Some Fast Thoughts On Season 1 Of The Good Place

NBC comedy The Good Place, starring Kristen Bell and Ted Danson in the two lead roles, danced across our TV screens for thirteen episodes over the Fall through January 19th (last week).  The show focuses on Eleanor Shellstrop (Bell), going to a place that's "not quite Heaven" named The Good Place, led by immortal architect Michael (Danson).  Almost immediately from the get go, Eleanor realizes that she doesn't belong here and that she must have been dropped in there by mistake, as her still crabby attitude from life on Earth leaves quite the sour taste in the neighborhood, causing a trash storm, giant shrimp to fly across the sky, and even a giant sinkhole to open up in the restaurant.  Holding a strong desire to be able to remain in The Good Place and not be taken to The Bad Place, the show's version of Hell, Eleanor enlists the help of her soulmate Chidi (William Jackson Harper) to teach her about ethics, or as how she defines it "how to be good."

What ensues is hilarity, but I'm not going to spoil anything for you as I want you to enjoy the show for what it is.  That being said though, the show does have it's ups and downs, just like the other shows I've reviewed on here (Fuller House and A Series Of Unfortunate Events), and I'd like to take a look at some of the things good and bad that I caught and/or stick out to me as a viewer from this show's freshman season.

The Good

• A Continous Plot: One thing that impresses me about the show, especially since it's a half hour comedy series, is how it takes all thirteen episodes and weaves them together into a storyline that has cliffhangers at the end of every episode and never has a dull moment.  The season plows right through an entertaining six and a half hours of television with each episode acting as a chapter, with a new development in almost every episode.
• The Diversity Of Residents: The Good Place is home to people of the Caucasian race, as well as African-American, British, Asian/Pacific Islander, and several others.  It's great to see them all blending together so very well across the vast landscape that is The Good Place.
• Set Design Looks Magnificent: The set designers for the show have done a marvelous job, bringing in elaborate mansion setups for Tahani's house as well as an elaborately decorated small home for Eleanor and Chidi.  The town itself is also set up neatly, right down to the gathering area in the middle of town.  It's all so beautiful!
• Janet: Played by D'Arcy Carden, Janet is the Siri of The Good Place.  Appearing with a freakishly big smile and the word "Hello!" whenever someone utters her name she always has something to say.  For a machine she sure does show a lot of emotion, and while some of her gimmicks (like her on the spot appearances) grow tiring after a few episodes, they're always refreshed with something else in later episodes.
• Michael: Ted Danson has made another great character in Michael, the leader of The Good Place.  From the voice to the actions and emotions, Danson truly nails his role. Michael as a character is great too, as he does not understand some of the simplest pop culture trends, loves frozen yogurt, and can see through several different dimensions, causing him to always have to clean up a mess that Eleanor and we as viewers cannot see.  As the series progresses Michael slowly turns from carefree leader to worried one as he desperately starts trying to patch up the damage Eleanor has left behind and help prevent her from going to The Bad Place.  Michael is easily my favorite character with Janet taking a close second, and it's all thanks to Ted Danson.
• The Psychology & Ethics Aspects: The show wins for featuring aspects of both psychology and ethics.  From simple catchphrases like the one on the wall in the waiting room of Michael's office ("Welcome! Everything is fine!") to Chidi teaching Eleanor, and subsequently Jason how to "be good" (ethics), is amazing.  It's something you almost never see in a sitcom anymore because everyone's so busy focusing on family stories (The Middle, Modern Family) or something very crude (South Park, Family Guy, Mike Tyson Mysteries).  This show manages to dodge those plot lines though and create something that reminds me of Go On, a show that sadly only ran for one season and featured Matthew Perry going to therapy after his wife dies and the subsequent hectic adventures that followed.  Four years down the road and I'm still hoping to find it online someday somewhere, but for now I have this show to take it's place.
• The Music: An A+ to David Schwartz for composing a wonderful theme song and backing music for the rest of the scenes.  Everything I hear really is music to my ears. 

The Bad

• Characterization Of The People From The Bad Place: I'd like to be able to think that not everyone down in The Bad Place is a hippie stoner type of person who likes to smoke drink and party.  But with the way the show portrays them I'm not left with much else to think about. Adam Scott as Trevor, the leader of The Bad Place is exempt from this one though, he's really cool.
• The Way Religion Is Handled: I once read via Wikipedia (so of course this might not be true) that show creator Michael Schur wanted to feature all different types of religions walking around this version of Heaven that he had created, but he later scrapped it due to the amount of research it was requiring him to do.  That being said, the show does go against several of my beliefs and values concerning Heaven and Hell, but I'm not going into detail because of freedom of speech (on the show's behalf), and spoilers.
• Flashbacks: I always cringe watching the flashbacks, because they're always about something terrible happening from the core casts' time on Earth (or in Michael's case the architect's headquarters).  Some people might enjoy them, but to me they're my least favorite part of the episode.

The Good Place was a really good watch, and I am part of the crowd hoping it's renewed for a second season, so I'm hoping it doesn't go the route of Go On from all those years ago and get the axe in May.  We only have a few more months to find out.  While I don't mind superhero comedies and such,  I'm secretly hoping Powerless, the show that replaces The Good Place in the Thursday at 830/730c timeslot on Thursday, will tank and give the show a shot to make this second season happen.  We shall see.

The Best Quotes From Michael Of Season 1

• (Through his inter dimensional sight): Oh look, Elmo!  So cute and furry... wait, they're overusing him.... my my what a shame.
• (Interrogating Eleanor and later Jason on the bad things they've done in life): Have you ever paid to have music publicly played or preformed by California funk rock band The Red Hot Chili Peppers?
• (After Janet has rebooted in Ep. 7 and isn't back to full strength yet): Janet I swear if this is another photo of a cactus.....

The Best Episodes Of Season 1

Everything Is Fine! (Ep. 1)

Flying (Ep. 2)

Category 55 Doomsday Crisis (Ep. 5)

The Eternal Shriek (Ep. 7)

Most Improved Player (Ep. 8)

Someone Like Me As A Member (Ep. 9)

What's My Motivation? (Ep. 11)

The Mediocre Episodes Of Season 1

Tahani Al-Jamil (Ep. 3)

Jason Mendoza (Ep. 4)

What We Owe To Each Other (Ep. 6)

Michael's Gambit (Ep. 13)

The Worst Episodes Of Season 1

Chidi's Choice (Ep. 10)

Mindy St. Claire (Ep. 12)