The Good Place

What have you been watching?

The Good Place

Postby cmsellers » Fri Nov 04, 2016 4:43 am

Something that I've noticed is that pretty much every NBC sitcom I find at least watchable, however since The Office they've tended to get below average ratings. NBC often goes for quirky, gimmicky sitcoms which sometimes work (Third Rock From the Sun, My Name is Earl, Community) but usually fail quickly. Still, even the worst of these gimmicky sitcoms--The New Normal--I found at least watchable, and many of them are enjoyable.

One such gimmicky sitcom is The Good Place. The authors did too good a job of making the main character insufferable in the double-length pilot episode, however the episodes have been continually improving. The authors aren't super-creative. For one thing, their jokes about what makes someone a good person, such as not sharing about veganism unsolicited and not claiming to identify with reality TV stars--feel like they're trying to hard.

For another thing
I expected it to be revealed that "The Good Place" was an afterlife for people who thought they were good but really weren't; a place of torment through nagging imperfection. Sadly, it turns out that Heaven and Hell really are the only afterlifes (but with generic, non-sectarian names), and everyone except the best-of-the best goes to Hell. I still think my twist would have been better, but then I guess that's kind of close to the plot of Wristcutters: A Love Story


Any rate, for some reason, despite the uninspired writing I'm still finding myself enjoy the show. Maybe it's because of the excellent acting, maybe it's because of the excellent sets. (I'm not embarrassed to admit that I watched every single episode of Two and a Half Men because I found Charlie Sheen's fake house almost erotically appealing to look at.)

The one thing that annoys me about it though: Every fucking episode ends on a cliffhanger. That reeks of desperation, and if the series lasts more than 18 episodes (I think it's not unlikely NBC will order five more episodes for lack of anything they're confident will do better in its slot) I will be amazed.
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