Erin Konrad's love for everything entertainment dates back to elementary school when she became obsessed with classic Hollywood musicals. When she's not catching up on all her favorite television shows, she's advising her friends and family on what they should binge watch next.
She has her Bachelor's degree in Journalism and a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. Creating content for Collider gives her the opportunity to combine her writing skills with her passion for television and movies. She spends her free time trying to beat her personal record of reading 137 books in a year and cuddling with her dog, Gracie.
Every so often, a television series comes around that captures America's hearts. These shows typically feature a family that makes us feel like we'd love to be part of the gang. Whether it's a lovable sitcom family like The Brady Bunch or Modern Family,or a more dysfunctional bunch like All in the Family or The Simpsons,these families help to represent our own shared commonalities up on the screen. When This Is Us premiered on NBC in 2016, we quickly found a new family to be obsessed with. With the series available to stream for free on Tubi, you can either catch this heartwarming drama for the first time or do a re-watch of this fantasticsix-season comfort show.
What Is 'This Is Us' About?
At the start of This Is Us, we're introduced to five main characters. There's Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia) and his wife, Rebecca (Mandy Moore), a happily married couple who are expecting triplets. Randall (Sterling K. Brown) is raising two daughters while struggling with bouts of anxiety. Kate (Chrissy Metz) is kickstarting a wellness journey in an effort to lose weight. And Kevin (Justin Hartley) is a famous actor who is working towards being taken more seriously. At first, it's unclear how these people are all connected to one another. But then, in a major twist in the first episode, we discover that Jack and Rebecca's storyline is not taking place in the same timeline as the other three adults like we assumed. In fact, Jack and Rebecca are actually the parents of Randall, Kate, and Kevin.
COLLIDER
Collider · Quiz
Collider Exclusive · Universe Personality QuizWhich Iconic Universe Do You Belong in the Most?Star Wars · Lord of the Rings · Harry Potter · Game of Thrones · Star Trek
Five legendary universes. Five completely different visions of what the world could be — or already was. One of them is the world your instincts, your values, and your particular way of existing were built for. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🚀Star Wars
💍Lord of the Rings
🧙Harry Potter
👑Game of Thrones
🖖Star Trek
QUESTION 1 / 8PURPOSE
01
What gives your life its deepest sense of meaning?Every universe is built around a different answer to this question.
QUESTION 2 / 8WORLD
02
Which kind of world do you most want to inhabit?The environment shapes who you become. Choose carefully.
QUESTION 3 / 8CONFLICT
03
How do you prefer your conflicts resolved?The shape of a world's conflicts tells you everything about its soul.
QUESTION 4 / 8COMPANIONS
04
Who do you want beside you when things get difficult?Your ideal companions reveal the world you were made for.
QUESTION 5 / 8POWER
05
What is your relationship with power?How you seek, wield, or resist power is the map of who you are.
QUESTION 6 / 8MORALITY
06
How does your universe treat good and evil?A world's moral architecture tells you more about it than any map.
QUESTION 7 / 8ROLE
07
What role would you naturally fall into?Every universe has archetypes. Which one fits you without trying?
QUESTION 8 / 8HOPE
08
What do you ultimately believe about the future?The answer to this is the clearest window into which universe already lives inside you.
Your Universe Has Been ChosenYou Belong In…
Your answers point to the iconic universe your values, your instincts, and your particular way of seeing the world were built for. This is where you would find your people — and your purpose.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
You believe in the cause — in the idea that freedom is worth fighting for even when the odds are impossible and the empire is vast.
You are drawn to the moral clarity of a universe where hope itself is a form of resistance.
You'd find your people in the Rebellion — a ragtag coalition of true believers held together by conviction more than resources.
Star Wars is fundamentally a story about ordinary people choosing to matter in an extraordinary conflict — and that is exactly your kind of story.
The Force may or may not be with you. But the will to use it for something larger than yourself certainly is.
Middle-earth
Lord of the Rings
You understand, in the deepest part of yourself, that the journey matters as much as the destination — and that the world's beauty is worth protecting even at great cost.
Middle-earth is a world of ancient wonder, deep friendship, and a darkness that only retreats when enough small acts of courage accumulate.
You would thrive here because you value the fellowship more than the glory — the road more than the arrival.
Tolkien's universe rewards patience, loyalty, and the willingness to carry something heavy across a very long distance.
Those are not burdens to you. They are simply how you move through the world.
The Wizarding World
Harry Potter
You believe that love, loyalty, and doing what's right are not naive sentiments — they are the most powerful forces in any world, magical or otherwise.
The Wizarding World is a place of wonder hidden in plain sight, where learning is transformative and the bonds you form at school follow you into every battle.
You would flourish here because you take both the magic and the friendships seriously — and you understand that one without the other is incomplete.
Harry Potter's universe ultimately rewards those who choose to stand for something even when standing is terrifying.
That choice — made quietly, without guarantee — is something you understand completely.
