美国国家公共电台 NPR 'This Is Us' Creator Dan Fogelman Says He Didn't Mean To Make You Cry

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

You might want to get your tissues. The season finale of "This Is Us" airs tonight. The freshman¹ show has been a surprise hit for its network, NBC, and consistently inspired tears. The show's creator, Dan Fogelman, is getting praise for revolutionizing family dramas on TV. NPR TV Critic Eric Deggans spoke² with Fogelman.

ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE³: It's the one thing Dan Fogelman says he really doesn't understand about the success of "This Is Us" - why it makes people cry so much.

DAN FOGELMAN: If you'd have said, hey, Dan, your - a year ago - your show's going to be this big success; what do you think everybody's going be talking about? In a million years, I wouldn't have thought of how much they're crying watching the television show. It was not the intent nor something I expected.

DEGGANS: In fact, the show's reputation for bringing tears was so strong, cast members recorded a jokey public service announcement for Entertainment Weekly about it.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JUSTIN HARTLEY: Your Kleenex budget has doubled, honestly, hasn't it?

STERLING⁴ K BROWN: Your boss keeps offering you personal days.

MANDY MOORE: The owner of your local wine shop knows you by name.

DEGGANS: The best example comes in the show's pilot when experienced obstetrician Dr. Nathan Katowski has to explain to young father Jack⁵ Pearson that one of the triplet babies his wife Rebecca was delivering has died. The young father gets a bit of down-to-earth advice through an emotional monologue⁶ delivered by Dr. K., played by Gerald McRaney.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THIS IS US")

GERALD MCRANEY: (As Dr. Nathan Katowski) I like to think that maybe one day you'll be an old man like me talking a younger man's ear off, explaining to him how you took the sourest lemon that life has to offer and turned it into something resembling lemonade.

FOGELMAN: Probably the only time I've ever gotten choked up on a set of, like, one of my own things.

DEGGANS: Fogelman said that performance even affected⁷ staffers watching the scene on video monitors off camera during filming.

FOGELMAN: It was so beautiful. And like, as beautiful as it is in the show, when you were just standing⁸ at the video monitor watching this guy in this simple shot and, like, the tears were falling out of my eyes - I mean people were weeping in the video village area. And I was like, wow, this is going to be really special.

DEGGANS: "This Is Us" has struck a nerve with viewers. Recent episodes have drawn⁹ more than 15 million viewers each. That's a level of success network TV hasn't seen in a rookie series since Fox's "Empire" debuted¹⁰ in 2015. And it's a complicated show. The pilot episode introduced us to three 36-year-olds and a young couple about to have triplets.

It wasn't until the episode's end that viewers learned a twist. That young couple, Jack and Rebecca Pearson, are the parents of the three other characters. Scenes showing the Pearsons as young parents were actually flashbacks. One of the kids was a black child adopted into this white family when the Pearson's third triplet died.

KEVIN FALLS: What he brings to the show - he brings that Fogeldust (ph) that separates the show from other television shows on right now.

DEGGANS: That's Kevin Falls, showrunner of the other series Fogelman helped bring to network TV this fall, Fox's "Pitch." Falls says the twists and emotional monologues¹¹ that Fogelman sprinkles through both series, the Fogeldust, helps keep audiences connected to the characters.

FALLS: The emotional gut¹² punches that T-Bone an audience member in the best possible way. It's about hiding the strings¹³. It's not letting you know you're being manipulated.

RON CEPHAS JONES: Dan writes beautiful monologues. Like, it feels like a play.

DEGGANS: Ron Cephas Jones, a New York theater veteran, plays William Hill, the biological father to the adopted son Randall Pearson. Three weeks ago, the show aired an emotional episode where William died of cancer. And a Fogeldust moment came when William told his biological son who'd taken him in and cared for him in his final days how he felt about his life.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THIS IS US")

JONES: (As William) I haven't had a happy life - bad breaks, bad choices, a life of almosts and could haves. Some would call it sad, but I don't because the two best things in my life were the person in the very beginning and the person at the very end.

DEGGANS: Scenes like this, Jones says, are why viewers connect to the show.

JONES: The root of everything in that show is about love. I think that's what people right now are longing¹⁴ for. They want to see the richness of love.

DEGGANS: Fogelman shrugs¹⁵ off compliments for the show's writing. He credits cast members like Jones for the show's success.

FOGELMAN: I didn't know if the show would be successful on a metric-rating's level, but I knew that the cast was going to kill, like, before we shot a frame.

DEGGANS: Before "This Is Us," Fogelman was best known as an inventive writer of films like "Crazy, Stupid, Love" and the musical TV series "Galavant." Now he's created a hit show, which NBC's already renewed for two more seasons, built around the drama of watching good people with the best of intentions occasionally make the worst decisions. Here's hoping Fogelman's good decisions help teach the networks how to make TV dramas even better in the seasons to come. I'm Eric Deggans.

(SOUNDBITE OF LORD HURON SONG, "I WILL BE BACK ONE DAY")

1 freshman   

n.大学一年级学生(可兼指男女)

参考例句：

• Jack decided to live in during his freshman year at college.杰克决定大一时住校。
• He is a freshman in the show business.他在演艺界是一名新手。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 sterling   

adj.英币的(纯粹的，货真价实的)；n.英国货币(英镑)

参考例句：

• Could you tell me the current rate for sterling, please?能否请您告诉我现行英国货币的兑换率？
• Sterling has recently been strong,which will help to abate inflationary pressures.英国货币最近非常坚挺，这有助于减轻通胀压力。

5 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

6 monologue   

n.长篇大论，（戏剧等中的）独白

参考例句：

• The comedian gave a long monologue of jokes.喜剧演员讲了一长段由笑话组成的独白。
• He went into a long monologue.他一个人滔滔不绝地讲话。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

8 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

9 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

10 debuted   

初次表演，初次登台（debut的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• In late 2003 a full-size SUV, the Pathfinder Armada, debuted. 2003年末，全尺寸SUV的探路者无敌舰队，推出。
• The album debuted at number two and quickly went platinum. 专辑一亮相就荣登排行榜第二名，很快就取得了白金销量。

11 monologues   

n.（戏剧）长篇独白( monologue的名词复数 )；滔滔不绝的讲话；独角戏

参考例句：

• That film combines real testimonials with monologues read by actors. 电影中既有真人讲的真事，也有演员的独白。 来自互联网
• Her monologues may help her make sense of her day. 她的独白可以帮助她让她一天的感觉。 来自互联网

12 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

13 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

14 longing   

n.（for）渴望

参考例句：

• Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
• His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。

15 shrugs   

n.耸肩（以表示冷淡，怀疑等）( shrug的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany shrugs off this criticism. 匈牙利总理久尔恰尼对这个批评不以为然。 来自互联网
• She shrugs expressively and takes a sip of her latte. 她表达地耸肩而且拿她的拿铁的啜饮。 来自互联网