This is Us : New NBC drama starring Mandy Moore etc.

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by kwadguy, Oct 6, 2016.

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  1. SizzleVonSizzleton

    SizzleVonSizzleton The Last Yeti

    Again, not my theory. :)

    "Last week" to us was from Thanksgiving to Christmas to them. Full disclosure though, I've never taken acid. And I don't 'get' the Grateful Dead so I'm already way out of my element here.:cool:
     
  2. audiomixer

    audiomixer As Bald As The Beatles

    :thumbsdow
    Best show of the fall season.
     
  3. bluenote

    bluenote Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    I didn't think so at all. I think the point was to show that there is still much that Randall (and the viewing audience) doesn't know about William. We know he was a drug addict, gave up Randall, and was a struggling musician. That's basically it. Now , we know that he's gay, and apparantly, was kind of a jerk to his partner. They were kind of building William up to be this wise old man, doling out wisdom to everyone, but now there's yet another part of life that we're going to learn about.

    I enjoyed the finale myself. Really enjoying this show. As a father of 2 young kids myself, watching this show always makes me think what my kids will remember in their childhood. Little things that I don't think twice about, may have lasting, nice memories for them.
     
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  4. SizzleVonSizzleton

    SizzleVonSizzleton The Last Yeti

    Fair enough. I just find that it's getting too close to a slapstick sense of 'what ELSE' can happen to this family. I did like the modern sensibility of nobody being bothered that the guy is gay. But it just seems like adding things for no real reason. I like his character but how many main characters do we really need?

    I really loved this show from the beginning, but I do have a 'glass is half empty' sense of wondering if they have an endgame in mind. What they're doing well they're doing extremely well but I don't see it lasting for ten seasons. I'd rather know that the writers have a two or three year arc in mind. At some point it feels to me like 'here comes the New Years episode', 'here comes the Valentine's day episode', 'here comes the Easter episode'. After you've done those once you're just left with diminishing returns.

    Maybe I'll always feel burned by how Lost stumbled to the finish line. I'd just hate to see this show limp on and on. And yep, I'm a glass is half empty kinda fella. :)
     
  5. tonyc

    tonyc Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    May I be allowed to respond to the credibility of the theory mentioned?

    My favorite line of the whole episode was the daughter saying so matter of factly "Grandpa is gay, or at least bi".

    Also, I don't think we know yet if the parents are totally supportive of that fact.

    I agree. I said basically the same thing last page. I'm worried the writers are surprised how popular this show is and will now try to prolong everything knowing they will be on for at least two full seasons. It can old quick.
     
  6. SizzleVonSizzleton

    SizzleVonSizzleton The Last Yeti

    My bad. I knew you knew that it wasn't my theory, just being overly sure of that fact. :)
     
  7. tonyc

    tonyc Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    A reminder that it returns on Tuesday.
     
  8. DLD

    DLD Senior Member

    Location:
    Dallas, Tx
    A drama Mrs. Nasty and I are both fans of (not a common thing). Totally enjoyed all of the front 10 episodes with 1 exception, the Thanksgiving episode. The story of their almost doomed, but saved by dad, decades ago Thanksgiving, was sweet. No problem with that scene. However, the fact that those kids, now grown up, are still excitedly reliving some of those precious moments (wearing the hat is a BIG f'n thing!!) strain believability. Maybe we're too jaded but we weren't buying what they were selling part of that episode. All in all tho, a fine and welcomed effort from, gasp, one of the major networks :tiphat:
     
  9. SizzleVonSizzleton

    SizzleVonSizzleton The Last Yeti

    Spoiler Alert. Pretty vague ones but I don't want anyone yelling at me.

    I thought that episode was pretty flat. The last ten minutes were by far the best part, the brief moment with William and Randall and then the ending with Rebecca and Jack.

    In the short scene with the three siblings waiting in the hospital I was really taken by how little chemistry there seemed to be between them. I had felt that the show would go to another level when the three adult children were together onscreen but now I'm not so sure.

