Ellen DeGeneres noted that much of the success surrounding NBC’s family drama This Is Us is connected to the show’s ability to make viewers cry. Following the show’s success, DeGeneres pitched an idea for a new series for the network, she joked on Wednesday’s episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, in which castmembers are crying not necessarily because they’re sad.
“Now all the new shows are trying to make people cry, but I had an idea for a show that goes way further than these shows are willing to go,” DeGeneres said before releasing a fake promo for her new series.
The promo opened with DeGeneres wearing a long brunette wig as she chops onions in a kitchen. This Is Us star Justin Hartley entered the kitchen and addressed DeGeneres, who was in tears.
“I don’t know how to tell you this,” he began. “I can take it,” she responded.
“I got the test results back,” he said. “Everything’s fine. We don’t need a new muffler.” DeGeneres, who was still crying, responded, “That’s nice.”
A narrator introduced the concept of the new show called This Is Onions, “where everyone is chopping onions.”
Following the title card, Hartley is seen chopping onions alongside DeGeneres. “I need to tell you about your real father,” DeGeneres said through tears. “So you’re saying that the father I believed was my father my entire life is not actually my real father?” he asked.
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“No, no. It’s him. I don’t know why I used that phrase. I should’ve said your father,” she corrected herself. After clarifying that his father is in fact his biological father, DeGeneres continued, “I saw him at the grocery store today when I was buying the onions.”
As the two actors continued to heavily cry, the narrator said, “The most crying on TV. The most onions on TV.”
The next scene in the promo showed older versions of DeGeneres and Hartley’s characters. “I have some terrible news,” said Hartley. “It’s terrible. You know that old slow cooker that we got from our neighbors? Well, you know, you left it on all day. OK, it kept getting hotter and hotter and the kids… well, the kids were home alone.”
“What happened?” DeGeneres screamed. “You forgot to put the onions in it. It tastes like garbage,” he replied.
The scene is a reference to the This Is Us character Jack Pearson’s (Milo Ventimiglia) death, who had a heart attack after the family’s home was set on fire by a slow cooker.
“Your real father is going to hate that,” DeGeneres said in response to the news. “Why do I keep saying that?”
The narrator then said that the show has been referred to by critics as “even dumber than you think.”
Watch the full promo below.
