Article first published as THE GOOD PLACE Review on Seat42F.
THE GOOD PLACE will be on NBC Thursdays
at 8:30PM. No, I’m not saying whatever show fills that time slot is
good, though in the case of THE GOOD PLACE, it’s very good. It’s the
title of a new sitcom about a woman who mistakenly goes to the wrong
afterlife and her attempts to stay there. No, it’s not too sacrilegious,
not attacking any faith in particular nor bashing religion much. Yes,
it is clever, fresh, and funny.
Kristen Bell (House of Lies, Bad Moms,
Veronica Mars) stars as Eleanor Shellstrop, a former pharmaceutical
salesperson who cheated old people out of their money for ineffective
drugs, and who died in a very embarrassing manner. Mistaken for an
altruistic woman of the same name, Eleanor finds herself in what we
might call heaven, a small city with lots of frozen yogurt, no cursing,
and (mostly) very large houses.
Who would build such a place? Well,
that’s the work of Michael (Ted Danson, Fargo, Cheers), a brand-new
architect who has just created this town as his first solo project. As
such, I guess there are bound to be a few mistakes as he figures his way
through.
Eleanor doesn’t want Michael to find out
about this particular mistake, though, because that would mean she has
to go someplace worse. So what we’ve got is a bad person taking
advantage of a bunch of good people. I mean, the other tact to take
would be to become a good person herself, and I won’t say that Eleanor
won’t try to do that, but it seems much more likely she’ll take the easy
path as much as possible, given what we know about her.
One of the first things Eleanor does is
drag in an accomplice, Chidi (William Jackson Harper, True Story, The
Electric Company), the other Eleanor’s soulmate. Right away, that tells
us something about her and how she’ll handle the situation, which makes
absolute sense as we learn the type of person she was.
I feel like there might be something
going on in THE GOOD PLACE that isn’t immediately obvious. Is the whole
thing a test for Eleanor? Is this her purgatory? Is this place not as
ideal as it seems? Do the architects make mistakes so often? Is Chidi
really this Eleanor’s soul-mate, both forced to grow through interacting with one another?
Or is this a story about two screw ups,
Eleanor and Michael, who are in a bit over their heads and have to find
their way? That could certainly be equally compelling, and is the more
straight-forward way to take the premise.
For either of those two theories to be
fully realized, THE GOOD PLACE must get multiple seasons on the air. I
adore Bell and Danson, and these two characters are terrific for them,
allowing them each a showcase to shine. I thoroughly enjoyed the first
episode, both in terms of premise and cast, the latter of which also
includes Jameela Jamil (the DJ and writer), Manny Jacinto (The Romeo
Section), and D’Arcy Carden (Broad City). I am very excited to watch
more of it.
But I do worry it’ll be too high-concept
for broadcast network audiences. It reminds me a little of The
Neighbors in that we’re seeing a bit of hyper-reality and characters we
can’t necessarily relate to. This doesn’t make the series any less
entertaining, and in fact, is a good sign in my book. But viewers can be
fickle, and I worry THE GOOD PLACE won’t catch on the way that it
should. I’m hoping the two very recognizable leads (who are also very
talented, but that’s less important in the context of this point) will
draw people in to at least give it a try. As long as its potential
audience is aware of it, I think it’ll succeed.
THE GOOD PLACE premieres Monday, September 19th at 10/9c, before settling in its normal timeslot Thursdays at 8:30/7:30c.
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