Let’s face it: Network TV sucks. In a world full of HBOs, Showtimes, FXs and more, why the hell are we even keeping tabs on the Big 4 when all they do is cancel creative masterpieces like Happy Endings and Pushing Daisies season after season? (Yes, I’m still grudging hard.)
While I’d love to ignore the hell out of the standard network fare, every now and then something comes along like The Good Place (coming this Fall) and I’m sucked back into being NBC’s bitch. The show’s created by Michael Schur, who gave us the glorious gift that is Parks & Recreation, and stars Kristen Bell and Ted Danson. If that doesn’t sell you right there, you are dead inside and dead to me. But we can still be friends because this trailer’s gonna get the job done.
Bell plays Eleanor Shellstrop. And she’s dead. Like, hit-by-a-truck dead. Which sort of gives it a Dead Like Me vibe. But instead of reaping souls with her ragtag team of misfits, she’s living in The Good Place…a bizarro-afterlife that’s Heaven-esque and run by Danson. (If real God was Sam Malone – I’d be super OK with that. He’d know everybody’s name and always be available for sober rides home. Unless you can teleport in Heaven. Then, my mind would be really blown. But then again, why wouldn’t you be able to teleport in Heaven? I need some answers, people.) Eleanor soon finds out that a mistake’s been made and she’s really not supposed to be in the “Good” Place, but rather, the other place. The scary one. Hilarity ensues as she desperately tries to not be an asshole.
Kudos to Schur and other creators who aim to bring originality to the belabored network sitcom. In fact, according to Variety, the 13-episode strategy includes a full story arc with a beginning, middle and end that will take place over the entire season, rather than forcefully cramming pieces of narrative to adhere to the traditional 21-minute episode model. Let’s just hope this one doesn’t go the way of Daisies and that instead, it becomes a beloved underdog, like a new Parks.
Watch this trailer already and start anticipating what looks to be Fall’s best new show.
