{"id":6314,"date":"2017-03-20T22:07:58","date_gmt":"2017-03-21T04:07:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=6314"},"modified":"2017-03-21T08:45:12","modified_gmt":"2017-03-21T14:45:12","slug":"are-you-watching-this-is-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/03\/are-you-watching-this-is-us.html","title":{"rendered":"Are you watching “This is Us”?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Spoiler alerts, for those who care about these sorts of things.<\/em><\/p>\n

I have to admit \u2014 I\u2019ve been watching this show while exercising on the exercise bike in the basement in the mornings. \u00a0And I know that there are a lot of people \u2014 on my facebook news feed, for instance \u2014 who love, love this show.<\/p>\n

But, while it\u2019s a fine enough show, I just can\u2019t get emotionally invested in it, because the people and the situations don\u2019t feel true-to-life enough.<\/p>\n

Toby woos Kate for no reason that I can tell, because it takes her ages to reciprocate any of the affection he shows for her. He seems not to be encumbered by a job, as does she, though perhaps Kevin shared some of his\u00a0earnings from The Manny<\/em>\u00a0with her.<\/p>\n

William too perfectly fits into the role of wise grandfather, and turns out to have shed his addiction just a few short years after he started, but has been getting high since then with the go-ahead from some expert. \u00a0Oh, and that episode where he teaches one of the girls how to play chess, then shortly afterwards she\u00a0wins a chess tournament? (Or was the \u201cteaching\u201d supposed to be that William was not just a poet and musician but was teaching her advanced chess strategies, too?)<\/p>\n

Even the whole mechanics of Rebecca finding William \u2014 he just happens<\/em> to figure out that the firefighter took the baby to the hospital, and just happens<\/em> to linger outside the entrance, and she just happens<\/em> to see him there, and the bus driver just happens<\/em> to know where he lives?<\/p>\n

And Rebecca seemingly waits until the kids are \u2014 what, 15? \u2014 to try to build a life other than raising the kids. \u00a0And before she and Jack married, exactly how did she pay the rent on her apartment if she didn\u2019t have a job?<\/p>\n

And Kevin\u2019s ex-wife just happens to be living in the city that he has moved to for other reasons, and reunites with him. And Kevin, who up to this point has been introduced to us as a character who womanizes and loves nice things but that\u2019s about it, out of no where, when asked by the girls what happens when you die, pulls out a painting<\/em>\u00a0that he painted\u00a0in order to reflect on his script (which he says he does before every such acting job, even though we\u2019ve been told that he was a nobody before he got his big break in The Manny<\/em>), and shares wise thoughts with them?<\/p>\n

And the distances? \u00a0The childhood home is in Pittsburgh, where Rebecca and Miguel seemingly still live, but that\u2019s an easy drive from New York City? \u00a0And William takes a bus back and forth between the two cities every day? \u00a0Perhaps I\u2019ve gotten the locations confused but I don\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n

Besides which, I don\u2019t quite understand how NBC renewed this not just for one, but two more seasons. \u00a0How long will they wait until the Big Reveal of how Jack died? \u00a0And it seems like so much of the storytelling so far has been centered on making \u201cso that\u2019s why\u201d connections between past and present (present-day Thanksgiving traditions and the first Thanksgiving they spent as a nuclear family), which they\u2019ll run out of eventually; they\u2019ll also run out of the Big Surprise plot twists (surprise! \u00a0William is bisexual and has a lover he left behind) to toss in there.<\/p>\n

And the monologues! \u00a0At least one of the advantages of watching this on-demand is that I can fast-forward when I get bored.<\/p>\n

There were some genuinely touching movements, I\u2019ll admit, but also too many times when I\u2019ve thought, \u201cno way is this realistic.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, by the way, the entire purpose of this little rant was to reward myself for biting my tongue when yet another facebook friend posted something about the show.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spoiler alerts, for those who care about these sorts of things. I have to admit \u2014 I\u2019ve been watching this show while exercising on the exercise bike in the basement in the mornings. \u00a0And I know that there are a lot of people \u2014 on my facebook news feed, for instance \u2014 who love, love […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[593,592],"class_list":["post-6314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-television","tag-this-is-us"],"yoast_head":"\nAre you watching "This is Us"?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Spoiler alerts, for those who care about these sorts of things. 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