Designated Survivor.

• Author: Brown, Elizabeth Nolan
• Position: TV - Television program review - Brief article

Designated Survivor, Kiefer Sutherland's follow-up to 24, imagines the actor as Tom Kirkman, a mild-mannered minor Cabinet member--he's the secretary of housing and urban development--catapulted into the presidency after nearly everyone else in the federal government is killed in a State of the Union night attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Debuting in September 2016, the first half of the ABC series has played out as almost as much of a libertarian fantasy as The West Wing's president was a progressive one. As Kirkman--who describes himself as "a registered...