To many, the 2016 campaign for the US presidency has been dispiriting and miserable, featuring the two most unpopular candidates in history.
So the fact that Kirkman is played by Sutherland speaks to this rather radical shift in the fictional presidential imaginary.
Kiefer Sutherland plays Tom Kirkman, a secretary of housing and development suddenly turned president when the Capitol Building is blown up in a terrorist attack occurring during the State of the Union address.
In Designated Survivor, Jack Bauer is president, but one who appears to have learned the lessons of his predecessors.