The Good Place - new fantasy sitcom

Well, I love me some Kristen Bell and I love me some Ted Danson, so naturally I had to check it out. What a hoot! This is another wacky 'concept' series not unlike BrainDead which just works right from the start. Bell is adorable and cheeky (shades of Veronica Mars) and Danson is at his old comic best.

I don't know how they're going to sustain this over time, but the first season is relatively short at 13 eps, so I think they won't run out of material so soon. Lotsa fun!

 

amazingly i feel exactly the opposite.

i found it to be terribly written (quite possibly worse writing than modern family), terribly acted (as if bell and danson never acted before, and the other actors are actually wretched, seriously wretched), and terribly not funny in any way shape or form.

we watched the first half-hour, watched about 10 minutes of the second half-hour, turned it off, deleted it from the menu, and removed it from the list of being DVR'd in the future.

 

Ted Danson must have a really good agent because he (somehow) always seems to land a starring role when he's totally not funny (IMO)...

 

well, he's really not funny in this debacle.

and the sad part is, it will probably get decent ratings

 

This is one of those high-concept series ideas that seems better suited for a movie. For how many episodes can they drag out the process of Kristen learning to be a better person? What would the show be about in its seventh season?

 

I laughed, I liked it, I'll keep watching.

 

The most entertaining aspect of this show is Ted Danson's well crafted hair piece.

 

Wretched. I really like Kristen Bell & Ted Danson but this was pretty awful. I'll watch another episode or two but I can't see it lasting even a half-season.

 

I concur.

jerol

 

I don't know...that kind of movie's been done to death.

I have a feeling that the showerunners won't want to belabor that theme too much. My guess is that some time will be spent on that, but that the story will move on, most likely to different 'neighborhoods' engineered by other 'Michaels' and that we'll learn more about these entities that wear human forms. Maybe even how their 'perfect' point grading system, which obviously is far from perfect in Eleanor's case, will affect other residents, etc. Then there's the mystery surrounding 'the other place'. So, lots of directions to explore.

Who knows, but I wouldn't expect it to run that long, even at 13 eps per season. Still, I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

 

I liked it and will watch again. I especially liked Kristen Bell and laughed every time she tried to swear ["motherforker", "bullshirt"]. Yeah, probably juvenile of me, but I found it funny. I can't decide whether Ted Danson's interpretation of the character is just 'off' and needs tweaking or that he was totally miscast to begin with. My guess is that the only reason he was cast by NBC was to add some attention to the show with his reflected glory of NBC comedy of the past.

I've noticed many shows are based on a concept that I think are better suited to the length of a movie or a limited run tv series, but not to something that will sustain itself over the course of several seasons. ['Brain Dead' is a good example.] As someone above mentioned, I'm not going to worry about that with this show. I'll watch till it gets cancelled or I tire of it.

 

Pretty sure she's not the only one who's not supposed to be there. In fact, I'm willing to bet that the whole afterlife is a chaotic mess premise, even worse than life here on Earth, is probably gonna drive the series. I liked enough of it to keep watching. Put me down as cautiously optimistic.

 

There were hints that something is amiss with the next-door neighbours. I'm expecting those two (wealthy, overbearing British woman and silent Monk) to be a major story-line.

 

I watched it, laughed a few times, was intrigued enough by some of the side characters to watch a few more episodes.

 

I'm really getting overloade on of the term "showrunner." Where the heck did that come from? What does it mean. "Producer?" or is this to describe the person who gets the "created by" credit?

 

Anyone else wonder if the "soulmates" (all conveniently dead at exactly the same time as each other) are also artificial constructs just like the animals? I started to get seriouly suspicious when the "search engine lady" knew who Kristen Bell was and who the guy who didn't want to have sex with her was even though she was supposed to be mistaken for someone else (by Ted Danson, at least.) It might just be careless writing, but I don't think so.

 

The showrunner is like the coach - they call the plays and decide who goes where and when. They're the creative engine that drives everything. The producer keeps the team going. The creator often is the showrunner, but can sometimes drop out or be fired if the network doesn't approve of the plays being called.

 

It's all a mental institution run by the search engine lady, Mrs. Robot.

 

So what credit do they get onscreen? "Showrunner?"

 

No - the showrunner gets the power instead of the onscreen credit. And, if the show heads in directions the fans don't like, most of the online blame.

For example, on 'True Blood', Alan Ball ran the show for five seasons and then turned it over to Brian Buckner for the rest of the show's run. Alan Ball continued to get a "created by" onscreen long after he'd left, whereas Buckner retained an "executive producer" credit for the rest of the show's run (along with, like, six other people, including Alan Ball.) If you didn't know that Buckner was now in charge, nothing in the onscreen credits would clue you in.

 

You might say they run the show.

 

Just watched the first two chapters, and really liked it. Good light-hearted humor, and thankfully no laugh track/audience. I think both Bell and Danson are well cast in these roles. Even though Kristin Bell's "Eleanor" is supposed to be a selfish jerk, Kristin still makest he character likeable and its nice to see her play this after the ballbuster she was on "House Of Lies". I'll keep watching.

 

It's definitely got a nice 'Pushing Daisies'-type vibe. I'm curious how far they're gonna go down the philisophical path, though. Like, for example, if Chidi was so ethically concerned with helping the disadvantaged here on Earth, why is he not concerned that so many of the people he tried to help here must surely end up in the Bad Place? They weren't shy about bringing up the basic unfairness early, I have to wonder how this will play out once more characters get introduced. Odd there's no children anywhere - only adults as far as the eye can see. Can children even attain enough points to qualify?