When it was originally on: 2025-present

Original network: Hulu

Where you can stream it now: Hulu or Disney+

Had I seen it before: Nope

What IMDb says: A Secret Service agent investigates the murder of a former president in a seemingly peaceful community.

Why I picked it: Look, it’s hard to keep up with TV these days. So much so that I went to look up the Emmy nominees and see a show I’d literally never heard of. Not one ad, not one person in my life saying they watched it. Am I the problem? Are the editors of Wikipedia pranking me? Well… needless to say that show was Paradise and I’m fascinated by how a show can be an Emmy nomination for Best Drama Series and yet make so little splash outside the Emmy punditry bundle.

I also learned this is a show by Dan Fogelman, who’s largely known for This Is Us as far as TV as well as some movies, like Crazy, Stupid, Love. As little as I knew about this show, it was just enough to know Paradise seemed miles outside of his usual sentimental family stuff, which piqued my curiosity further. I didn’t want to learn too much though, because it’s also fun to go into a pilot knowing literally nothing and usually a show has enough of a reputation proceeding it that I don’t get to experience that.

What I liked: I think this a pretty good execution of the “in media res” writing strategy. For the uninitiated, that’s the idea that you throw the audience into the story when a lot of the story has already happened. I love how it starts with the emotional and physical consequences of what has happened with no explanation for what did happen. We see scars from a bullet wound. We see Xavier stare at the vacant spot in his bed when he wakes up. We see him leaving a message to “Get brushed! Dress your teeth!” I was instantly intrigued and the pilot maintained that all the way through. We see how his daughter has stepped up to make breakfast for the family.

Indeed perhaps the greatest strength here is balancing character exposition with plot exposition. There’s a lot of plot points introduced but I still feel like I have a great understanding of who Xavier is as well as the now-deceased Former President Cal. Admittedly, there are other characters introduced and not really developed but I don’t think that’s much of a problem since the relationship between Xavier and Cal is seemingly what’s going to drive this whole thing.

As different as this show is on paper from This Is Us, I actually think that show helped Fogelman develop a sharp ability to tell a present day story and a flashback story at the same time while still focusing on a character’s internal feelings, and that serves him well here. Oh, and having Sterling K. Brown again certainly doesn’t hurt with that.

What I didn’t like: This isn’t so much of a “didn’t like” but more of a general reservation I have. This felt more like a pilot for a limited series. I’m not entirely sure where else we’d go once the main mystery is solved, and I’m not sure how long Fogelman can drag out that mystery before it gets annoying.

Do I want to watch Ep. 2?: Yup! There’s a lot of unexplained stuff, and I’m invested enough in the characters to see how it all turns out.