September 19, 2016 (2016-09-19) – January 30, 2020 (2020-01-30)
The Good Place is an Americanfantasy-comedy television series created byMichael Schur forNBC. The series premiered on September 19, 2016, and concluded on January 30, 2020, after four seasons consisting of53 episodes.
Although the plot evolves significantly over the course of the series, the initial premise of the series follows Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell), a dead woman who is placed in the "Good Place", aHeaven-esqueutopia designed and supervised byafterlife "architect" Michael (Ted Danson). However, Eleanor knows that she does not deserve it, and she attempts to avoid being found out and sent to thehell-like "Bad Place" by hiding hermorally imperfect past behavior while trying to become a moreethical person.William Jackson Harper,Jameela Jamil, andManny Jacinto co-star as other residents of the Good Place, withD'Arcy Carden as Janet, an advancedartificial being who assists the residents.
The series is centered on an afterlife in which humans are sent to "the Good Place" or "the Bad Place" after death. All deceased are assigned a numerical score based on the morality of their conduct in life, and only those with the very highest scores are sent to the Good Place, where they enjoy eternal happiness with their every wish granted, guided by anartificial intelligence named Janet; all others experience an eternity of torture in the Bad Place.
Inthe first season,amoral loner Eleanor and small-time crook Jason believe they have been sent to the Good Place incorrectly. Eleanor'ssoulmate, Chidi, amoral philosopher, attempts to teach them ethics so they can earn their place. Jason's soulmate, the wealthysocialite Tahani, attempts to help Michael, the kindly designer of their afterlife neighborhood, deal with the chaos apparently caused by Eleanor and Jason's presence. In atwist ending, Eleanor realizes that the four humans have actually been in the Bad Place all along, selected by Michael to torture each other emotionally and psychologically for eternity.
Inthe second season, Michael repeatedly erases the humans' memories to try to restart their psychological torture, but they figure out the truth each time. After many reboots, Michael grows to genuinely care for the four, and sees that, contrary to the accepted wisdom of those in charge of the afterlife, humans can improve their goodness after they die. Michael appeals their case to the Judge, who settles disputes in the afterlife; she rules that the humans may be returned to their lives on Earth, with no memory of the afterlife, to attempt to prove their "true" moral character.
Back on Earth inthe third season, the group is reunited by Michael's intervention. They participate in a research study led by Chidi and his colleague Simone, but Michael, continuing to meddle, blows his cover. Having learned about the afterlife again, they try to help others improve their moral behavior to get into the Good Place. Eventually, they discover that no one has been admitted to the Good Place in centuries. They convince the Judge to allow them to run an experiment to show that humans can improve their moral character when freed from the challenges of modern Earth life.
Inthe final season, the group begins their experiment in a new simulated Good Place neighborhood with three new human subjects plus Chidi. The Bad Place repeatedly tries to sabotage the experiment, but in the end, the humans show moral growth. A new afterlife system is created, in which deceased humans can confront their moral weaknesses and improve. Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, Jason, Michael, and Janet are admitted to the actual Good Place, where their final challenge is to find a way to make eternal happiness fulfilling, so that all humans can find peace and meaning in their existence.
Kristen Bell as Eleanor Shellstrop, a deceased American woman fromPhoenix, Arizona, who seemingly winds up in the Good Place due to being mistaken for an unrelatedhomonymous lawyer who exonerated innocent clients facingdeath sentences; in truth, this Eleanor was a selfish, rudepharmaceutical saleswoman who cared only about herself. In order to actually earn her spot, she recruits Chidi to teach her the fundamentals of becoming a better person, all while hiding her true identity from Michael and the other inhabitants.[9]
William Jackson Harper as Chidi Anagonye, a deceased French-speakingNigerian-Senegalese professor ofethics andmoral philosophy who taught at universities in France and Australia. Although he is kind, supportive and highly-qualified, his inability to make choices frequently leaves him overthinking, overanxious and indecisive, often resulting in poor decision-making. Assigned as Eleanor's soulmate in Michael's Good Place, he gives her ethics lessons in an attempt to make her a better person.[10]
Jameela Jamil as Tahani Al-Jamil, a deceased wealthyBritish Pakistani philanthropist and fashion model who forms an unlikely friendship with Eleanor, who initially dislikes Tahani's positive attitude, tendency toname-drop, and perceivedcondescension; Tahani hides deeply buried insecurities from the way her family treated her.[11]
D'Arcy Carden as Janet, a programmed guide and knowledge bank who acts as the Good Place's main source of information and can provide its residents with whatever they desire. She is described as a foundational mainframe for all neighborhoods across the Good and Bad Places. Later, Janet gains a more humanlike disposition and begins to act differently from the way she was designed.
