Bernadette Giacomazzo
Welcome to the Fuzzmas Advent Awards, a series running every day throughout December celebrating all our favorite things from 2018. Today we’re talking about our TV show of the year.
The way we watch television has changed, tremendously, in the digital age. Gone are the days of “test patterns,” where a network would “sign off” for the night and not go back on until the next morning.
Now, if you’ve missed the first run of television shows, there are countless streaming services (including Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime), syndication channels, and even torrent sites where you can see everything in its original glory.
One might say, then, that there is a glut of television shows that one can watch today.
So how do you know which one stands out above all the rest?
Despite the fact that there’s no shortage of television for the bored and otherwise home-bound folks to watch, there is one show that stands out from all the rest.
Every once in a while, a television show comes along and becomes a cultural touchstone. In the 1950s, that show was I Love Lucy. In the 1960s, that show was Gunsmoke. In the 1970s, the various police procedurals dominated the airwaves, and Adam-12, The Mod Squad, and the original Hawaii Five-O. As the 1980s came upon us, shows like the original Murphy Brown and L.A. Law held those titles, and in the 1990s, the original Law and Order would make its debut (and its various incarnations, including SVU, are still around today).
And then, there’s This is Us.
Created by Dan Fogelman — a director, writer, and producer best known for his work on such films as Cars 2 and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl — This is Us, which airs every Tuesday on NBC, focuses on the Pearson family in different time frames. With its commitment to diversity (including hiring black directors and black writers) and a gentle, sensitive approach to things like infertility, adoption, blended families, racial tensions, and death, This is Us is a respite from the constant stream of negativity that pollutes our airwaves today.
Do you like This is Us? Tweet us at @Fuzzable and let us know — and don’t forget to tune in tomorrow for another edition of the Fuzzmas Advent Awards!
