A week of "Blue Skies": "Star Trek: Picard," "This Is Us"
The song "Blue Skies" has a long history , longer in fact than I realized. I think the first version of the song that I know was Benny Goodman' s, and the song predates that vintage gem, For that matter, I did not know that "Blue Skies" has an extensive connection to "Star Trek: The Next Generation ," which explains its appearance in the season finale of "Star Trek: Picard." What was strikingly resonant about its inclusion was that the season finale of "This Is Us" also involved the song, lovingly, in a monologue by Dr. K (the great Gerald McRaney), the doctor who delivered Kate and Kevin and brought Randall to the family. The monologue was pretty good, although the show conceded that it was not as good as a previous Dr. K chat, and much the same could be said of "This Is Us" overall this season. Yes, there were astounding moments, including the nothing's-sacred verbal brawl between Kevin and Randall in the final...