Entertainment This Week

May 21 - 27, 2022 3 For those who didn't believe "This Is Us" would end after six seasons, believe it now, for the time has come. Creator and executive producer Dan Fogelman always had the Pearson family's time-jumping saga planned for a predetermined period, which reaches its conclusion with the NBC drama's finale Tuesday, May 24. For the much-honored, widely acclaimed show that has been built on surprises, it's no shock that the contents of the final episode are being kept a mystery, though clues have been dropped to loyal viewers. "It's hard ending something you love," Fogelman allows. "I don't know that everybody feels right now it's the right place to end it, because I think if we could all snap our fingers and just magically have more of this, we probably would ... but this has very much been the plan. Sterling (K. Brown, an Emmy winner for playing the series' Randall) used to come into my office and be like, 'It's six seasons, right? Is that really what you're thinking or ... .' And I was like, 'No. We're doing six seasons. That's the road map.' " Co-star Milo Ventimiglia – whose Jack Pearson died during the show's run, though he has continued to be seen in flashbacks – maintains there isn't "a pressure so much as there's just an enjoyment" to drawing "This Is Us" to a close. "I know there's expectation, but beyond that, reading what we've already held in our hands, it's going to deliver. It's truly, truly going to deliver. Mandy Moore agrees. The actress- singer who has gone through an extensive age transformation in playing Jack's wife Rebecca says, "It's (been) such a gift to go to work every day and tell these stories and recite these words. I get to look in the eyes of these extraordinary people, J ustin (Hartley, alias Kevin Pearson) and Chrissy (Metz, who plays Kate) and Jon (Huertas, aka family friend Miguel) and Sterling. We're truly a family, so in that sense, there's such an ease to just being able to look at each of them and tell them the truth of what these words really are." Brown is certain that the strong connections forged among the stars of "This Is Us" will last for a long time. "I've still got your phone numbers," he tells his fellow actors during a press event. "Like, I can still call Mandy Moore, which gives me some credibility. But to not be able to see you every day, I'll miss you. I'll miss the story that we've had a chance to tell with one another. And I can't wait to do an 'E! True Hollywood Story' (looking back at the show). It's going to be awesome!" This is the end for 'This Is Us' Sterling K. Brown stars in the series finale of "This Is Us" Tuesday on NBC. BY JAY BOBBIN "The Doors" (EPIX, Sunday, May 22): Val Kilmer's uncanny resemblance to, and portrayal of, lead singer Jim Morrison is invaluable to director Oliver Stone's 1991 portrait of the seminal 1960s rock band legendary for doing things their own way ... as with an appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show," which is restaged here. BY JAY BOBBIN more retro rewinds Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman might seem to be an unusual teaming, and it's exactly their differences that make their partnership in "Papillon" work so effectively. Turner Classic Movies shows the 1973 drama Wednesday, May 25, as it details the true saga of inmate Henri Charriere (McQueen) ... who had escape on his mind from the moment he arrived on Devil's Island. While McQueen gets the more overt heroics under the direction of Franklin J. Schaffner ("Patton"), Hoffman also is excellent as bookish fellow prisoner Louis Dega. Another highlight of the picture is the typically excellent music by Jerry Goldsmith ... the main reason the film is being shown, since it's part of a TCM night of movies with Goldsmith scores. Steve McQueen thirsts for freedom in 'Papillon' Steve McQueen in "Papillon"

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