Disney’s Sherwood Blows Up Capitol in TV Drama Amid Ratings Push
- New thriller ‘Designated Survivor’ draws 10 million viewers
- Network had steepest viewer losses in last television season
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In “Designated Survivor,” the ABC series that premiered Wednesday, Kiefer Sutherland plays a U.S. cabinet member who has to step up to the presidency and save the country after a terrorist attack kills the rest of the leadership.
While the stakes aren’t nearly as high, Ben Sherwood, the co-head of Walt Disney Co.’s media networks, faces his own daunting task, battling traditional TV’s loss of viewers to cord-cutting and reviving ABC. In the past season, the broadcaster suffered a 15 percent drop in prime-time viewing among 18-to-49 year-olds -- the group most coveted by advertisers -- the steepest decline among the big four.