# This Is Us (2016)

> Three siblings born on the same day and their parents navigate love, loss, and identity across past and present decades.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/59097

## Facts

- Seasons: 6
- Episodes: 105
- Episode runtime: 43 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama
- Created by: Dan Fogelman
- Network: NBC
- Cast: Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown, Chrissy Metz, Justin Hartley, Susan Kelechi Watson, Chris Sullivan, Jon Huertas
- TMDB rating: 8.7/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5555260/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: none
- Tone: sincere, tearjerker, warm, bittersweet, heartfelt

## What critics say

Audiences broadly acclaim This Is Us for its emotionally resonant family storytelling, strong ensemble performances, and its skillful interweaving of past and present timelines.

## Synopsis

This Is Us (2016-2022) is an American network family drama created by Dan Fogelman for NBC. Milo Ventimiglia plays Jack Pearson and Mandy Moore plays Rebecca Pearson, a couple whose three children, including Sterling K. Brown as Randall and Chrissy Metz as Kate, share a birthday and grow into adults whose paths keep crossing. The engine of the series is the slow reveal of how the family's history shapes each sibling's present choices, with love, loss, adoption, and addiction surfacing across a six-season run of 105 episodes. Each episode alternates between the present day and earlier decades, so the past keeps reframing what viewers think they know about the characters. Justin Hartley, Susan Kelechi Watson, and Chris Sullivan round out the ensemble. The tone is sincere and tender, moving between tears and warm humor, with a grounded, lived-in feel across an ordinary American life. Fans of Parenthood and The Wonder Years will find resonance in its generational sentiment, and viewers who loved the puzzle structure of Lost will appreciate its layered timelines. The show is a heartfelt, emotionally generous portrait of family bonds that asks to be watched with a box of tissues nearby.

## Shows like This Is Us

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- [My Life with the Walter Boys (2023)](https://ember.film/tv/124002)
- [Lost (2004)](https://ember.film/tv/4385)
- [It's Not Like That (2026)](https://ember.film/tv/1105043)
- [The Wonder Years (1988)](https://ember.film/tv/4280)
- [Life in Pieces (2015)](https://ember.film/tv/56289)
- [Brothers and Sisters (2006)](https://ember.film/tv/316)
- [Switched at Birth (2011)](https://ember.film/tv/34609)
- [Modern Family (2009)](https://ember.film/tv/1337)

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