a ham-handed approach to things while always coming out as the good guy. Unless as writers you really believe people want to see a guy sitting around the White House unconvincingly trying to portray the stress of the… Read more »
It’s current like Madame Secretary on CBS. Great storylines and acting. Intense with a great sprinkling of humor. The chemistry is perfect. Renew renew renew!!!
Whatever its flaws, this show reminds us of what the office of the U.S. Presidence should be in the midst of its current degradation. It maintains dramatic tension and I find it improving. I purchased both seasons on Amazon and am not counted in the statistics.