I was going to write about Messiah, the Netflix miniseries, but with the phenomenal NBC series, The Good Place, coming to an end, I felt compelled to speak a little about that. I’ve been contemplating exactly what to write about this show, and, honestly, it’s not easy. Mainly because I like this show so forking much. I don’t, in general, like sit-coms. I’ve been watching TV since the 70’s, so I’ve seen the entire run of M.A.S.H., of All in the Family, of Happy Days (yes, I saw them “jump the shark”) and the list goes on and on. Sit-coms have barely changed at all. I’m willing to bet I could find jokes and storylines from The Dick Van Dyke show or Gilligan’s Island that play almost verbatim on Last Man Standing or Modern Family. Don’t believe me? There’s an entire website dedicated to listing all of these worn out, over used tropes. With few exceptions, sit-coms are lowest form of television, their position only recently usurped by the worst of the worst, reality based shows.
I started watching The Good Place on the recommendation of a good friend of mine, who shares my love of television, and even then I was hesitant. But, what the hell, it’s only a 30 minute show. How bad could it be? By the end of that half an hour pilot episode, I was hooked and I’ve been a dedicated fan ever since. If you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor and see it. See it now and let me tell you that the less you know about it, the better. The story follows four individuals that have died and found themselves in “the good place”. Elenor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell of Veronica Mars and Frozen) is a basic girl from Arizona and the first character we are introduced to. Along the way, we meet Chidi Anagonye (William Jackson Harper of Midsommer and the Electric Company), a philosophy professor from Senegal, Tahani Al-Jamil (Jameela Jamil of Freshly Squeezed and The Misery Index), a British socialite, and Jason Mendoza (Manny Jacinto of Supernatural and iZombie), a Taiwanese monk who has taken a vow of silence. These four souls are guided in the afterlife by Michael (Ted Danson of Cheers and Becker), an “Architect” of the good place and Janet (D’Arcy Carden of Broad City and Barry), who is sort of a programmed guide to help the humans. Not a Robot!
The cast is great, each one portraying their character with enough strength to express their individuality and not just become part of the group. I’m not going to weep once the show is over (well, maybe just a little), but I’ve really developed an affection for these fictional characters, as only the best shows can inspire one to do (I’m looking at you, Buffy Summers!). The writing is smart, weaving philosophical concepts into the jokes, without being pedantic. It’s heart-warming without being sappy and deep (we’re pondering the freakin’ afterlife here) without being cerebral. While the Christian framework from which the story takes place is thinly veiled, it doesn’t let itself get bogged down in religion. God and the Devil are never mentioned, angels and demons are mostly referred to as Architects, Heaven and Hell as the Good Place and Bad Place respectively. Even purgatory gets included as the Medium Place. One of the reasons I didn’t mind bumping my piece on the show Messiah is because the Good Place fits in with the whole theme of using religion as a major plot device, though they have chosen the path of comedy, rather than drama.
As a visual artist, I have to give a special shout out to whoever did the sets and costumes on The Good Place. They are spectacular, some of them being so over the top that I was distracted from what was actually going on. The show itself was created by Michael Schur, who also did The Office and Parks and Recreation, so the type of comedy is really no surprise. In researching the show to write this piece, I learned that he based a number of the premises and cliffhangers on the show Lost, which came as a total surprise to me. There is nothing I don’t love about this show, including, unfortunately, its all-to-short, four season run. In the wise words of Elenor, “Every human is a little bit sad, all the time, because you know you’re going to die. But that knowledge is what gives life meaning.” While I am sad to see it go, the ending is one of the things that makes this show so special.