I'm one of the many "This Is Us" fans grieving for Rebecca Pearson, who headed to TV Mom heaven in Tuesday's episode.
After six years telling the Pearson family saga with flashbacks and surprise plot shifts, "This Is Us" will end next week.
Showing that network TV is capable of high-quality shows, creator Dan Fogelman's "This Is Us" offered novelistic writing, memorable archetypal characters and virtuoso acting.
I've been involved in many cable and network shows over the years, but only "30 Something" rivaled "This Is Us" in expressing a generation's desires, ambitions and anxieties.
"This Is Us" defined the Miillennials as "30 Something" did the Baby Boomers suddenly finding themselves adults in the early 1980s.
That succession was reflected in "30 Something" star Ken Olin directing the final episodes of "This Is Us" and making a cameo appearance in Tuesday's show.
Mandy Moore deserves an Emmy for her portrayal of Rebecca Pearson, ranging from a winsome, doe-eyed young bride and mother to an elderly woman ravaged by Alzheimer's. As Sterling K. Brown's Randall Pearson says standing besides Rebecca's deathbed, everyone had a crush on her.
Wonderful to see the return of Ron Cephas Jones and Gerald McRaney greeting Rebecca on her wonderfully imagined last train ride.
Milo Ventimiglia as the all-time TV dad Jack Pearson also elevated the show, along with Chrissy Metz, Justin Hartley, Chris Sullivan, Susan Kelechi Watson, Jon Huertas, Griffin Dunne, Alexandra Breckenridge and an endearing troupe of child actors.
Among so many stories, it's hard to identify a dominant theme, but to me the growth of Hartley's Kevin Pearson from a self-absorbed sex symbol into a compassionate, caring and mature father and husband was central. At the end, Kevin has become an admirable man like Jack Pearson.
I'll always have a special fondness for "This Is Us" because I first discovered the show battling acute insomnia from Afib, which later turned into heart failure and a long hospital stay.
Binge-watching the first season of "This Is Us" was the only thing that let me sit still and stop pacing through the long night. The inter-generational narrative surprises were something new.
I'm much better now, as I say farewell to another favorite TV show that marked an era of my life.
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