One episode was provided prior to broadcast.
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– “This is Us“, a new television drama that exposes the hardships and wonders of everyday life, premieres Tuesday night on NBC. There’s a risk to introducing such deeply rich emotional stakes into a show so early on, and This Is Us only comes out with a handful of rewards for taking it.
This Is Us was one of the most anticipated series this fall, and it doesn’t fail to deliver.
Creator Dan Fogelman’s (“Galavant”) script, however, takes the sting out of some major moments with some minor humor. There’s hope for This Is Us. We get it. It’s so hard to be lovely and successful.
The episode follows three different stories – Rebecca (Moore) and Jack (Ventimiglia) who are celebrating Jack’s birthday as Rebecca is pregnant with triplets.
Milo Ventimiglia, who played Jess in Gilmore Girls (and, we’ve learned, will play him again in the reboot), is starring in the new NBC dramedy This Is Us, along with Mandy Moore and The People v. O.J. Simpson’s Sterling K. Brown.
The true setting for Jack and Rebecca’s story is revealed when a man is seen smoking inside the hospital hallway, a clearly outdated practice. In other words he utters: “this is me, this is who I’ve become, this is what I have, WITHOUT you.”. Not to mention excuse a particularly on-the-nose collection of folksy indie ballads slowly buffeting throughout the episode.
Right behind them is Metz’s Kate, whose story is interesting primarily because it’s so unusual for TV. She receives support from her new boyfriend, Toby (Chris Sullivan), as he helps her let loose and enjoy herself.
There are so many questions left to be answered after this first episode!
“The belly made it a little bit more exciting, I’m being real honest, I don’t know about some men out there, but there’s something lovely about a pregnant woman”, said Ventimiglia about his sex scenes experience with Moore. It just doesn’t have the weight and on-the-brink tragedy afforded to the other, better parts of This Is Us.
“… the fall’s most emotionally engaging, moving pilots”.
Turns out, Jack and Rebecca are actually Kate and Kevin’s parents, and adopted Randall.
“It was just like, ‘Oh, I get to be just a guy?”
Kevin feels trapped in the world of glamor and has a meltdown in front of a live audience.
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Jared Goldsmith, svp, marketing strategy and digital, NBC Entertainment, said NBC’s promo team was able to take Fogelman’s “unbelievable” pilot and “craft a really compelling trailer that made these characters relatable and really come to life in that short period of time”. That it doesn’t add up to much more than the sum of the tears you’ll choke back isn’t a deficiency-just a sign that the show is, so far, skillful in achieving the very simple thing it sets out to do. Metz looks positively haunted as Kate steps on a scale in the beginning, but it really hits home when she tells her brother: “I ate my dream life away”.
