HBO Liked This Is Us So Much, They Made Their Own Version But With Magic

HBO is bringing its own family drama, a la This Is Us, to the small screen, but with a much darker and possibly magical twist.

Meditating on the "disparate forces polarizing present-day American culture," Here and Now tells the story of two families in Portland, OR. One family, a philosophy professor and her husband, their adopted children from Vietnam, Liberia and Colombia and their sole biological child, and a contemporary Muslim family of a psychiatrist who is treating one of their children.

It is clear that tensions run deep in the family, each seems to have issues they are dealing with. Things take a turn (and get tenser) when one of the adopted siblings, Roman (Daniel Zovatto), begins seeing things that others can't. "Something is trying to communicate with me," he says. Well, we don't know if others can't just yet, but it seems to be that way to start. What will this new-found power mean in the larger story? Can anyone else in the family see the same things?

The melancholy and magic-influenced show might be better positioned as the bizarro This Is Us, existing in a world similar but, in reality, very different. While both center around the intricacies of family, specifically with parents and adult children, this might be the only true overlap. It is described by the network as a "dark comedy," so there will undoubtedly be some laughs amongst the supernatural and sorrow.

The show brings together an award-winning collection of cast and crew. It stars Golden Globe winner Tim Robbins and Oscar, Emmy, and Golden Globe winner Holly Hunter. It is written by Alan Ball, who wrote HBO hits Six Feet Under and True Blood. Another actress you might recognize is Sosie Bacon, who plays Kristen Black, the biological child of Robbins and Hunter's characters. She plays Skye Miller in 13 Reasons Why, and also happens to be the daughter of Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick.

Here and Now premieres on HBO on February 11.