Carden also portrays multiple Janet iterations throughout the series. Among them are "Bad Janet", a Bad Place counterpart specifically designed by the demons to respond to residents in an inappropriate and impolite manner;[12] "Neutral Janet", an impartial, robotic version of Janet that works in the Accountant's Office;[13] "Disco Janet" who is "fun, but a lot" and, in "Janet(s)", Janet-versions of Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason.[14]
Manny Jacinto as Jason Mendoza, a deceasedFilipino American amateurdisc jockey and drug dealer fromJacksonville, Florida. He is introduced as Jianyu Li, aTaiwaneseBuddhist monk who took avow of silence; however, he, like Eleanor, was seemingly brought to the Good Place by mistake, and join in her efforts to become better people. Jason has a child-like personality, kindhearted and positive, but also immature, clueless and impulsive.[15]
Ted Danson as Michael, a being from the afterlife who is the "architect" who runs the Good Place neighborhood in which Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason reside. Michael has a fascination with the mundane aspects of human life, like playing with paper clips or searching for one's car keys. Introduced as anangel, he is revealed in the first-season finale to be ademon who tortured Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani and Jason all along in a Bad Place masquerading as a Good Place. In late seasons, he finds himself allying and then genuinely befriending them. "Michael" is aHebrew name meaning "who is like God".[16] The character of Michael was based on thearchangel Michael.[17]
Tiya Sircar as Vicky, a Bad Place demon who portrays the "real Eleanor Shellstrop", whose position in the Good Place Eleanor supposedly stole in the first season. In the second season, when Michael's plans repeatedly fail, she tries to blackmail Michael into giving her control over the neighborhood. Late in the series, Michael places her in charge of introducing the other demons to the revised afterlife system.
Adam Scott as Trevor, a cruel Bad Place demon who bullies the main group. He makes a return in the third season posing as an overenthusiastic member of Chidi's academic study on Earth, only to be later exiled by the Judge upon being discovered.[18]
Marc Evan Jackson as Shawn, Michael's wicked boss and ruler of the Bad Place, who is first presumed to be the Judge, an impartial godlike being who decides on matters of the universe. Shawn gives Michael two chances to pull off the torture experiment and later turns against him when he finds out about Michael's betrayal.[19] He is also the main character of the spin-off web seriesThe Selection.[20]
Luke Guldan as Chris Baker, a muscular Bad Place demon. After initially struggling to play Eleanor's gym rat soulmate in Michael's second neighborhood, he eventually adopts much of this persona into his actual personality.[21] Chris is a minor antagonist on multiple occasions.
Bambadjan Bamba as Bambadjan, a Bad Place demon pretending to be a lawyer in the Good Place. He is among the more cunning of Shawn's demons.
Josh Siegal as Glenn, a Bad Place demon pretending to be a cheerfully dopey Good Place resident. He is among the few demons to show actual concern for another being. He blows up in "Tinker, Tailor, Demon, Spy", but reconstitutes himself with time.
Maribeth Monroe as Mindy St. Claire, a deceasedcorporate lawyer and addict who died in the process of founding a charity she had planned during acocaine high. The charity generated enough good points after her death that her point total exceeded that required to enter the Good Place. As a compromise, the Judge ruled that she would receive her own private Medium Place, where everything is mediocre and grounded in the 1980s.
Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Simone Garnett, anAustralian neuroscientist and, briefly, Chidi's girlfriend. She is also the second test subject to be sent to the experimental Good Place, but initially believes thatthe entire neighborhood is a hallucination generated by her brain at the moment of death.
Eugene Cordero as Steven "Pillboi" Peleaz, Jason's best friend and partner in crime. Jason, Tahani and Michael manage to convince him to avoid criminal behavior and focus on his career in elder care so that he could get into the Good Place.
Mitch Narito as Donkey Doug, Jason's dopey father and other partner in crime. Doug treats Jason as more of a "homie" than a son, and their familial relation is not revealed until the third season. Doug is Jason's first choice to reform into deserving the Good Place, but he proves too set in his ways.
