Electing a new Congress isn’t the only recent change in leadership happening with ABC’s Designated Survivor. Behind the scenes, the freshman drama is getting a new showrunner.
Jeff Melvoin is taking over the duties from Jon Harmon Feldman, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Melvoin was one of the showrunners for Lifetime’s Army Wives and has also worked on such series as Alias, Hill Street Blues and Remington Steele.
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Feldman isn’t leaving the family entirely, though. Instead of helming Designated Survivor, he has signed a new overall deal with ABC Studios to work on multiple projects during pilot season.
This will be the third showrunner for the new drama. Amy B. Harris (who previously worked on Sex and the City and The Carrie Diaries) was initially attached but left once Designated Survivor received a series pick-up back in May.
Designated Survivor is a fictional take on a real-life contingency plan in which a Cabinet member is taken to a secret location during the president’s State of the Union Address. That person takes over as president if everybody above him or her in the line of succession, including the sitting president, can no longer serve. On the ABC drama, a tragedy hits the Capitol and Tom Kirkman becomes the Commander-in-Chief
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The series stars Kiefer Sutherland, Natascha McElhone, Adan Canto, Italia Ricci, LaMonica Garrett, Kal Penn and Maggie Q.
Sutherland has been nominated at the 2017 People’s Choice Awards for Favorite Actor in a New TV Series, and the series as a whole is nominated for Favorite New TV Drama.
Back in September, ABC picked up Designated Survivor for a full 22-episode season, following strong ratings as well as positive reviews from critics.
What do you think of this latest showrunner change? Are you worried that the quality of the series will suffer?
Designated Survivor season 1 airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on ABC. Want more news? Like our Facebook page.
(Image courtesy of ABC)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
Jeff Dodge, a graduate of Western Washington University, has been a TV news editor for many years and has had the chance to interview multiple reality show stars, including Randy Jackson, Nick Cannon, Heidi Klum, Mel B and John Cena.