    I vastly prefer the Rebecca and Jack storyline from the past. I honestly wouldn't have cared if Toby had died. Toby is fine but Kate is the least compelling character to me and Toby is obviously tied to her. I'm disinterested in watching a character arc that is totally based around weight loss.

    Basically this shows seems hinged on Rebecca and Jack and specifically what happens to Jack. I hope the writers have a plan for that and a reasonable schedule to get to it. I can't see this show going on and on for too many years. What is does well it does very well but I don't think it can sustain a five year run without a massive quality drop.
     
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  10. tonyc

    tonyc Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Agree with almost all of that.

    I was watching Rebecca and Jack and the buying of the house and thinking if this was the first of many filler storylines to come. I wonder if that even gets mentioned if the show was in danger of being canceled after one season?
     
  11. Torontotom

    Torontotom Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    The Christmas episode was excellent so the return episode was a bit of a disappointment since I was really excited for it to return.

    William and Randall scenes are always must-see TV.

    I don't care for Toby so I won't go into detail about how I feel about that storyline.

    I think Mandy Moore and Milo Ventimiglia are doing such an outstanding job that even if their story is a bit weak, they bring enough nuances and interest.

    I wonder if Elizabeth Perkins will make more appearances. Hopefully they flesh out her character a bit more.
     
  12. AKA

    AKA Senior Member

    This week's episode was kind of a dud. It was great to learn more about Gerald McRaney's character, but I really didn't give two ****s about the firefighter.
     
  13. tonyc

    tonyc Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    It is called filler.

    And expect a lot more filler.

    NBC just renewed the show for two more seasons.
     
  14. bluenote

    bluenote Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    I think you're missing the point of the show. It's not filler, it's life stories and how people who may not know it, are all intertwined. Little things that happen, that effect someone else and changes their life.

    For instance, as AKA mentioned, he didn't care about the story of the firefighter. That's fine, but the point of showing his story was to show that William dropping off the baby at the firehall not only changed Rebecca and Jack's life, but it also changed the firefighter's life. (by saving his marriage). And, William would have no clue about this. No one would. Jack and Rebecca would not know and William would not know. You just think the firefighter simply took the baby to the hospital and that's it, but there was much more to it then that. That event changed his life. I think that's fascinating! How many things have we done in our life has affected someone else without us even knowing.

    This is the point of the show. All this "filler" is creating a larger story.
     
  15. SizzleVonSizzleton

    SizzleVonSizzleton The Last Yeti

    I think this show has a terrible problem on its hands. I thought this weeks episode was pretty good, better than the last few certainly. And I don't think it's a coincidence that it didn't feature any of the 'big three' as adults. Jack and Rebecca are far and away the most interesting part of this show but even then, how much more do we need to know.

    A few posts above, Torontotom mentioned wanting to see the Elizabeth Perkins character (Rebecca's Mom) fleshed out more. I strongly disagree. The 'big three' as adults are already barely interesting, I don't care to see a back story about Rebecca's Mom and how or why she's so controlling. Do we need to know the hows and whys of Jack's Dad being such a horrible guy? It's Darth Vader, he walked onto the ship in 1977 and he's a bad guy, Obi Wan says two or three sentences about him, that's enough. We don't need three prequel movies to flesh him out.

    Does anyone really want to watch several years of Kevin putting on a play and deciding between two women? The only thing interesting about Kate is her weight, and the real hook of that is watching an actual person lose a tremendous amount of weight as we've been teased with. Randall is a bit more interesting (as is his wife) but again when is it enough already, especially if William dies on the show. As I said, these adult characters are already running out of gas.

    What happened to Jack? I really believe this is the only ace this show has to play. But they can't play it until the end. I feel like if they revealed tonight that Jack died in 'x' fashion, this show would be hard pressed to survive to get to a second season. Which leads me to believe that we are a long way off from finding out what happened to him.

