I am a HUGE fan of Designated Survivor. Every single Wednesday my husband and I DVR the show, so that we can watch it after the kids fall asleep and fast forward through the commercials. I had the opportunity to watch the show EARLY with writer, Jessica Grasl and then video chat with Italia Ricci!
If you are looking for a new series to watch and you aren’t already watching Designated Survivor…start watching it today! If you are already watching it, they you are probably excited for the fact that the new episode that had such a great preview last week airs tonight. I have seen it already…and WOW! There is a crazy surprise and turn of events toward the end that I didn’t expect. I was watching it with 27 other people in the room and you can hear us all whisper…”ooooooohhhhh” during a specific scene. I don’t want to give you any spoilers but you will want to watch it.
It also looks like there is a newer character that is going to get to stay on the show a bit longer, but you will have to find out whom I am referring to!
So after watching the show, we were able to interview these two amazing and talented ladies!
Jessica spoke about the writing process. We learned that it takes about 9 days to shoot an episode and sometimes they are shooting two episodes at once. She also talked about the crazy storyboarding where how it is a huge puzzle that has to fit together episode to episode and how each episode has different writers. If you think about the writing of this show and how that can all fit together, I am shocked on how well each different story line fits!
L-R: ADAN CANTO, ITALIA RICCI, KIEFER SUTHERLAND
Photo Credit: (ABC/Ian Watson)
They also mentioned how there were so many little stories that they had already recorded and that aired, and then a similar story in the world really happened. There was a reference in removing statues. This was filmed way before we heard about it in the news.
DESIGNATED SURVIVOR – ABC’s “Designated Survivor” stars Italia Ricci as Emily Rhodes. (ABC/Bob D’Amico)
We asked Italia about comparing her character April from Chasing Life to Emily in Designated Survivor. She responded with, “Well, it, Chasing Life, I was the main character, so I was the on-set team captain, if you will….now…Kiefer who was a way more professional athlete, so it’s sort of cruising and it’s great, and I’m so lucky to just be able to watch and learn from him. But what’s kind of cool is, don’t you think that maybe April could’ve grown up and been Emily?”
They also have someone on staff that has worked in the White House so they refer to him a lot when working. They mentioned that you live within those walls so everyone eventually ends up dating usually since they barely ever go home. They talked about how they don’t compare the Kirkman Whitehouse on the show to any similarities of the current White House. Grasl explained how it pretty much “lives in a different universe.”
Watch the newest episode of Designated Survivor tonight at 10/9pm CST on ABC!
https://www.facebook.com/DesignatedSurvivor/
https://twitter.com/abcdesignated
https://www.instagram.com/designatedsurvivorabc