Designated Survivor Is Much More Than President Jack Bauer

Let me paraphrase the logline for ABC's new thriller Designated Survivor (Sept. 21 at 10/9c on ABC) for you: A low-level cabinet member of the United States government is thrust into the Oval Office when everyone above him is blown to smithereens during a terrorist attack on the Capitol building during the State of the Union Address.

Sutherland, in his first starring television role since 24, plays Tom Kirkland, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development who becomes the designated survivor.

Well it's a member of the Cabinet who is cordoned off when the rest of government convenes to ensure that in the event of a catastrophic emergency, someone in the presidential line of succession survives to assume the role of president of the United States.

Tom's new gig pushes him further away from his wife Alex (Natascha McElhone) and children, trouble-making teenage son Leo (there always has to be one, played by Tanner Buchanan) and tween daughter Penny (Mckenna Grace), and Designated Survivor looks like it will explore things from their point of view as well.

Maggie Q, used much better here than she was used in Stalker, plays FBI agent Hannah Wells, and of course she's smarter than everyone else in the bureau and suspects the attacks are far from over and it wasn't the work of the usual suspects.