Around this time every year, our favorite television shows start their new seasons. Most return and pick up where they left off, and some sadly, don’t come back. Then there are those shows that appear on the schedule that are brand spanking new. We all wonder if the trailers that have been circling for months are just hype. Will these new shows be worth watching? Most of us, if we are caught in the idea of what it could be, are willing to do a trial run with the first episode.
Slight spoilers ahead, be warned.
For myself, This Is Us, is the new show that has caught my eye. I wondered what it could be about because on the surface it looks like it follows the typical four major plot arcs that every show producer tries to make happen. The commercials show that there are three characters who share the same birthday and a couple has triplets on the same day. Okay, so the connection that starts the story and links the characters is their birthday. Sure, that is interesting enough to get me to watch.
Low and behold, I begin watching the first episode with anticipation. I’ve seen the trailer probably thousands of times and the air date is finally here. And I learn that what I had assumed about the show is utterly wrong; which makes the storyline the most brilliant. There's nothing that entertains me more than the twists that make a show or movie less predictable.
As myself and the other thousand viewers travel through the majority of the first episode and then go through some heavier content that really gets to the nitty gritty of what the characters are going through, we learn that there is no real “origin story” like a background. It starts right with the here and now. I really like that about the structure of this show. It is a fresher approach than the: “here are the characters and their personalities, and, oh, here is the big bad trouble in their lives”.
By the end of the episode—and by "end" I mean the very last few minutes—all is revealed and my jaw drops. They don’t just share a birthday. The mother pregnant with triplets isn’t just another character and a fourth of the plot line. They are all interconnected in a surprising and wonderful way. I was truly taken aback because it wasn’t what I expected at all.
I’m sure for those of you who took the plunge to try the show out like I did, figured out what was happening. Maybe it caused your outlook for the show to be clouded. I enjoyed the show and the nice little uplifting life lesson type messages that were sprinkled throughout. It was good enough to get me to come back for episode two, and I’m still not disappointed. All I want to know is what events have happened and why.
So, if my busy schedule permits, I’ll be following what happens to these characters’ lives.
If you’re looking for a new show to watch and you want an entertaining and loving story, I recommend This Is Us.
