"This Is Us" Won’t Shy Away from the Pandemic or BLM in Season 5

quotIt has been a lot but we have the crew to do itquot he continued quotWe39ve been doing this for five years now so we know what we39re doing We know how to do it The cast doesn39t need a tremendous amount of takes as they come ready to go So we were able to kind of squeak by and get it done the way we wanted to even though weamp8217re all wearing face shields for the first time in our lives and masks The actors are literally in plastic bubbles between sets I mean it39s a brave new world on set but we found our normalcy quickly We haven39t lost our rhythm and we39re very blessed in that we don39t lose people on our crew so it39s kind of the same group of people who are doing the same job We39re just doing it in PPE nowquot Justin Hartley is pictured belowThe only cast member not completely affected by the new COVID19 protocols was family patriarch Jack played by Milo Ventimiglia who as viewers know doesnamp8217t get to work with the majority of his TV family quotWhat changesquot he joked quotThereamp8217s a pandemic going on and you39re away from people I know nothing about it But even before the pandemic there were moments we were all checking in on one another and playing telephone I39m grateful to see them about as much as I did before Probably a lot less Itamp8217s a bit of a bummer but we39re all here we39re working and that39s the most important part I would pop in and watch I bring my cameras and I hang out but now I can39tquotquotI would like to echo thatquot added Sterling K Brown pictured at top quotMilo normally does a really good job of coming to visit folks on set for different scenes and what not but that39s not necessarily in the protocols this year because of youknowwhatquot Chrissy Metz is pictured belowAlthough This Is Us has remained largely apolitical except for Randall running for public office Fogelman said that the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement were topics the series had to incorporate even if timeconsuming quotI39ve been working on these episodes since late February because we were making the decision to have COVID as well as BLM woven into the showquot he explained quotWe don39t speak of Democrat or Republican or youknowwho on the show It39s more about American life Our show has a lot of different pockets and spans time so it felt almost irresponsible not to kind of take on the moment I think we39ve attacked it in a hopefully elegant way that speaks to what our show tries to do and be It was not a decision made lightlyquotOne of the interesting story devices we have is the Randall characterquot he added quotYou have a Black man raised in a white family It39s a very specific situation for our show and our main characters I think itamp8217s allowing us to explore this moment that we39re in in a way that39s very unique to our characters and show It feels organic to the characters39 storiesquotquotWhen we first got these episodes it was like they eavesdropped in on peopleamp8217s livesquot recalled Susan Kelechi Watsonamp160pictured above left with Brown who plays Randall39s wife Beth quotLike everybody in America they just kind of had an ear to the door because so much of it was things that I had lived or I know people had lived As Black as Randall and Beth are they39re not experts on how to metabolize all that tragedy So I think there39s a way that they deal with it with their kids that is honest They try to create a space where they39re in it togetherquotquotIt39s such a unique perspective for someone like Randall who39s always sort of questioning his identity but never waving from the fact that he knows that he is Blackquot added Brown quotThe way he was raised the conversations that happened in his house are not necessarily representative of the conversations that he wants to have with his children by virtue of what didn39t happen They werenamp8217t bad parents he loves his parents very much and they gave him everything that they knew how to but certain things were just difficult They say general conversations regarding race happen much more frequently in households of people of color than they do in mainstream white families because it39s just not something that39s necessarily in the forefront of the consciousness Randall has a really interesting sort of 39come to Jesus moment39 through these first two episodes that I think is fascinating I hope you guys dig it tooquotThis Is Us is telecast Tuesdays at 9 pm on NBCClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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"This Is Us" Won’t Shy Away from the Pandemic or BLM in Season 5

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