Westeros · The Known World
Game of Thrones
You see the world clearly — its power structures, its hypocrisies, its brutal arithmetic — and you are not paralysed by that clarity. You use it.
Westeros is a world that rewards intelligence, adaptability, and the willingness to understand that every alliance is also a negotiation.
You would survive here — possibly thrive here — because you don't confuse the world as it is with the world as you'd like it to be.
Game of Thrones is a story about what happens when the idealists and the realists collide. You are sharp enough to know which one lasts longer.
Winter always comes. You are already prepared.
The United Federation of Planets
Star Trek
You believe the future is worth building — that curiosity, cooperation, and the expansion of understanding are not just ideals but the most practical path forward for any civilisation.
Star Trek is a universe where the questions matter as much as the answers, and where encountering something utterly alien is cause for wonder rather than fear.
You would belong here because you are fundamentally optimistic about what intelligence and decency can achieve — while being honest about how hard that achievement is.
The Federation is the universe's most ambitious thought experiment: what if we actually got better?
You don't just hope that's possible. You think it's the only thing worth working toward.
When we see their storyline, it's actually occurring in the 1980s (a fact that's cleverly concealed with non-specific clothing and settings). This shocker allows This Is Us to move forward with a unique non-linear storytelling method for the entire series. The plots in each episode are told by shifting back and forth from the past to the present, allowing us to see the Pearson family in every stage of their lives. With flashbacks ranging from when Jack and Rebecca were kids to Rebecca as an elderly woman, the series is able to traverse through a family's entire existence in a truly captivating way. Whether the show is depicting a disaster of a Thanksgiving with Jack and Rebecca and their children, or offering the simple narrative of how one vehicle can be crucial to a family's history, This Is Us fills each episode with rich character development and twists and turns that will keep your eyes glued to the screen.
'This Is Us' Utilizes Unique Storytelling Angles by Jumping Through Time
What makes This Is Us so special in its storytelling is that the viewer learns certain things about the family, like how Jack is missing from the present day timeline, but it takes its time unfolding each layer of the narrative for you to learn the details behind how these important events play out. You might not know exactly what will occur in these characters' lives yet, but it's an exciting, heartfelt journey to watch it eventually be uncovered. Each character's experiences become fully fleshed out, even secondary characters like Randall's wife, Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson), or Kate's partner, Toby (Chris Sullivan), who also serve as instrumental aspects of the Pearsons' lives. Even when the family experiences conflicts with each other, which they often do, there's such a clear throughline of love that spreads throughout the series, and that ensures you can never be mad at any character for long.
The series expertly combines heart-wrenching drama and moments of humor with extremely lovable characters that you can't help but find yourself rooting for. There are many examples of relatable occurrences, including poor decisions and trauma responses that affect their life paths, but that only adds to the realism of the series. With explorations of grief, addiction, and loss, the show is a true representation of the universal themes we all experience. This Is Us also portrays one of the most heartbreaking storylines we've witnessed on television in recent years, when Randall meets his biological father, William (Ron Cephas Jones). Jones, in a two-time Emmy-winning performance, cracks the show wide open in a complex depiction of a father-son relationship.
'This Is Us' Offers Many Impressive Performances
It's not just the excellent writing on This Is Us that makes it worthy of a binge-watch. The Pearsons' story also comes alive because of the incredible performances by the cast. Ventimiglia and Moore are able to successfully pull off one of the sweetest and most loving marriages portrayed on television, manifesting true couple goals for the rest of us. Metz and Hartley also portray Kate and Kevin with an honesty that makes their individual journeys — as well as their sibling relationship — ultimately very believable. However, when it comes to the main cast, Brown is definitely the standout as Randall. He grounds his performance in vulnerability and a sly humor that makes Randall one of the best characters in the series. It's no surprise that he took home an Emmy in 2017 (and netted four other nominations). The series is definitely an ensemble piece, but Brown proves he can be a leading man thanks to his role in This Is Us.
This Is Us is also able to thrive in large part because of its guest actors, particularly Jones. Gerald McRaney also landed an Emmy for his role as the wise, folksy doctor who delivers Rebecca's babies. Several other outstanding actors earned Emmy nominations for their work, including Denis O'Hare, Brian Tyree Henry, and Phylicia Rashad. This Is Us also stands apart from the rest by casting child actors who master subtlety and vulnerability. Every actor in the series works together to create an authenticity that makes This Is Us sing.
Throughout its run, This Is Us earned an impressive 39 Emmy nominations and four wins before ending in 2022. Even if the series can get a tiny bit schmaltzy at times, it is this sentimentality that reminds us of the importance of family and love in all of our lives. Critics and audiences alike have made this show an important part of television history, which means it's now the perfect time to binge all six seasons for free.
This Is Us is available to stream on Tubi in the U.S.
This Is Us is a family drama that centers around the Pearson family, namely patriarch Jack (Ventimiglia), matriarch Rebecca (Moore), and their three children: Kevin (Hartley), Kate (Metz), and Randall (Brown).