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The Red Line might be just the thing for This Is Us fans

By Bethany Lewis

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 30: (L-R) Noel Fisher, Emayatzy Corinealdi, Aliyah Royale, Noah Wyle, Caitlin Parrish, Erica Weiss, Sunil Nayar, and Sarah Schechter of the television show "The Red Line" speak during the CBS segment of the 2019 Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour at The Langham Huntington, Pasadena on January 30, 2019 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 30: (L-R) Noel Fisher, Emayatzy Corinealdi, Aliyah Royale, Noah Wyle, Caitlin Parrish, Erica Weiss, Sunil Nayar, and Sarah Schechter of the television show "The Red Line" speak during the CBS segment of the 2019 Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour at The Langham Huntington, Pasadena on January 30, 2019 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images) /
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If you like This Is Us, there’s a new show coming that just might be right up your alley, and it just might be more important.

The trailer for Ava DuVernay’s new CBS show The Red Line describes the plot as “three families, one tragedy that connects them all.” What really happens is that a young, black professional gets mistaken for the suspect in a robbery and is shot dead on sight. Sounds like a pretty familiar scenario. His family is thrown into turmoil, including his white husband and adopted black daughter. There is outrage and controversy as the officer responsible may or may not come up on criminal charges for the death. Meanwhile, the daughter’s birth mother is running for office and struggles with indecision when her daughter tries to reconnect with her. There’s obviously a lot going on here and a lot of very important and pressing social issues being examined. You can see how it’s in the same genre as This Is Us in that it will probably make you cry a lot and emotionally adopt many of the characters.

Refreshingly for CBS, the series features a lot of diversity in cast and character. In fact, that could be one of the main reasons CBS picked up the show after being criticized for a general lack of diversity. I may have sarcastically scoffed when I heard this, mostly because of how demonstratively true this criticism is. The series is being produced by A Wrinkle in Time director Ava Duvernay and Riverdale executive producer Greg Berlanti – already two names with fantastic track records for diversity. Duvernay is a proponent of black and female voices and related issues. Greg Berlanti has been involved in several shows airing on the CW (including those in the Arrowverse), which I personally recognize for the pure joy it takes in telling stories of diversity.

The Red Line stars Noah Wyle as Daniel, the victim’s husband, and Aliyah Royale as Jira, their adopted daughter. Noel Fisher plays the officer responsible for the shooting and Emayatzy Corinealdi as Tia, a politician and Jira’s biological mother. While there are no firm This Is Us connections so far, I still think it is something that fans would enjoy while learning a little about themselves in the process. So not so different from This Is Us, really.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 22: Ava Duvernay and Stacey Abrams speak onstage at the 3rd annual National Day of Racial Healing at Array on January 22, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 22: Ava Duvernay and Stacey Abrams speak onstage at the 3rd annual National Day of Racial Healing at Array on January 22, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images) /

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Source: Refinery29

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