History Series / DesignatedSurvivor

** At the end of Season 2, [[spoiler:Damien’s teenage daughter Amy]] accompanies Hannah back to America where there was likely expected to be an arc in which Hannah would look after her. When Season 3 started, Hannah when [[spoiler:asked about Amy]], says she went to go live with relatives...and that’s it.

** When acting as the designated survivor, Tom is placed in an FBI building with a clear view of the Capitol. In real life, the designated survivor is often taken to a location far away from where the rest of the cabinet and President are stationed (i.e. not the same city), so in the case of a large-scale attack (such as nuclear), continuity of government can remain.
** It is very unlikely that after a bombing of the US Capitol Building that the designated survivor would be taken to the White House, as it is located within close proximity and could serve as a second target. A more likely response would be to take them either to a bunker deep underground or aboard Air Force One.

** A minor one, but in the Season 2 episode ''Equilibrium'', Boone notes that the President of Mexico won't intervene after a border incident due so as to not risk losing his chances at re-election; the Mexican constitution specifically states that presidents can only serve a single term.

** A similiar plot development occurred on ''Series/TheWestWing'', in which the use of C4 was proof that a specific terrorist was behind an attack.

** When the ''Verona'' starts sinking faster, Lieutenant Griffin explains that he ordered the bulkheads and torpedo tubes opened to make sure that the surrounding Kunami ships couldn't take it back to port as a prize. Opening the bulkheads to the already flooded compartements would increase the rate of sinking, but the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_32_Surface_Vessel_Torpedo_Tubes Mark 32 Surface Vessel Torpedo Tubes]] are placed on top of the main deck and do not provide an opening into the hull of the ship. By the time water reached the tubes, it would already be too late to save the ship.

** A truly great example occurs in Season 2, as Hannah seems convinced that Andrea Frost is TheMole behind the various hackings, even arguing with and defaming her in a cafe. Kirkman tells her she's going too far, and fires her in the Oval Office. Hannah reaches out to Kirkman's old friend, tech genius Dax Minter, telling him to have lunch with Frost so that Hannah can check out Frost's residence. We see Dax and Frost having lunch as Hannah breaks into a house and Chuck tells her to hurry up, with Hannah swiftly finding slews of computers and evidence of the hacks inside. At the episode's end, it turns out she [[spoiler:was inside ''Dax's'' house the whole time. The entire "firing" of Hannah was a ruse as Kirkman had discovered a bug inside a gift Dax had given him, while Dax was trying to force Kirkman out of office so that his successor could loosen government restrictions on Dax's corporate work. Frost also helped by acting with Hannah, since Kirkman knew if Dax figured Hannah suspected Frost, he would go for a FrameUp to deflect suspicion from himself. Instead, he's confronted by Kirkman and Hannah and arrested in the Oval Office.]]

** The incident of a US Navy destroyer colliding with a civilian ship "Two Ships" is one for an incident for actual incidents where various military ships have made controversy for colliding with civilian ships.

** In season two, tapes of Kirkman's private therapy tapes are released, making people worry about his decision making abilities. Lyor is talking to various Cabinet members but no one returns his calls and grouses about them ducking him. His secretary tells him how she's heard the Cabinet is busy with the Vice-President. Lyor openly wonders why the Cabinet would be meeting the VP in total secrecy...then it hits him. He races to the Oval to warn the President, who calls in the VP who confirms the Cabinet is planning to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Kirkman unless he can prove his competence.

* TooDumbToLive: The American aid workers in captured in Africa in 'Commander-in Chief' are working in a country where a revolutionary army led by a genocidal warlord is about to seize the capital and they ''don't even inform the US government that they are there.'' [[NiceJobBreakingItHero It nearly gets them and about a hundred-thousand other people killed when the army predictably uses them as meat-shields so Kirkman can't stop their advance.]] Hell, they were too dumb for ''[[UpToEleven everyone else]]'' to live.

** A picture of UsefulNotes/BarackObama appears next to Richmond's in one scene. Perhaps in this reality, he ran but lost, or didn't run, just remained a Senator, or [[TakeAThirdOption became Governor of Illinois]]. In any case, in this reality America has not yet had an Afro-American president.

* AdultFear: Atwood and his wife are panicked when their son goes missing. He's worried that it might have something to do with his investigation into [[spoiler:[=MacLeish=]'s true loyalties. It turns out his son was kidnapped by the conspirators who perpetrated the Capitol attack and they'll kill him if Atwood doesn't follow their orders to the letter. They also [[ShameIfSomethingHappened threaten his wife]] for good measure. Atwood follows the conspirators' demands, and they ''still'' kill his son in "The End of the Beginning"]].

** Washington, D.C. mayor and new Vice-President Ellenor Darby's political affiliation has not yet been mentioned, but considering just ''where'' she was elected mayor, it's extremely likely that she's a Democrat (much like real-life current D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and her predecessors back to 1961).

* RealityEnsues:
** When Hannah orders an FBI technician to hack into one of the State of the Union attendee's cloud storage without an Order To Compel, she is reprimanded and given a formal warning by Atwood for violating the Fourth Amendment.
** General Cochrane's WarHawk tendencies and disrespect for Kirkman ultimately results in him attempting to order an attack on Algeria without authorization from his Commander-In-Chief. Kirkman relieves him of duty on the spot.
** With nearly the entire federal government wiped out we see the new members of Congress elected are a mix of younger ideologues who have little practical government experience and are not willing to compromise with others, and much older politicians who had retired from public life and brought in because literally no one else was qualified for the job.

