Do you like The Office or maybe Parks and Recreation? What if I told you the same guy that wrote and produced those shows, Michael Schur, made another show about ‘heaven’, The Good Place. While it is theologically unsound, it is very funny, and since it has been out for a year you can blitz through the first season right now on Netflix.
The Good Place is about Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) who ends up in the titular Good Place by accident. She of course doesn’t want to admit she is in the wrong place then be sent to eternal damnation, so she has to do her best to fit in, but her innate selfishness keeps getting her in trouble.
The Good Place is unlike any major religion’s idea of paradise. Pretty much if you are good, like really good, you end up in a little neighborhood with a soulmate, and you can do whatever you want. Things are fine for most of Eleanor’s neighbors, but she keeps doing things that screw her neighborhood up. Making it hard to keep up her lie.
Like all comedies, they are only as good as their cast, and The Good Place has a great one. Bell is hilarious, and Ted Danson as ‘The Architect’ of the neighborhood is still at the top of his game, but rest of the cast is great too. They have good chemistry, and the laughs don’t stop coming.
While I doubt The Good Place will be used in seminary classes any time soon, it is a funny show, and another hit for Michael Schur. You can watch the first season on Netflix, and the second season is airing now, so you can catch up on Hulu.com if you have it. In these dark days without The Office or Parks and Rec it is nice to have The Good Place to visit.