The dramatic series tells about a group of people who are residents of a unique residential building in Brooklyn. These people find that the more their lives become intertwined, the more interdependent and the more powerful they become by building a family of friends and neighbors. Perhaps it is strange, especially with the different age, race, culture and lifestyle among all these people living in one place.
The Village feels like it's trying too hard -- as if the show was developed specifically to try replicating the warm fuzzies that its lead-in, "This is Us," regularly delivers.
The writers of "Village" make the mistake of confusing emotion with quality. It's not enough just to feel; you have to do something with those feelings, too.
The series is so artificially dolorous that it wouldn't surprise me to learn that The Village is actually an alien space vessel powered exclusively by the rending of hearts and jerking of tears.
This Is Us is a notably well-acted and tonally consistent series. "The Village," by contrast, veers all over the map and does not boast actors capable of selling all of the lines they're given.
