LOS ANGELES – Heart-tugging drama is usually not effective in a studio screening room, where the smell of executives' sweat is more likely to waft through the aisles than overly buttered popcorn. But as the lights went up following an advanced episode of "This Is Us" this month, a serious case of the sniffles had spread across the VIP audience, which included cast member Chrissy Metz.
"Forget crying. I was sobbing," said Metz, who plays a Steelers fanatic tackling weight issues, still dabbing away tears 20 minutes later at an after-party on the Universal Studios lot. The show's nearly 15 million viewers can relate. They've made the NBC drama the most watched new show of the season and the most unexpected rookie hit since "Lost" more than a decade ago.
The show, which traces a racially diverse family's sentimental journey over the course of four decades, is the beneficiary of an enviable time slot, a savvy marketing strategy and solid reviews. But it owes the bulk of its success to timing. With an increase in political uncertainty and rising racial tensions, America needed an escape hatch.
"I think people were hungry for this kind of entertainment," said actress Mandy Moore, who in one recent episode goes into an emotional tailspin when she forgets her husband's birthday and waddles her very pregnant body down to the liquor store to assemble the world's unhealthiest yet irresistible cupcake. "In this chaotic, unknown moment we find ourselves careening toward, I think people want cathartic entertainment that touches them."
"This Is Us" breaks many rules: Jumping back and forth in time, leaving major characters on the sidelines for entire episodes, making time for long, uninterrupted monologues that a short-attention-span audience isn't supposed to sit still for.
Its boldest departure? No villains. Even the father who re-emerges decades after abandoning his infant son on the fire station steps has mellowed into Mr. Rogers, albeit one with a secret gay relationship and a terminal disease.
"We've seen a lot of stuff lately about the evil people do to each other," said Gerald McRaney, who has appeared several times on the series as a doctor with impeccable bedside manners. "I think people are tired of feeling cynical about life. People want to be reminded of the goodness that's in us. It's time to bring that back, maybe."
But TV has never had much success with bawl-in-the-family drama. To find a show with the same emotional pull — and success — of "This Is Us," one has to go back to "Little House on the Prairie" and "The Waltons," both of which were off the air by 1982.
