Designated Survivor has taken a ratings hit. If you were to believe ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey people are coping with election fatigue. That’s just not the case. It’s the fact that they are hotshotting the show for ratings.

What I mean by that is that storylines, that on most shows would play out for weeks, are being resolved in 42 minutes(maybe?).There’s something to be said for a slow burn on a political drama. I enjoyed the first few episodes and then it was a earth shattering political crisis each week that got resolved rather quickly.

Add to that some rather sloppy writing(wasn’t the presidents son a drug dealer?!?….and I’m sure they have written the fact he has/had a daughter to out of the show completely.)and it begins to turn into a mess.

I do have a bit of bias to be honest. The West Wing was a masterpiece and it will be tough to have another political drama follow in it’s footsteps, but honestly, at this point it’s not even close.

I hope they do turn it around because in the first few episodes it definitely had potential to be a break out hit of the season. They need a little less Jack Bauer and a little more Josiah Bartlett. Let’s see what they can do in the second half.

Designated Survivor airs again March 8th on ABC

Credit to our brothers from another mother at Entertainment Weekly

‘Designated Survivor’ ratings blamed on ‘White House politics fatigue’