Designated Survivor (ABC>Netflix) (1 Viewer)

[SamT]

And apparently they don't do simple real stunts. The car going into water was not real and looked CG.

 

[Bernard McNair]

We watched the entire series over the weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it as a piece of entertainment. Certainly there were some shortcomings as mentioned in many of these posts; the scenes using back projection were particularly noticeable. However, overall it was a fun piece of story telling with some good characters and we look forward to Season 2.

 

[NeilO]

I finally watched the final episodes. I was interested enough tonight to roll right from the penultimate episode to the season finale. So, that cliffhanger was compelling.

I did find the ease that the conspirators carried out their actions a bit hard to believe. The traitor in the white house eluding capture after deleting the files was a bit much. At least they caught him in the finale, though too late. I was surprised that they didn't think to distribute Lozano's picture around once they found out he was alive. He just shouldn't have been able to get past security. I also missed how he got the briefcase (or the info in it) to Lloyd. It seemed he was driving with it and Hannah was chasing him. It didn't seem he had an opportunity to leave it somewhere and contact Lloyd where it was. For that matter I find it hard to believe that he was able to get all the data off the Pentagon servers in the time shown. Was it all in one zip file labeled "take me"?

I am glad they got most of the conspirators. I probably will be around next season. I like the main characters too much to pass on it.

 

[NeilO]

Bad news for season 2:

Virginia Madsen is not returning.
http://ew.com/tv/2017/06/22/virginia-madsen-designated-survivor-season-2/

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Bad news for season 2:

Virginia Madsen is not returning.

I hate that, but I guess it makes sense. The Secretary of Education would not be likely to be interacting with the president on a daily basis in real life. When I saw that was the job he offered her, I figured she was probably being written-out.

Still, too bad, and not just because I find her very easy on the eyes!

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I finally watched the last three episodes today. The fact that it took this long to make time to watch them does not bode well for me sticking with the series. I'll probably give the first couple episodes of season two a chance to see what the new showrunner does with it, but I'm just not optimistic.

My number one complaint is that the dramatic tension of the conspiracy storyline required our protagonists to be consistently dumb and the conspirators to be implausibly successful.

 

[Francois Caron]

Okay, haven't posted on this forum in years. I've been busy.

Binge watched the show yesterday. I thought the premise was a bit far-fetched, but the show overall was still pretty decent. However, I do agree that there was a lot of classic "trash" storytelling in this series such as conspiracy theories and soap opera style side stories. These elements did make the show a bit difficult to watch at times.

As for the shooting locations, this series was filmed in the Greater Toronto Area and not in Vancouver which is usually a stand-in for alien worlds. You could tell it was Toronto by the occasional shot of street car tracks in the city streets and at least one GO Transit bus in the background. It also helped that the show's NATO conference was held in Toronto, making it very easy to include local landmarks since the production company was already there.

The "North Dakota" locations could have easily been shot in any of the surrounding communities and farm country. The province of Ontario is reasonably flat in some areas, making it the perfect stand-in for "fly-over" states.

As for the "unrealistic" senate chambre with its display screens at every seat, that was actually the Toronto City Hall council chamber! The city must have been desperate for money for them to rent it out to an American production company!

 

[Johnny Angell]

Welcome back Francois.

 

[Stan]

Bad news for season 2:

Virginia Madsen is not returning.
http://ew.com/tv/2017/06/22/virginia-madsen-designated-survivor-season-2/

I'm just glad there is going to be a season two. Fun piece of fluff that takes itself much to seriously, but it's enjoyable.

 

[ScottH]

I thought Virginia Madsen and her relationship with Kirkman was one of the very few positives of the show.

 

[Josh Dial]

I thought Virginia Madsen and her relationship with Kirkman was one of the very few positives of the show.

Agreed. This further validates my decision to drop this show for season 2.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Ahead of tonight's second season premiere, this bit of cast news might lend credence to a favored HTF theory:

Spoiler

Natascha McElhone To Star In Beau Willimon’s ‘The First’ Hulu Series, Will Depart ‘Designated Survivor’

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I was weighing whether to continue with the show at all, but I thought the season premiere was a strong course correction.

The latest showrunner is "Good Wife" vet Keith Eisner, and you could feel the difference right out of the gate: sharper writing, better-defined characterization.

Perhaps most crucially: a shift away from the politics of governing and toward the mechanics of governing. You have to be invested in the politics to be invested in the outcome of political disputes; if you don't agree with Kirkman's position, it's hard to root for his success. But when the show's about the mechanics of governing, how the president and his team navigate complex situations to achieve desired outcomes, anybody can get invested. In the first season, the show took a lot of shortcuts in this area, which made the West Wing side of the show underwhelming in comparison to the conspiracy side of the show.

 

[SamT]

I was coming to write in the season 2 thread hey guys it's so unfortunate I can't participate. I'm always 2-3 episodes behind. So imagine my surprise to find out that there is no season 2 thread, there is no discussion at all!

 

[Mike Frezon]

I've only watched the first two episodes of Season 2, Sam. I've avoided this thread to avoid spoilers.

Pretty much a snorefest so far IMO.

I guess I've got three backed up on the DVR right now. And I'm not in any rush to get to them. This nonsense with Maggie Q running around like a chicken with its head cut off after the slippery bad guy "who outwits them at every turn" is just getting old and uninteresting.

I don't want a show about governing and inner White House politics and intrigue. That's the last thing I need/want in my life.

 

[SamT]

I saw the funniest part of season 2 so far in Episode 2x4. The broken vase conclusion was absolutely hilarious.

 

[Francois Caron]

Not much activity here.

Just one question about last week's episode. Wasn't there a spare rubber dinghy anywhere on board?

 

[Mike Frezon]

I just watched an episode last night (I think I'm about two episodes still behind).

The episode I watched was centered on the Mexican border trucker standoff/blockade (and the sidestory about the broken West Wing vase). ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

The episode before that had the disease outbreak in Louisiana. ZZZZZZzzzzzzzz.

This show is rudderless. It just doesn't know what it wants to be. The subplot involving Kirkman's mother-in-law seems like its being made up as they go along.

This is not compelling television.

I'm not thinking I'm going to be much longer with this show. I love Keifer's work so much. When he's in bad-ass president mode and tells off a member of Congress or the rep of some foreign leader (for example, the Mexican ambassador in this last ep I watched) and we get a glimmer of Jack Bauer, it suddenly gets interesting...for about thirty seconds. I keep hoping that he'll go to bite out the ambassador's jugular...

 

[Francois Caron]

Is anyone in this forum still watching this show? Personally, I doubt I'll watch it any further after this season.

 

[Nelson Au]

I’m still watching, though barely. It’s on, but I’m not paying close attention. I’m feeling like this series has taken a serious change in direction and it’s reasonable it had to after the conspiracy was mostly resolved for who blow up the capitol. My main interest in the series was the original premise, that someone or entity was out there to take the government out and how Kirkman was put in charge and how he and the administration would find the people responsible for the attack. That wasn’t a sustainable premise it seems. Now it’s like a political drama and I think Madam Secretary is doing that better.

The past week’s episode might have been interesting as it looked like 24. And I’ve never watched 24, only a few clips. So it might be worth re-catching that episode.