The Good Place - Season 1 (1 Viewer)

[TonyD]

There was two names on the diary who wrote the forward I forgot who they were but one of them made me chuckle.

 

[Scott-S]

LOL, that very last item would give me lots of points.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Someone also screencapped these:

"Remain Loyal to the Cleveland Browns". I caught that one during the show and laughed out loud.

 

[Sean Bryan]

One thing that bugs me is that these people learn that there is an afterlife, for eternity, but none of them seem to care that they will never see ANY of their family or other people they loved. Their loved ones are most likely in The Bad Place and even if they are in The Good Place they are in a different Good Place. This doesn't seem to bother anyone so far.

 

[TravisR]

One thing that bugs me is that these people learn that there is an afterlife, for eternity, but none of them seem to care that they will never see ANY of their family or other people they loved. Their loved ones are most likely in The Bad Place and even if they are in The Good Place they are in a different Good Place. This doesn't seem to bother anyone so far.

I had the same thought but chalked it up to being too depressing for a comedy to have people sobbing that they'll never see their wife or husband or kid, etc ever again. Plus, I guess if they selectively choose if you remember your death, maybe they can 'fix' your memory to not get too hung up on your loved ones.

 

[Sean Bryan]

I had the same thought but chalked it up to being too depressing for a comedy to have people sobbing that they'll never see their wife or husband or kid, etc ever again. Plus, I guess if they selectively choose if you remember your death, maybe they can 'fix' your memory to not get too hung up on your loved ones.

That was somewhat my thought as well. If the intention is not to take things seriously at all and just play it as a light comedy, then you can kind of brush that off. But if the intention is to care about the characters as people and for the audience to get invested in them as people it would seem that you need to make them act like people.

I had also thought that maybe their minds are "altered" to simply not care about things. But, at least in the way it's been portrayed so far, they seem to be the same people they were in life, have their memories from life, and same personalities from life. So it's harder to accept that they just don't care about such a monumentally profound issue.

This may be something that they address. The show does seem to be moving in the direction of exploring that this whole system is terribly broken.

 

[Johnny Angell]

One thing that bugs me is that these people learn that there is an afterlife, for eternity, but none of them seem to care that they will never see ANY of their family or other people they loved. Their loved ones are most likely in The Bad Place and even if they are in The Good Place they are in a different Good Place. This doesn't seem to bother anyone so far.

Don't forget "this is not the afterlife you were taught."

 

[Dheiner]

That was somewhat my thought as well. If the intention is not to take things seriously at all and just play it as a light comedy, then you can kind of brush that off. But if the intention is to care about the characters as people and for the audience to get invested in them as people it would seem that you need to make them act like people.

I had also thought that maybe their minds are "altered" to simply not care about things. But, at least in the way it's been portrayed so far, they seem to be the same people they were in life, have their memories from life, and same personalities from life. So it's harder to accept that they just don't care about such a monumentally profound issue.

This may be something that they address. The show does seem to be moving in the direction of exploring that this whole system is terribly broken.

And perhaps having your actual "SOUL MATE" tends to make you forget your human connections???

 

[Patrick Sun]

This show is more annoying than funny to me, so it's not high on the priority list of viewing at the moment.

 

[NeilO]

I have a feeling that Eleanor is not the only person out of place.

As we saw at the end of Thursday's episode. I wonder if this isn't really "the good place" that the residents think it is and most of the people here have some challenge ahead of them.

 

[DaveF]

I wanted to love The Good Place, but it's marginal. The characters are trite and so evince any interesting depth. The humor can be good, but it's sparse and just as often flat ("dimensional insanity"?). And Jahani is annoying, not funny. They're going for Bernadette in Big Bang Theory but her condescending performance is tedious two episodes in.

It's begun revealing the larger arc, and suggesting more depth beneath character facades. But I'm not sure I'm going to stick with it.

 

[TravisR]

And Jahani is annoying, not funny.

I don't like that character much either but based on what Schur and company did on Parks And Recreation, I think they're eventually going to flesh her out and make her much more likable than she currently is.

 

[joshEH]

Jianyu's personality was annoying as hell and hugely hilarious to me. I know way too many people like him.

I sort of love the fact that Eleanor found someone actually worse than her. It's nice little dynamic. And also very necessary. In order for there to be any mileage in this premise (and for Eleanor herself not to be categorically-unsympathetic), there needs to be much more wrong with the afterlife than just our protagonist.

 

[TravisR]

I love that they trashed EDM.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The Jason Mendoza flashbacks are pure gold, every time.

And bringing him into the Chidi/Eleanor dynamic gives that relationship a bit more to play with, since the moments where Chidi stares at Eleanor in appalled disbelief can be balanced out with moments where Chidi and Eleanor exchange a look to verify that Jason really is that stupid.

The problem with Tahani is that she lived a life of unabridged privilege, utterly free of adversity. It's hard to sympathize with a character whose problems exceed most of our good days. In order for the character to work, she needs a humbling with more than momentary consequences.

The risk with this premise is that the characters are so strongly defined that there's a natural inclination toward stasis. Hopefully, like "Parks & Rec", they find the complex humanity underneath these people who would seem to be readable at a glance.

 

[Matt Hough]

The show continues to surprise, and I'm enjoying it.

 

[todd s]

My wife and I only made it two episodes. Just seemed off for me. My only thought was that she is in the "Bad Place". She is a mean spirited person in real life...whats a good way to punish her? Put her in a place where she is surrounded by good people and it drives her crazy.

On a side note. We couldn't understand how the women neighbor got there. Yes, she did some good things. But, she seems conceited and you hear of so many very good people not getting to the good place.

 

[Matt Hough]

I read a review that this is more a miniseries than a sitcom, and I'm starting to think that way myself. The premise still intrigues, but I can't say I'm laughing all that much.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I'm actually enjoying it more now that Eleanor is actually evolving into a somewhat less self-centered person. And giving Tahani an even more obnoxiously perfect sister was a good start toward humanizing her character.

"I am not going to have sex with someone to get them to stop talking to me."
"Really? You and I are very different."

"HOW DO YOU ROW A BOAT!?"

 

[GlennF]

Not sure where it is all going, but it throws enough interesting things at you that it keeps me intrigued. Glad they humanized Tahani as she was starting to annoy. I love the way Ted Danson plays his character - so different from anything else he has done. I also really like the bright coloured look of the show. I guess the word is "Quirky" but not sure how long you can sustain that. I will keep watching though.