    Tonight's firefighter story wasn't interesting. First of all they go through all this trouble to suggest he's really fallen in love with the idea of adopting the child, then in the final scene he talks to Jack in the maternity ward and just casually says "I didn't know what to do so I brought him here" and then just walks away. If it was more realistically done he'd have taken a long look through that glass before walking away. Came off like trying to fit two pieces together that weren't consistent. Also, it seemed really off to me that he comes into his house with an infant and the wife doesn't come over and look at the baby, touch the baby. One time my wife and I went to pick up our cat knowing she'd been put under. I was walking ahead and when we turned the corner my wife literally pushed me out of the way to get to her cat. A child? She'd have taken a baby away from me in an instant and attended to it no matter how well I seemed to be doing.

    I did enjoy the Gerald McRaney story but it's a 'one and done' situation.

    I think if they did this as a one year story, we could find out at the end what happened to Jack and it could be a fantastic year of television. Being renewed for two more seasons makes me feel like it's going to be dragged out and robbed of its magic.
     
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  16. bluenote

    bluenote Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    I could be wrong, but it sounds like you just don't enjoy the show at all?
     
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  17. tonyc

    tonyc Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    That is a rotten response. Just as bad as your lecture to me about not understanding the point of the show. Sizzle and I were one of the first people in the thread to express excitement about the show. Not speaking for him but the points he made are completely valid.

    I don't plan to watch for 2 1/2 more years to see how Jack died. That is the only hook remaining left. The constant jumps back and forth in time are starting to get annoying. This will never happen but it would be fun if when the series ever does end if they made a DVD showing it all in chronological order like the Godfather Saga.

    The Gerard McRaney story was interesting but did anyone notice how old he looked in this episode and then when they suddenly jumped to him in the pilot he looked different? It is a complete indication that they are making all this up on the fly and not with some sort of master plan like the creator indicates. I can already see an episode where the nurse he said goodnight to is given a filler episode so we can learn about her day.

    The firefighter storyline was terrible. Who cares about that totally underdeveloped wife character and his and whether or not they reconnect? As Sizzle said that was also made up on the fly because it totally disconnected with what the firefighter told Jack in the hospital.

    The adult storylines are somewhat thin for the most part. Unlike Sizzle, I actually like the Kevin storyline best because that is a character who has the most potential for growth and twists as he turns his career around. Randall needs mushrooms to figure anything out about himself. And Kate is only about the weight.

    This would have been a perfect one season show pre written with a clearly defined beginning, middle and end. This is showing every sign of being terrible by the end of Season 3. And that may not even be it.
     
  18. bluenote

    bluenote Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    Oh man TonyC, I really didn't mean that at all. Re-reading my response, it does seem condescending, but I sincerely did not mean for that to come across like that.

    Sizzle, as well to you, it just sounded like you don't really like the show, I was not meaning to sound rude or anything like.

    Both of you, my sincere apologies.
     
    tonyc likes this.
  19. SizzleVonSizzleton

    SizzleVonSizzleton The Last Yeti

    It's a fair question because I don't think we can realistically expect each other (ALL of us) to read and re-read entire threads to see what a persons stance is on something. I had to re-read this thread to be sure of what I'd said previously. Also we have to take in to account how much can be lost with the written word. No apology necessary.

    I loved this show from the start. Basically all the characters to one degree or another but always first for me was Jack and Rebecca. I loved the use of music and that's easy for me because I'm a sucker for music montages that end episodes. I did think this weeks' ending montage was tainted by the inclusion of the firefighter. It was filler, which I could live with, but it seemed inconsistent upon first viewing. As I stated earlier, if they're going to have the firefighter be so moved by the abandoned child as to want to adopt him then the ending rang completely false when he just spoke to Jack in the maternity ward and casually walked away. I don't know if that was the scene from the original episode or whether it was re-filmed. But given the day he had there's zero chance he would have just seemed so casual and then walked away. If you're going to try to break my heart with his story, film a scene where he walks away from Jack and stops, looking back at the maternity ward and looks hurt by the situation.

    I also think it was a mistake to have mentioned that the firefighter and his wife couldn't conceive. That makes it all the more odd that the wife had no visceral reaction to an abandoned infant right there in her living room. And given that, I think it would have been better served to show the firefighter driving around at night alone afterwards, and possibly having the wife sitting home alone. There's a divide in that marriage that if anything seems like it would have been widened by the day they just had. And it would have been a better counterpoint to the story being told.