Rebecca Hazlewood as Kamilah Al-Jamil, Tahani's exceedingly successful and competitive younger sister. Tahani died attempting to humiliate her and often struggles with feelings of inferiority compared to her.
Ajay Mehta andAnna Khaja as Waqas and Manisha Al-Jamil, Tahani's verbally abusive parents, who are the true cause behind her and Kamilah's relationship.
Leslie Grossman as Donna Shellstrop, Eleanor's cruel, self-centered, negligent mother. In the third season, it is revealed that she faked her death in Arizona and reformed herself as a PTA mom in aNevada suburb.
Keston John as Uzo, Chidi's best friend. He had long suffered from Chidi's indecisiveness and witnessed Chidi's original death.
Brandon Scott Jones as John Wheaton, the first test subject sent to the experimental Good Place. In life, he was agossip columnist and published inflammatory articles, especially about Tahani.
Ben Koldyke as Brent Norwalk, a bigoted and arrogant corporate chief executive, and the fourth test subject sent to the experimental Good Place. He proves to be a significant wrench in Eleanor and Michael's plans, as Michael's old methods do not work on him as they did on Eleanor.
Michael McKean and Noah Garfinkel as Doug Forcett, a Canadian who once took psychedelics (circa 1970) and coincidentally guessed the workings of the afterlife to a far higher degree of precision than any known religion or prophet. Michael keeps a picture of Forcett on his office wall, which is seen in many episodes. (Garfinkel, a friend of the producers, was the image used for this picture of Forcett.) In a later episode, Michael McKean portrays an much older, neurotic Forcett who lives atorturously frugal andself-sacrificial life to avoid the Bad Place. Garfinkel is later briefly seen in a sequence as a younger Forcett.
Jason Mantzoukas as Derek, a malfunctioning artificial rebound boyfriend created by Janet. Gifted by the humans to Mindy for helping them escape the fake Good Place, he gets "rebooted" an extreme number of times over the course of the series and becomes more advanced and slightly less off-kilter each time.
Maya Rudolph as Gen, the true Judge of the universe, who has near-omnipotent governance over reality and mediates affairs between the Good Place and Bad Place. She first oversees trials of worthiness for the four humans, and later oversees Michael's experiments in seasons 3 and 4.
Mike O'Malley as Jeff the Doorman, the gatekeeper of the doorway between the afterlife and Earth. He has an affinity for frogs.
Paul Scheer as Chuck, leader of the Good Place committee. Ostensibly wanting to help Eleanor and her friends, the committee is very hesitant to take any actual action and is overly deferential to any demands by the Bad Place in negotiations. Chuck and the rest of the committee abandon the Good Place after tricking Michael into accepting responsibility over it, having run out of ideas of how to lift the sense of ennui hanging over its residents.
Stephen Merchant as Neil, the manager in the Accounting office where all the life points are calculated. He reveals that nobody has been sent to the Good Place for about 500 years.
NBC issued a press release on August 13, 2015, announcing it had given the then-untitled show a 13-episode order based purely on a pitch by Michael Schur.[26] On January 12, 2016, it was announced that Kristen Bell and Ted Danson had been cast in the lead roles for the series. The first synopsis of the show was also released, stating that it would revolve around Eleanor designing her own self-improvement course with Michael as her guide[9] – although the afterlife element had always been a part of the series, as Bell stated she was aware of the first-season finale twist when she signed on.[27]
William Jackson Harper was cast as Chris on February 11, 2016,[10] though the character was renamed Chidi. Jameela Jamil was cast as Tessa on February 25, 2016,[11] and her character was renamed Tahani. On March 3, 2016, Manny Jacinto was revealed to have been cast as a "sweet and good-natured Jason" whose "dream is to make a living as a DJ in Southern Florida".[15] On March 14, 2016, D'Arcy Carden was cast as a series regular announced as "Janet Della-Denunzio, a violin salesperson with a checkered past"[12] – although writer Megan Amram later admitted that this was a hoax.[28]
The show's final premise, including the afterlife element, was announced on May 15, 2016, when NBC announced its2016–17 TV season.[29]
According to Schur, they originally planned to include religious elements after doing research on various faiths and groups. Instead, he decided on a more diverse concept that included all faiths and was free of religious views. "I stopped doing research because I realized it's about versions of ethical behavior, not religious salvation," he says. "The show isn't taking a side, the people who are there are from every country and religion." He also pointed out that the setting (shot inSan Marino, California'sHuntington Gardens) already had the feeling of a pastiche of different cultures, and said the neighborhoods would feature people who were part of nondenominational and interdenominational backgrounds who interacted with each other regardless of religion.[30]
