Celebrity Extra
Q: I miss watching “This Is Us” and wish it would have had at least one more season. What other shows has the person who wrote it done? -- K.J.
A: ”This Is Us,” the heartwrenching drama series about the lives of siblings spanning across several decades, was created by Dan Fogelman, who first got his start in animated films. He’s credited with writing the screenplay for “Cars,” “Bolt” and “Tangled,” but it was the critically acclaimed film “Crazy, Stupid, Love,” starring two-time Oscar winner Emma Stone (“Poor Things”), that showed audiences he had a gift for dialogue.
Fogelman’s first series was the short-lived ABC comedy “The Neighbors,” starring Jami Gertz (“Still Standing”). He followed that with several other shows that were canceled after one season (“Galavant,” “Grandfathered” and “Pitch”). He struck gold in 2016 when “This Is Us” premiered on NBC, averaging 14 million viewers in its first season. Not since “ER” and “Grey’s Anatomy” did a network television show become the topic of discussion the next day at work.
Expectations are high for Fogelman’s next project, “Paradise City.” The upcoming series is described as a thriller and stars “This Is Us” alum Sterling K. Brown, James Marsden (“Jury Duty”) and Julianne Nicholson (“Mare of Easttown”). Hulu has picked up the series, which started production this past February.
Brown, who plays the head of security for a former president in the new series, notes that this character will be quite different than his “This Is Us” character, Randall.