The Overly Tidy Conservatism of This Is Us

When NBC began promoting the Kleenex lobby psyop known as This Is Us ahead of its premiere six years ago, it was hard to decide what seemed flatter: the show’s name, the vague sentiment of life’s universality as encompassed by “this is life” and “this is support” title cards bandied around in the season one trailer, or the introductory conflicts portrayed via a Black man confronting his absent father, an overweight woman staring beadily at a cake, an attractive couple attempting glowy pregnancy sex, and a shirtless actor worrying about turning 36. It looked like a bland show about bland… Read Full Article