The writer and producer Dan Fogelman has a CV that spans genres, from a script credit on Pixar’s 2006 movie “Cars” to creating the musical fantasy series “Galavant.” But Fogelman is best known for “This Is Us,” the NBC hit that spent six seasons applying a twisty structure to a sentimental family drama. This unorthodox formula won a large and loyal audience, but to this critic, it was always a mismatch — hiding pertinent information in the name of cheap surprise.
With his latest series, the Hulu thriller “ Paradise ,” Fogelman pivots to a register where OMG-inducing water cooler moments feel much more at home. “Paradise” still retains elements of the “This Is Us” ethos, beginning with star Sterling K. Brown.
After breaking out as adult adoptee Randall Pearson, Brown now plays Xavier Collins, a Secret Service agent plunged into a world of secrets and conspiracy after the murder of President Cal Bradford (James Marsden). It’s a deserved star turn for Brown, a recent Oscar nominee (for “American Fiction”) who gets to pair his signature warmth with full-on action heroism. (Yes, he has several shirtless scenes.
) Reflecting Brown’s behind-the-scenes role as an executive producer, Collins feels custom-fit; his feelings about race, for instance, are addressed in nuanced yet candid ways. But Bradford doesn’t die in the White House, or even in Washington, D.C.
He and Collins both reside in the town of Paradise, a mysterious, utopian community of 25.
