More often than not, the shows we find ourselves consumed are so far-fetched from the mundane realities of our everyday lives that they can be hard to relate to. For many people, this is what fuels the obsession even more. So maybe you don’t know what it’s like to work fixing the corruption of power hungry people working their way up the political ladder (‘Scandal’) and maybe you’ve never been a bisexual ex-con in an unethical women’s prison (‘Orange is the New Black’), but there you are engulfed in the show as if you are right their next to them. As great as it is to escape into these made up worlds, it’s equally as great to find those hidden gems of shows where you can actually relate to the characters, dialogue and plot. NBC’s new ‘This Is Us’ incorporates a variety of different aspects of life into a refreshingly authentic plot that viewers are sure to connect with on some level.
In the series premiere of the show, the first thing that appears on the screen is a message that reads as followed: “This is a fact: According to Wikipedia, the average human being shares his or her birthday with over 18 million other human beings. There is no evidence that sharing the same birthday creates any type of behavioral link between those people. If there is… Wikipedia hasn’t discovered it for us yet.” This clever introduction presents the title, as well as the idea that at least some part of the show will have to do with a shared birthday. As the credits roll and well-known performers like Mandy Moore and Milo Ventimigila are displayed, signs of the 1970s fill the room leading us to believe that a portion of the show is in this time period. Moore, an expecting mother, and Ventimigila are the first characters introduced as two excited and very much in love future parents.
Next, we meet the three main characters. With the credits still rolling, we are introduced to a beautiful, but extremely overweight woman, who will later be known to us as Kate, who has a clear struggle with weight which we see as she grudgingly looks at the sticky notes covering the food in the fridge and hesitantly checks her weight on the scale. After Kate’s entrance, the screen flashes to a gigantic business office with an incredible view of the New York City skyline with an African America working diligently at the desk, who we learn is named Randall. As Randall’s co-workers approach his office to sing Happy Birthday, the screen then flashes to the last major introduction of the episode. A shirtless, and very attractive, actor who we learn to be named Kevin, lounges in his bed complaining that it is his thirty sixth birthday while two women dance around him. Watching these characters all get introduced, it’s hard to put together how they might be related… So we keep watching.
As it turns out, Moore’s character went into labor with triplets on her thirty-sixth birthday, two of which being Kate and Kevin. Unfortunately, the third baby passed away in childbirth. While Ventimiglia stood watching his two babies in the nursery, it came to his attention that one of the babies next to his had been anonymously dropped at a local fire station that morning, with no sign of a returning parent. This seemed like destiny to the grieving couple and so they wound up taking the third baby home with them, along with the twins. By the end of the first episode, it is clear that these babies have grown to be the characters we will watch throughout the series, each with their own individual issues but all intertwined into one big family.
Although you could probably start at the second episode after that summary, I could never explain firsthand how real it feels to watch an episode of ‘This Is Us’. Between the flashbacks to their childhood and the obstacles each character faces in their present life, there is just so much to watch. When you see the family interact around the dinner table, you’re reminded of your own dinner table and the similar conversation you had with your family around it just a few nights ago. When the characters talk, it doesn’t feel like a forced or scripted dialogue that writers produced to get a reaction out of the viewers. Instead, when you watch it seems like genuine people having honest conversations with each other, which is what makes the show so amazing. If you’re looking for a pure show that you can relate with (but still obsess over crazily) then ‘This Is Us’ is the show for you.
Watch full episodes now on NBC.com/this-is-us to get caught up with the first ten episodes before the season restarts on January 10th!