One of the most overlooked shows of this season was the NBC comedy "The Good Place." In spite of the show being created by Mike Schur, who also created "Parks and Recreation" and "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," the show hasn't really caught on. It certainly had a decent amount of buzz before it premiered, but since then it has just been quietly chugging along without many people discussing it. It's a genuine shame as while "The Good Place" doesn't have the same satirical bite as "Parks and Recreation" nor the pitch-perfect ensemble of "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," this comedy has the potential to really take an interesting look at religion, and the idea of the afterlife as a whole.
For those who don't know, this NBC show is about Eleanor Shellstrop, played by Kristen Bell, who in the beginning of the show dies and ends up in the afterlife, in a utopia called The Good Place, apparently due to her humanitarian work. There's only one catch: Eleanor didn't do any humanitarian work. In fact, she spent most of her time on Earth being rude, demeaning, and harsh to almost everyone she met, leading her to believe that she got mixed up with another person who had the same name. The rest of the series consists of her trying to keep that secret safe all the while bettering herself thanks to her assigned soulmate and ethics professor Chidi, in order to avoid being taken to The Bad Place.
While there's much to appreciate about the show, including but not limiting to the production design, the cast, and the characters, what really made this show something special was its ongoing storylines. Throughout each episode, another layer into the world of "The Good Place" unfolds, whether it be the love triangle between Eleanor, Chidi, and rival Tahani, the Buddhist monk character Jianyu revealing that he may not be what it seems, and a finale twist that changes the entire show as a whole, and is so creative in its execution that it has to be seen to be believed. The show utilizes twists and cliffhangers in almost every episode, and the way it all builds up to the aforementioned finale twist is quite frankly an impressive feat in television writing.
It's unknown if "The Good Place" will continue on with a second season, as while the show hasn't done poorly in the ratings, it hasn't really gotten much discussion from television fans or comedy fans, if at all. Hopefully, NBC will give this creative show a chance to fully blossom and give it another season to give this interesting world and well-developed plotline more opportunity to shine and possibly garner a bigger audience.
Currently, "The Good Place" can be watched on nbc.com and Hulu and is well worth checking out.
