this is us
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To the ‘Unapologetically Black’ Beth Pearson of This Is Us, With Love
Editor’s note: Season 1 spoilers throughout! This Is Us has wrecked me. I hopped aboard the hype train later than most, but when I did … I bought a season (or series?) pass immediately. There’s an uncanny moment in life when you’re introduced to something that you never knew you needed until you experience it.…
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Watch: Sterling ‘Bae’ Brown Explains That Viral Thirst Trap Emmy-and-Abs Pic
I thought it couldn’t get any better than Sterling K. Brown winning an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama for This Is Us. But it did! The head makeup artist on This Is Us, Zoe Hay, and head hairstylist Michael Reitz decided to gift the world with a snapshot of Brown proudly holding…
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A Prayer for My Emotions as This Is Us Embarks on Its 2nd Season
Let us bow our heads in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, so luminescent and full of zinc and other elements available only in theory via the periodic table of elements, I come to you in supplication, oh Lord. Tonight, Father God, the second season of This Is Us begins on your network, NBC, as all network…
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Watch: Atlanta’s Brian Tyree Henry’s Emmy Mixtape
The first black actor Brian Tyree Henry saw on television was Jasmine Guy, in A Different World. Henry was absolutely enamored. Decades later, the idea that Henry might be the first black actor some children are seeing on television means the world to him. “Representation is really key, because I don’t think I’d be anywhere near…
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Meet the Detroit Mentor Who Inspired That Emotional Father-Son Scene in This Is Us
Like a lot of young men today, Jason Wilson, CEO of the Cave of Adullam Transformational Training Academy in Detroit, grew up without his father around. Struggling with his emotions and resentment toward his mother, Wilson turned to the martial arts. Today he’s turned his childhood struggles and his passion for martial arts into an…
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I Binged Watched ‘This Is Us’ And My Feelings Are In Shambles. I May Never Recover. ZOMG!
(There are very, very light spoilers in this piece. None of them tell you much of about the plot of the show.) On February 23, 2017, I wrote the following status update on Facebook: Well, I guess I need to watch “This Is Us.” I’ve not intentionally avoided it but have yet to see a…
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Black-Led TV Shows Have Always Had Crossover Appeal; So Why the Side-Piece Treatment?
Earlier this month, Nielsen unveiled a study examining the broader appeal of black-led and/or -focused content—particularly in television. It begins with acknowledgment that black people play a pivotal role in shaping various sectors of popular culture in the U.S. In its findings, “73 percent of non-Hispanic whites and 67 percent of Hispanics believe that African…
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This Is Us Makes Me Cry, and That’s Just Fine
I’m not much of a crier. But for the last couple of months, I can count on crying, or at least getting misty-eyed, every Tuesday night thanks to NBC’s This Is Us. And during this week’s episode, and through all of the spoilers on social media, even after watching it On Demand, I sobbed like…
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Alan Thicke, TV Dad on ’80s Sitcom Growing Pains, Dead at 69
Alan Thicke, best known for his role as the lovable Dr. Jason Seaver on the ’80s sitcom Growing Pains, died Tuesday at the age of 69. Thicke’s death was confirmed with the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday by a publicist for his son, pop-soul singer Robin Thicke. Robin spoke with the Times on Tuesday evening…