    TonyC likes the Kevin character. I just don't see the actor as being that good. Or maybe more accurately I think he's good at one thing. I remember one of the earliest episodes where he was going to explain his painting to Randall's children and when the scene started I thought 'here we go we're going to see this guys acting chops' and it was a real nothing moment. Very deflating because at that point I was all in on every character. The character is not unique in this, but he's only really interesting within the 'big three' and the family dynamic. I don't care about his play, his tough decision on whether to date hot girl or hot girl. Does anyone really want to watch three (minimum) seasons of that?

    Randall, as much as I like him, do I really want to watch him raise his daughters for five seasons? Will they throw in a job loss and a questioning of manhood?

    The more I think about Kate the more I think they did the character a major disservice by introducing her as Kevin's assistant. She's immediately tied to the hip of her twin, to the point of being employed by him without any life of her own. It's pretty easy to assume she came to California to help Kevin. Which furthers the sense that she's fat, that's it. We're in for multiple seasons of hand wringing and (hopefully for the actress because she looks egregiously unhealthy) weight loss. So if the actress loses a ton of weight as she's apparently contractually obligated to do, then her portion of the show becomes about body image issues from making a change.

    And having talked about the 'big three' I have to say again that I was taken aback in episode 11 where they were waiting in the hospital for news about Toby because there was very little chemistry between the three actors. It was a real 'uh oh' moment for me because I thought their appearance together would elevate the show.

    Back to what I said about Jack, does anyone honestly believe that if the circumstances of Jack's death were revealed this week that this show would remain watchable for multiple seasons? I'll give you William dying will be good tv, but extended seasons of the 'big three' as adults or the paths they took to today?

    TonyC made a good (and I would guess hyperbolic) comment about having an episode for the night nurse Gerald McRaney spoke to. How much filler and padding is too much? What I see as the inconsistency of the firefighter leaving the hospital after talking to Jack in the maternity ward is a perfect example that they're winging it. And fair enough to some degree, I don't expect any show to be fleshed out from beginning to end from day one because that's totally unrealistic. But that just shows me a sloppiness that's alarming for how soon it's appearing. This is 12 episodes into what now seems certain to have a minimum of 50 episodes. I'm concerned because I really don't think I'm nitpicking, I think these are legitimate problems that could erode this great concept very quickly.
     
  20. jpelg

    jpelg Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Elm City
    This weeks ep opened up the "width" of the storylines, rather than delving into the "depth" of the details of what we've already explored. I didn't have a problem with that, as it was still well-done (if not a stellar ep, which they all cannot realistically be).

    For now, the show continues to have heart & be well done. When that stops, so will my watching. Until then, I'm in...
     
  21. tonyc

    tonyc Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    I think everyone here likes the show so much that is why there is worry about where it is going. Hopefully, the creator really does have it all figured out.
    :cheers:
     
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  22. bluenote

    bluenote Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    Did everyone see last nights episode? Something that seems really odd though about Jack's death: They show clips of his funeral and it looks pretty obvious that the kids are teenagers when he died. However, in an earlier episode, Kate tells Toby that she watched the superbowl with her dad when the Steelers won in 2006, which would make her 26 years old.
     
  23. SizzleVonSizzleton

    SizzleVonSizzleton The Last Yeti

    Just watched it. In the final scene at the funeral it looked like the actors were adult Kate but not adult Randall or Kevin. Did I see that right?

    I remember Kate telling Toby about watching football with her Dad but not the specifics.
     
  24. mmars982

    mmars982 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    I think it was inentionally left unclear if she watched that Superbowl with her dad when he was alive or if she watched it with him in is urn.
     
  25. Torontotom

    Torontotom Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    I want Kevin with Sloan but now the show has thrown in another wrench with Sophie, played by the actress who played Jessie on The Walking Dead.

    I am intrigued with Kate and Cabin 13 guy. I wonder if she will be tempted to cheat?
     
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