'This Is Us' Guest Stars: Pgh.'s Eat'n Park, Smiley Cookies

PITTSBURGH, PA — NBC's hit TV show and Pittsburgh-based "This Is Us" had a special guest star in Tuesday's episode: the legendary Eat'n Park smiley cookie.

The locally-based restaurant chain and its famous cookie played a prominent role in the episode of the tearjerker series, which is in its final season.

Tuesday's installment focused on Randall, who in one scene begins building with imitation sugar packets. Rebecca recalls seeing him do that in childhood at Eat'n Park, where the two of them would go to get smiley cookies.

In a flashback scene, Randall tells Rebecca in a phone conversation to check his backpack. She opens a bag and sees the cookies as Randall said he stopped at Eat'n Park on his way home.

Rebecca then takes a bite of the cookie.

(The Entertainment Weekly episode synopsis mixed that up a bit, saying that Randall got the cookies from "a local park." But it's likely unfair to expect EW to pick up on every yinzer reference.)

Eat'n Park obviously was pleased by its guest appearance.

“We have always been huge fans of 'This Is Us,' and as a Pittsburgh-based company, we have loved watching the Pearsons 'grow up' on screen in our beloved hometown," Amanda Giacobbi, a spokesperson for the chain, said in a statement. "It seems nearly every Pittsburgher has a favorite Eat'n Park memory, so it's only appropriate that this would be the case for the Pearsons, as well.”

Will Primanti Bros. or Mineo's Pizza be a part of next week's episode? That question is one reason why Pittsburghers have considerable reason to tune in.

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