Designated Survivor Wednesdays, 10 p.m., ABC.
Kiefer Sutherland spent nine seasons playing a steely secret agent rooting out massive conspiracies against the U.S. government as 24’s Jack Bauer, so seeing him as the president of the United States on Designated Survivor conjures up expectations of an intense thriller featuring terrorist attacks and international crises. That’s about half of what the show actually delivers, and it’s the less successful half; what works better on the show is its nuts-and-bolts West Wing-style political intrigue, as Sutherland’s Tom Kirkman, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development, finds himself suddenly appointed president after a bombing wipes out literally everyone else in the line of succession.
Tom, an unassuming policy wonk who was about to get canned, becomes the King Ralph of the U.S. and is immediately thrown into a crisis that nearly everyone believes he’s unprepared to handle. His efforts to prove himself, to stand up for his ideals when he’s being pressured to step down, provide the most compelling drama in the pilot episode. Sutherland brings a bit of his Jack Bauer intensity to the role, with a more jovial, relaxed attitude, and Kal Penn (who’s worked as an actual White House staffer and is also a consultant on the show) is appealing as a young speech writer.
The less successful part of the show brings in a 24-style conspiracy, with Maggie Q as an FBI agent investigating the bombing and certain government officials secretly working to bring Tom down. A subplot in the pilot about Tom’s teenage son partying and selling drugs unfavorably recalls the useless Kim Bauer storylines on 24, and in general Tom’s personal life (including his relationship with his wife, played by Natascha McElhone) isn’t particularly well-developed. Like last season’s ABC drama Quantico, Designated Survivor opens with far too much complicated plotting, and it could easily become a morass of ridiculous developments within a few episodes. There’s promise in Sutherland’s determined, principled leader, but he’s surrounded by too many distractions.
