The Good Place

NBC tries something a little different called The Good Places. From the creator of the smash Brooklyn Nine Nine, this tired sitcom stars Kristen Bell as a flighty and self-absorbed woman who wakes up and realizes she's dead and in heaven. Danson plays the heavenly press agent guiding the woman through her introduction to heaven, but it is revealed that another woman's bio become associated with Bell, which starts to threaten heaven's sanctity unless Bell can learn how to be "good". A one-joke story here had me yawning about 10 minutes in. Somewhere along the line, someone told Kristen Bell that she is funny and she has done a lot of comedy work, but in my humble opinion, the woman is not funny, like Rose Byrne (See my review of Spy) and Ted Danson deserves better and the supporting cast is cringe-worthy. It might make it to Thanksgiving, but I seriously doubt it.

Quibble: it's The Good Place, sans "s" (I'll update the title accordingly).

Anyway, to each their own, because I liked it a fair bit. But then, I love a good concept, and love Kristen Bell. I like everything (creator) Michael Schur does, too. Though I'll note that the word "like" is very literal: I haven't really loved any of it since Parks and Recreation, and even that stopped being consistently hilarious sometime a bit after its midpoint. I've often found Brooklyn Nine-Nine more amusing than funny, with the occasional laugh-out-loud moment sprinkled in maybe once every other episode.

Early vibe off of The Good Place makes it seem like it could be funnier than Brooklyn. Plenty of potential here, and it seems like the story itself could actually be interesting enough to sustain my interest even in lieu of much comedy. Here's hoping.

I watched the first episode of "The Good Place" mainly because I like Ted Danson, but I probably won't continue watching the show. The first episode was pretty bad, and it's not funny at all. It also doesn't feel like a show that has any longevity.

__________________
.
If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.

As you said, to each their own and, as you also said, you love Kristen Bell and that's definitely where we part ways...Bell has never moved me as an actress and I don't think she's funny.

Couldn't agree more...so sad to see Danson reduced to such silliness.

For those who stopped watching this, it did some pretty gutsy things down the stretch, culminating in a pretty crazy two-part finale. I think it got funnier, too, FWIW, but the serialized elements are pretty interesting all by themselves at this point.

Finally got around to watching it and I liked it a lot. Thought it was funny and they really nailed it with the casting.

The Good Place is a town where those who have been good throughout their lives go once they have passed away. Michael (Ted Danson) is the architect who oversees the town. Eleanor (Kristen Bell) arrives at the Good Place and soon realizes she doesn't deserve to be there. Now Eleanor has to fake her way through The Good Place and make people believe that she actually belongs there.


A very imaginative show that has a sense of Pushing Daises to it. Danson and Bell are great together and the creativity opens up doors for extra laughs. It's a well written show that has a few surprises and actually has me invested and curious about where they plan on taking it.


check it out!!! It's on Netflix and the second season is beginning to air now.

edit- so I go to search. I type in the good place and narrow it down to television sub forum. I get results for everything except this current thread.

Why am I so bad at searching @Yoda

Don't be too hard on yourself. You've only been here 12 years.

So, that gutsy thing they did around the end of season one? They've been completely following through on it, and it's made the show better.

I liked the first season fine, though I didn't usually find it hilarious or brilliant. Just Very Pretty Good, in nearly all aspects, but with that feeling of promise and potential that so many decent comedies have in their first year before breaking out in their second. Feels like that's what's happening right here. Season two is far more inventive and amusing, so far, and it still feels like there's another gear coming. It was a tentative recommendation before, but I'd definitely recommend it now.

I'd never heard of it until now. I liked Parks and Recreation a lot, but couldn't get into Brooklyn Nine-Nine and ditched it after 3 episodes. Will give this a try, as I feel like something funny. I have been having a horrendous insomniac episode, so I need stuff to numb my brain.

Not that this is potentially brain numbing, more like a, pleasant distraction.

Yeah, I still watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine, but I've never loved it. I keep watching because it's decent, occasionally very good, and there's pretty much always a huge shortage of great comedies on the air, anyway.

The Good Place isn't Parks and Recreation, but it's closer to that than Brooklyn Nine-Nine, I think.

Yeah, give it a go. And definitely watch all the way through the first season before ditching it, if you can.

@Yoda I was recently suckered into watching an episode of a sitcom so bad my jaw dropped. It boasted Kathy Bates and was about a weed shop. Oh my god. We're talking Sh*t My Dad Says bad.

I think I can stand anything after that.

I love The Good Place. It's awesome to see a sitcom that's actually creative, not endless one liners and put downs, and not about who's sleeping with who. Ted Danson is hilarious, so is Kristen Bell, but that dumb Asian guy? He's gold. I can't remember the last time I've enjoyed a TV comedy this much.

__________________
"You, me, everyone...we are all made of star stuff." - Neil Degrasse Tyson

https://shawnsmovienight.blogspot.com/

Just started this.

Jianyu got real old, real quick. Other than that, first season was fun.

Been watching this over the past couple of weeks, nearly caught up. It's a very solid show, personally i think it's a bit overpraised as i saw it at #1 on a bunch of best of 2017 lists and i don't agree. Definitely enjoy it though, it's inventive and funny. Annoyingly the end of Season One was spoiled for me before i saw it: i read a description that said something like Still i think it's a good idea and i'm surprised that it's held up so well in Season Two.

Janet is my favourite character, followed by Michael probably. With Saunch on Jianyu he's the only one i don't like. Incredibly dumb characters are so played out but they can still work, the worst thing about him is his insufferable infant voice

That was the description? Awful, unless it was specifically part of a Season 2 review, or something.

Anyway, I agree it's a little odd to see it ranked among the absolute best shows on television, mostly because I find it fairly funny and occasionally hilarious, and it needs to be funnier than that to rank much higher. But I've definitely got room in my day for a Pretty Good comedy that is also a Pretty Good story in its own right, that also has a Pretty Good mythology going for it. Season 2 has been a huge step forward in both comedy and story, and it would not surprise me at all if this show took another leap at the end of this season, or next year, and brought my own personal enjoyment more in line with that of the critics.

I suspect some of that extra praise has to do with it being a lot more audacious and just plain old different than a comedy that, say, is a little funnier, but is otherwise just churning through standard sitcom plots, with standard sitcom relationships and progressions and all that. I can see critics, in particular, finding that refreshing enough to explain why they think it's particularly great. Though, again, I say that as someone who really likes the show right now.

It was The Guardian and what it said exactly was:

It was a best shows of 2017 list. I've only been hearing buzz about the show over the past few months so i thought it was on Season One or i would have been a bit more cautious. Still that's unnecessarily blatant especially when they link their full review after that, they could have easily have came up with a non-spoiler blurb. I read through a few there to find the one i was looking for and The Verge said something like "it's hard to say much about this show without ruining the big twists" then just described its general qualities and linked their full i assume spoilered review.

Agree with most of what you said there, i'm both hoping they do something big and surprising at the end of the season since the last one was spoiled but at the same time shows can really go off the rails by going for too many twists. One of those sites called it Lost's spiritual successor and yeah we know how that turned out

Just caught up five minutes ago, interested where it goes from that ending.