This Is Us

This Is Us follows a sprawling family across several decades, alternating between present day and key moments in the past. At its center are the three Pearson siblings and the parents who shaped them, but the show also follows each character as an adult and as a child, revealing how events in one era ripple into another. The storytelling threads weave in and out, highlighting how love, ambition, and hardship bind a family, even as separate lives intersect in surprising ways. A shared birthday becomes a delicate symbol for fated connections and the idea that the people we become are built from sprinkled memories and choices. The tone blends warmth with heartbreak, inviting and honest.

Premiering on NBC in 2016, the series was created by Dan Fogelman. It is an original concept told through flashbacks and present day scenes, with a rotating group of directors guiding its timelines across seasons, supported by a steady ensemble.

This Is Us earned multiple Primetime Emmy nominations and wins for its cast, with Sterling K Brown taking home the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. The show also received nominations for acting, writing, and directing, and it won critical praise for its emotional resonance.

Its mix of past and present storytelling and its focus on family dynamics helped redefine mainstream network drama. The series sparked frequent watercooler conversations and shaped audience expectations for emotionally intimate, multi timeline storytelling, crafting iconic moments that fans still reference in discussions about modern TV today and beyond.

Critics praised its emotional honesty and strong ensemble while noting occasional sentimentality. The show centers on themes of family, memory, adoption, aging, and the ways trauma and love shape choices, offering a hopeful but bittersweet look at life, while probing the costs and rewards of care, loyalty, and letting go.