Stars on Screen
‘This Is’ it: It’s official — NBC’S toprated and top tear-inducing drama, “This Is Us,” will wrap after its sixth season airs in the 2021-22 season.
Understandably, the news has upset a lot of fans who aren’t ready to say goodbye to the Pearson family — all generations of it — in the new year, but creator Dan Fogelman always intended “This Is Us” to be a limited series; in fact, that’s how it was initially pitched to the network, though it’s been hinted that, at one point, executives were hoping to extend its run.
Fogelman has repeatedly asserted that there has always been a predetermined six-season story arc, so it should reassure fans (somewhat) to know there’s a solid plan to do right by these beloved characters.
Shortly after the network’s announcement, Fogelman responded on Twitter: “Whoever casually first said, ‘All good things must come to an end,’ never had to end their favorite thing. While sad to have just [one] season left, also grateful to NBC for letting us end the show how, and when, we always intended.we’ll work hard to stick the landing.”
Cast member (and family matriarch) Mandy Moore shared Fogelman’s message on Instagram, captioning it with “Officially official. One season left of my favorite job.you can bet we will be soaking in every single moment.”
Fellow cast member Susan Kelechi Watson, who stars as Beth Pearson, similarly retweeted Fogelman’s post and added “what a ride it’s been … what an incredible season to come.”
No word yet on how many episodes are left, though The Hollywood Reporter speculated that a count of 18 — the same number of episodes in every season except the last one — would carry it over the 100-episode mark and boost its chances at landing a very lucrative syndication deal. It’s a wrap-ish: If it feels like a lot of TV shows are in the news lately because they’re ending or bouncing around, this is the usual time for these kinds of announcements as networks have been busy unveiling their fall lineups and deciding which shows will make the cut — a “luxury” they didn’t have last year when animation was the only TV genre still in production.
Still, it doesn’t make it any easier to accept bad news, such as the fact that “Black-ish” will soon be ending. ABC recently renewed the award-winning comedy for an eighth season, but sadly, it will be its last.
Creator Kenya Barris, who is still involved despite signing with Netflix in 2018, announced the renewal/cancellation on social media. He went on to explain what the show has meant to him.
“In this day and age it is rare to get to decide when your show should come to an end, and we are grateful along with ABC to be able to make this final season exactly what we’d hoped for — and to do it with the entire and AMAZINGLY STELLAR cast coming back to close this chapter out with us the right way!” Barris continued, “This show has changed my life in so many ways and I am so proud of the conversations we’ve started along the way. None of this would have been possible without our audience and supporters, who have championed the show every step of the journey; allowing us to change not just the narrative of Black Families, but of Family, Culture, and the World in general.all the while allowing us to talk about things that people were not supposed to talk about period and especially on a network television comedy.”
The renewal offers fans a silver lining, at least, but spinoff series “Mixedish” didn’t fare as well: ABC opted to pull the plug on that series, which admittedly was not a strong performer in terms of ratings (it was actually one of the least-watched shows on ABC).
In an interview with Deadline, ABC and Hulu boss Craig Erwich indicated the network wasn’t moving forward with “Old-ish,” the planned spinoff built around Laurence Fishburne and Jenifer Lewis’s characters.