** Kirkman has Governor Royce arrested for treason when he blocks his adviser from getting off a plane in Michigan, plus possibly having the National Guard refuse Kirkman's orders. These are crimes, but hardly treason. Under American law, this is defined solely as levying war against the USA or giving aid to its enemies. Kirkman must know treason is a rare charge to make that will not stand up in court. He could already have him arrested for violating the civil rights of Muslims by having them detained without charge (though the Governor, SmugSnake that he was, pretty much made it clear that as long as Kirkman was acting President he would disobey any order to a point short of actual secession, so there is that). It's Ppssibly a {{subversion}} as Governor Royce's actions could be considered sedition, and therefore a treasonous act.

** Kirkman has Governor Royce arrested for treason when he blocks his adviser from getting off a plane in Michigan, plus possibly having the National Guard refuse Kirkman's orders. These are crimes, but hardly treason. Under American law, this is defined solely as levying war against the USA or giving aid to its enemies. Kirkman must know treason is a rare charge to make that will not stand up in court. He could already have him arrested for violating the civil rights of Muslims by having them detained without charge (though the Governor, SmugSnake that he was, pretty much made it clear that as long as Kirkman was acting President he would disobey any order to a point short of actual secession, so there is that).

A [[ForeignRemake South Korean version]] of the show titled ''Designated Survivor: 60 Days'' aired in July 2019 there (and in some other countries on Netflix).

* ForTheEvulz: TheConspiracy kills [[spoiler:the son of Director Atwood]]. This seems to happen purely to show how evil they are, which by then has been well established. It serves no purpose and is, in fact, counterproductive to their goals, because they no longer have leverage on [[spoiler:Atwood]]. This is handled differently in the Korean remake, where the boy suffers from an allergy that his kidnappers were not aware off.

** Before making [[spoiler:Aaron Shore]] the first [[spoiler:Latin-American]] vice president, Tom goes through the first female vice president, and the first black female vice president, in that order. [[spoiler:And with [=MacLeish=], albeit unwittingly, the first terrorist vice president.]]

* AbortedArc: The subplot involving Leo Kirkman being involved with dealing drugs does not get much mention after episode 2, being replaced by the new subplot that [[spoiler:Kirkman may not be his biological father]].

* TokenMinority: Discussed. As a Muslim-American, Seth is insulted when Aaron offers him the position of press secretary, though he eventually takes the job.

* TheJudge: With all the Supreme Court justices, including the Chief Justice, presumably perishing in the Capitol bombing, a DC appellate judge administers the presidential oath of office to Tom.

* A minor one, but in the Season 2 episode ''Equilibrium'', Boone notes that the President of Mexico won't intervene after a border incident due so as to not risk losing his chances at re-election; the Mexican constitution specifically states that presidents can only serve a single term.

A [[ForeignRemake South Korean version]] of the show titled ''Designated Survivor: 60 Days'' aired in that country (and in some other countries on Netflix) in July 2019.

A [[ForeignRemake South Korean version]] of the show titled ''Designated Survivor: 60 Days'' is set to air in that country (and in some other countries on Netflix) starting July 2019.

* ArtisticLicenseShips: Season 2 Episode 6 "Two Ships" has a crisis focused on the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arleigh_Burke-class_destroyer Arleigh Burke]]''-class destroyer USS ''Verona'' after it collided with a garbage barge in the territorial waters of [[{{Qurac}} Kunami]]. While the writers ShowTheirWork by having Kirkman rattle off that the ''Arleigh Burke''-class have double-spaced steel armor and Kevlar spall liners, there are still a couple of inaccuracies:

* ForTheEvulz: TheConspiracy kills [[spoiler:the son of Director Atwood]]. This seems to happen purely to show how evil they are, which by then has been well established. It serves no purpose and is, in fact, counterproductive to their goals, because they no longer have leverage on [[spoiler:Atwood]].

* ForTheEvulz: TheConspiracy kills [[spoiler:the son of Director Atwood]]. This seems to happen purely to show how evil they are, which by then has been well established. It serves no purpose and is, in fact, counterproductive to their goals, because they no longer have leverage on [[spoiler:Atwood]] -- unless they felt he had [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness served his purpose]] in their plans by that point.

* ClusterFBomb: Made possible in season 3 onward thanks to Netflix's more relaxed standards regarding its content. The standout is Seth's reaction to a conservative TV commentator's transphobic, racist rant:

Creator/KieferSutherland plays Tom Kirkman, the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. On the night of a State of the Union he is informed, in short order, that the president has removed all mention of Tom's programs from his speech, he's on the verge of [[ReassignedToAntarctica substantial demotion]], and that he's been tapped to be the White House's [[TitleDrop Designated Survivor]] -- kept away from the event itself in order to preserve the line of succession in the event of an attack killing everyone else, but also meant to simply keep him out of the way. Thinking little of it, he and his wife Alex (Creator/NataschaMcElhone) watch coverage of the session on television... thus witnessing the House of Representatives getting blown up in an act of terrorism.

On May 17, 2018, [=eOne=] announced that they [[RayOfHopeEnding were in discussions]] with other networks to have it air on another TV channel or over a streaming service. {{Creator/Netflix}} picked up the show, with the show becoming a true "Netflix Original" in June 2019 (series one and two were also on Netflix, but were only considered Netflix Originals outside of North America). The entirety of the show's third and final season was released onto {{Creator/Netflix}} worldwide on June 7th, 2019.