The series' setting and premises, as well as the serializedcliffhangers, were modeled onLost, a favorite of Schur's. One of the first people he called when he developed the series wasLost co-creatorDamon Lindelof. "I took him to lunch and said, 'We're going to play a game [of] 'Is this anything?'" He then added "I imagine this going in theLost way, with cliffhangers and future storylines."[31]
The first season's surprise twist, that the Good Place was the Bad Place, and Chidi, Eleanor, Jason and Tahani were chosen because they were best suited to torture each other indefinitely, is very similar in premise to philosopherJean-Paul Sartre's stage playNo Exit, where three strangers die and are escorted to a single room by a friendly bellhop and informed they must co-exist. They ultimately determine they are entirely incompatible and reach the conclusion that "hell is other people". Danson and Bell were the only actors who knew the ultimate premise from the start.[32]
Critics have suggested similarities to the 1960s surreal TV showThe Prisoner in its isolated, rule-bound setting.[33][34][35]
The series premiered September 19, 2016.[36] On January 30, 2017, NBC renewed the series for a second season of 13 episodes, which premiered on September 20, 2017, with an hour-long opening episode.[37] On November 21, 2017, NBC renewed the series for a 13-episode third season, which premiered on September 27, 2018.[38][39] On December 4, 2018, NBC renewed the series for a fourth season, which premiered on September 26, 2019.[40] On June 7, 2019, it was announced that the fourth season would be the last.[41][42]
In several international territories, the show is distributed onNetflix. The first season was released September 21, 2017, and episodes of subsequent seasons became available within 24 hours of their U.S. broadcast.[43][44]
Home media releases forThe Good Place were distributed by theShout! Factory. The first season was released on DVD inregion 1 on October 17, 2017,[45] the second on July 17, 2018,[46] and the third on July 30, 2019.[47] The complete series was released onBlu-ray on May 19, 2020.[48]
The Good Place has received widespread acclaim from television critics. OnRotten Tomatoes, the first season has a rating of 92%, based on 74 reviews, with an average rating of 7.80/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Kristen Bell and Ted Danson knock it out of the park with supremely entertaining, charming performances in this absurd, clever and whimsical portrayal of the afterlife."[61] OnMetacritic, the first season has a score of 78 out of 100, based on reviews from 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[62]
The editors ofTV Guide placedThe Good Place second among the top ten picks for the most anticipated new shows of the 2016–17 season. In its review from writer Liam Matthews, "NBC's new comedy has an impressive pedigree" (referring to Mike Schur and stars, Kristen Bell and Ted Danson, the latter cited as "arguably the greatest sitcom actor of all time"). Matthews concludes, "The hope is that their combined star power can restore NBC's tarnished comedy brand to its former glory. It won't be the nextFriends, but it's something even better: a network comedy that feels different than anything that's come before."[63]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season has a rating of 100%, based on 59 reviews, with an average rating of 9.0/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "By voluntarily blowing up its premise,The Good Place sets up a second season that proves even funnier than its first."[64] On Metacritic, the second season has a score of 87 out of 100, based on reviews from 10 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[65]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the third season has a rating of 98%, based on 47 reviews, with an average rating of 8.35/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Charming and curious as ever,The Good Place remains a delightfully insightful bright spot on the television landscape."[66] On Metacritic, the third season has a score of 96 out of 100, based on reviews from five critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[67]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the fourth season has a rating of 100%, based on 53 reviews, with an average rating of 8.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A wild philosophical ride to the very end,The Good Place brings it home with a forking good final season."[68]
