Ah yes the Afterlife.
Many of us believe in it in some form or another – the ancient Egyptians gave Tutankhamen at entire tomb of gilded objects to make his transition there as rich and luxurious as possible – quite a lot of us don’t but you can be fully there that if we ended up there, that we’d want to go to The Good Place.
As opposed to, you know, The Bad Place with all that screaming and suffering and … well, just pass me a latte will you to calm my nerves?
Created by Mike Schur, whose talented hand gave us The Office, Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Good Place tells the story of Eleanor (Kristen Bell) who wakes up in a tastefully-appointed office to learn from the architect of the manicured lawn-version of heaven, Michael (Ted Danson) that she is (a) dead and (b) in The Good Place (full of shops like Warm Blankets, Everything Fits and frozen yoghurt stores).
So good, so far … well apart from the whole dying thing of course which Eleanor handles quite well, all things considered.
But then it emerges. quietly so not even Michael hears, that she is not the virtuous woman who saved others lives while she lived, but a selfish, foul-mouthed douchebag who frankly deserves to be in the place where drinking a ton still gives you a hangover.
Uh-oh …
Thankfully the one person who does know the truth is Chris (William Jackson Harper) and together he and Eleanor set about over the course of the first season’s 13 episodes to polish the latter’s turd-like earthly CV and turn it into a gleaming glitter-coated thing of humanistic beauty.
But as we all know, that’s pretty hard to do, even in The Good Place.
It’s that central deceitful premise, in a place where virtue isn’t just revered, it’s your ticket to a peaceful, happy Afterlife, that drives the show which, like all of Schur’s comedies is rooted in real intelligence and insight as Bell told Variety:
“It’s a comedy, and it’s going to make people laugh. But it’s also saying something about human beings and about morality and about social responsibilities and challenging ethics and the idea of right and wrong. It’s stimulating stuff.”
And there’s lots of stuff going on, hilariously so, but going on nonetheless, notes Bell:
“I’d say it’s like a super-comedic version of The Americans, because there are a lot of secrets. It’s the most lighthearted version of The Americans you can get.”
It’s the kind of show, coming from Schur and starring two very funny actors with great respective track records, that you know from the get-go is going to be funny and clever and a joy to watch, said Danson to Variety:
“You know when you start to watch a movie, you can tell right away whether you’re in secure, assured hands?This film has been crafted well. It has told you in the first 30 seconds, ‘Relax, enjoy the ride.’ You will not quite know where it’s going, but I think you’ll be hooked.”
Sounds good! Sign me on … for the show, I mean. The Afterlife can wait for quite a while yet, thank you very much …
The Good Place premieres later this year in a coveted Thursday night slot on NBC.