Fantastic news for all those with excellent taste in TV dramas: This Is Us has officially been renewed for a second and third season. Variety reports that NBC announced the news at the Television Critics’ Association winter press tour presentation on Wednesday. Each season will consist of 18 episodes, as opposed to the Golden Globe-nominated series' 14-episode first run. That means we'll be getting 36 more hours (minus commercials) of cross-generational story lines within the Pearson family. It's not surprising that the show has been renewed, but it is unusual for a third season to be green lit so far in advance. According to Variety, This Is Us is the top new network series of the season. Fans have fallen in love with the characters on the show, as well as the talented actors that play them — Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown, Justin Hartley, Chrissy Metz, and Chris Sullivan among them. The lure of This Is Us' characteristic touching scenes and heartrending moments has kept people loyally tuning in since the September premiere. Variety reports that 9.5 million of us watch new episodes the day they premiere; five million more catch up on the episode within one week. In other words, renewing the hit show was the obvious choice. BRB, heading to Costco to pick up a bulk supply of tissues to carry us through the next two tear-jerking seasons.