Several critics have commended the show for its exploration and creative use of ethics andphilosophy.[69][1][70] Featured topics include thetrolley problemthought experiment originally devised byPhilippa Foot,[71][72] thecategorical imperative first formulated byImmanuel Kant,[72][73]T. M. Scanlon'sWhat We Owe to Each Other,[74] and the works ofAristotle andSøren Kierkegaard.[72][75] Andrew P. Street ofThe Guardian wrote that "moral philosophy is the beating heart of the program" and that the show "made philosophy seem cool."[73] Elizabeth Yuko ofThe Atlantic noted that "The Good Place stands out for dramatizing actual ethics classes onscreen, without watering down the concepts being described, and while still managing to be entertaining."[72] For their part, several philosophers have celebrated the show's largely accurate popularization of their line of work,[1] while noting some minor inaccuracies.[75]
Several critics have noted thatThe Good Place often eschewsantiheroes and cynical themes in favor of likable characters and positive messages.James Poniewozik ofThe New York Times said, "The most refreshing thing aboutThe Good Place, in an era of artistic bleakness, is its optimism about human nature. It's made humane and sidesplittingly entertaining television out of the notion that people – and even the occasional immortal demon – are redeemable."[71] Jenna Scherer ofRolling Stone wrote thatThe Good Place proved that "slapstick and banter can coexist alongside tragedy and hardship – that a show doesn't need to be self-serious to be serious-minded."[76] Erik Adams ofThe A.V. Club praised the show as portraying an "uncommonly decent TV world".[77] Stuart Heritage ofThe Guardian calledThe Good Place "relentlessly optimistic",[78] a quality which Stephanie Palumbo ofVulture called "a salve for despair in theTrump era".[74]
In 2019,The Good Place was ranked 69th onThe Guardian's list of the 100 best TV shows of the 21st century.[79]
The beginning ofThe Good Place takes its inspiration from the idiom "Hell is other people" fromJean-Paul Sartre's playNo Exit. In the play three people are trapped in Hell, represented as one room, and they torture one another psychologically while reflecting upon the sins that got them there.[83] The concept "Hell is other people" is an often-misunderstood philosophical idiom meant to reflect that "Hell is other people because you are, in some sense, forever trapped within them, subject to their apprehension of you."[87][88]
The second season's philosophy is most closely related to that ofAristotle, with Schur in particular highlighting Aristotle's "practice-makes-perfect" attitude to acting ethically. Chidi's impenetrable 4,000-page ethical treatise was inspired by Parfit'sOn What Matters – which attempts "to propose a grand unified theory of all ethical theories". Schur was unable to finish reading due to its length.[89] Tim Scanlon'sWhat We Owe to Each Other "forms the spine of the entire show" according to Schur.[83] The book presents the idea ofcontractualism: the idea is that "to act morally is to abide by principles that no one could reasonably reject".[83] The show and the relationships between the characters act as an investigation into contractualism with the four main humans, Michael, and Janet forming their own society whereby they must act in ways that no one could reasonably reject even when that goes against the rules and tenets of higher powers. The overarching thesis of the show, greatly influenced by the contractualist theory, is "the point of morality... isn't to accumulate goodness points, as in the elaborate point system the organizers of the Good Place and its corresponding Bad Place employ to determine who goes to which upon death. It's to live up to our duties to each other."[83]
In September 2019, prior to the release of the fourth season ofThe Good Place,NBC released a six-episodeweb series on their website, app, and theirYouTube channel, titledThe Selection (full title:The Good Place Presents: The Selection), directed byEric Kissack. The series, set during anellipsis taking place during the season 3 episode 11: "Chidi Sees the Time-Knife", follows Michael's former demon boss Shawn as he and his underlings decide which four people to pick for Michael's new incarnation of "the Good Place".Marc Evan Jackson, Josh Siegal,Bambadjan Bamba,Amy Okuda, andJama Williamson form the main cast by reprising their roles fromThe Good Place as Shawn and his underlings, withJoe Mande reprising his role as Toddrick "Todd" Hemple in the third episode.[20] At the72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, the series was nominated forOutstanding Short Form Comedy or Drama Series.[90]
^Nussbaum, Emily (February 6, 2017)."Dystopia in The Good Place".The New Yorker.Archived from the original on February 7, 2018. RetrievedFebruary 17, 2018.
^Goldberg, Lesley (June 7, 2019)."'The Good Place' to End With Season 4 on NBC (Exclusive)".The Hollywood Reporter.Archived from the original on April 8, 2020. RetrievedFebruary 15, 2020.We've gotten to do for 53 episodes – because we're doing 14 episodes this season and doing an hourlong series finale.
.jpg)
.jpg)
Media from Commons
Quotations from Wikiquote
Data from Wikidata