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My Sons, Jack Pearson, and the Raising of Good Men
Peter and I were a little late in getting started as fans of NBC’s This Is Us, but like many viewers (most of America, it seems), it didn’t take us long to love the Pearsons. Peter is my youngest son, now 21, and the two of us started watching together five years ago, when the show was entering its second season, and my son was 16.
It’s an unlikely show for a teenage boy to latch on to, but the timing was just right. Not so long before, his father and I had separated. Peter and I were living in a new townhouse in Pittsburgh, a transition that we were cautiously enjoying. Before we’d moved, my son tempted me into watching Game of Thrones with him. I reluctantly agreed, thinking a fantastical story like that was out of my breadth. It was violent. It was a strange blend historical fiction and science fiction. Just not my thing. But because it was important to me that we share our lives, I watched. Then, I engaged. Then, I was hooked.
Watching This Is Us came about in rather the same way. As native Pittsburghers, it was impossible to avoid the deluge of information about the show’s setting. We’d overhear people talk about the Pearsons’ love of the Steelers, Rebecca and Jack on a date at Froggy’s, and more. And Peter is an actor, or, studying to be an actor, so he enjoys watching a character-driven piece. We were a year late to the “new”…
