In the super-popular, critically acclaimed, and award-winning NBC series This is Us Randall aka “Number 3” of the triplets is named after a poet.
We learned this namesake in Season 1, Episode 3: “Kyle” when we see William give Rebecca a copy of Poem Counterpoem by Dudley Randall. William says that Kyle/Randall’s birth mother read this poetry to him while in the womb. Rebecca then takes William’s suggestion to “give him his own name” and changes Number 3’s name from Kyle to Randall. “Maybe you’ll see fit to give it to him someday,” William says, and in fact later we see this book on Randall’s shelf.
Update: In the second to last episode of the series, William reappears and recites Randall’s poem Luzon again. I loved this!
I don’t watch a lot of TV because I am usually reading, so a show has to REALLY be worth my time. Obviously, this show is. In fact, “This is Us” may be my favorite show ever…
And when I see a “literary cameo” in a show, I like to dig a little deeper to pay tribute to it – both the cameo and the show – and learn more myself.
So I decided to investigate Dudley Randall, Poem Counterpoem, and the lines of his poetry quoted in Episode 7 “Best Washing Machine in the World” when Beth (Randall’s wife) and William (Randall’s birth father) gaze up at the stars after eating pot brownies (did I mention I love this show??).
RELATED POST: HBO’S THE NIGHT OF – WHEN TV & LITERATURE COLLIDE
What I found out about this “literary cameo” surprised me!
Continue reading
