Imagine creating a television series premised on a U.S. Capitol building attack, then watching a less-lethal yet all too real version of that event unfold years later. 

Writer/Creator David Guggenheim relates how that felt in the second part of our Purple Principle series on Hollywood Presidents. “When the insurrection happened at the Capitol,” recalls Guggenheim, “so many people were emailing…‘Oh my God, this is like straight out of the show.’”

That show was Designated Survivor, which aired on ABC in 2016 and starred Kiefer Sutherland as the low-level independent cabinet member Tom Kirkman, elevated to the Oval Office when a Capitol bombing decimates other high-ranking members of the government. Kiefer Sutherland, a grandson of a famous Canadian politician, was entirely on board with the notion of a more independent, more pragmatic American POTUS, according to Guggenheim. 

As with previous series guest Rod Lurie (creator of Commander in Chief), Guggenheim confides that creating an independent POTUS was a commercial decision to reach the largest audience possible. Having made that decision, his team portrayed the unique dilemmas faced by a more centrist President lacking major party backing. Tune in to learn more about those dilemmas and the challenges of attracting viewers in our partisan age on “Hollywood Presidents for a Partisan Nation (Part Two): Hail the Independent & Designated Survivor.” 

Original music by Ryan Adair Rooney.

Our guest

David Guggenheim 

@DBGuggenheim

Designated Survivor

Additional Resources

Simone Del Rosario (9/4/12). “Kal Penn: From White Castle to the White House.” The Washington Post.

Tommy Douglas, “History of Canadian Medicare.” Canadian Museum of History. 

Richard Klein

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