‘The Good Place’: A Revolution
Michael Schur, the creator of three astonishing comedy productions, ‘Parks and Recreation’, ‘The Office’, and ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’, has put his finger on yet another project. ‘The Good Place’ is his latest development. The comedy show features Kristen Bell and Ted Danson and is some of the best television in recent years.
‘The Good Place’ is, to many extends, exactly what all series should embody, but fail to. It’s a TV show that builds itself on brilliant storytelling and genius comedy. It’s a show that one simply cannot put down and, truthfully, mustn’t. ‘The Good Place’ is a show that certainly deserves recognition, appreciation, and praise.
Here are just two of the main reasons on why it’s brilliant.
A completely different genre.
Many comedy shows fall into a certain genre; a genre that is not at all bad and functions perfectly well, but still rather restricts the story. A certain setting is always set in stone, that may be a bar, a police department, an office, and the story and characters always revolve and resolve around that specific environment. If not that, comedy shows are often about the lives of a few friends/family members/lovers and the adventures and stories that occur to them. Nevertheless, comedy shows are usually set in similar environments and/or circumstances and it is simply the events around the main protagonists that change. Simply said, there is no continuous storyline. Again, there is absolutely nothing wrong about this genre and many amazing comedy shows are set in it.
‘The Good Place’, however, steps out of that. It builds itself with a rather unconventional tone: a ‘proper’ plot (such that the is one storyline that continuously flows) combined with brilliant comedy. Seth Rogen’s recent ‘Future Man’ is a good example of this genre. So is ‘Entourage’, to some extend, although some might argue whether that is a ‘comedy show’. ‘The Good Place’ functions in a genre that many little before it have dared to touch. It beautifully combines a continuous storyline with a 100% comedic tone and that turns out great. It’s actually kind of amazing; we, the public, adore great stories and also great comedy. It’s not very often that we see those completely intertwined. When they do intertwine, a.k.a. ‘The Good Place’, we stay excited following the story we also have a great deal of fun due to the comedic writing.
The characters are 10/10.
The characterization and building of personas in ‘The Good Place’ is truly phenomenal. The show does a fantastic job of providing insight to and in-depth explanation of every character. Even such that may serve as pure comedic relief, and there are many of those, get their fair share of backstory and development. Furthermore, nothing is rushed; insight is provided only when appropriate and only when it serves a purpose. The creators of ‘The Good Place’ have certainly thought ahead with the plotline and it most definitely pays of. Some characters don’t get backstories up until season two, but it is not because there isn’t enough time for them. Rather, the writers have waited for the perfect moment when that insight might be needed so that the character may build up the most. The backstories are also not, contrary to many other series out there, boring; they are interesting, serve their purpose, and, as always, provide some amazing comedy.
In almost most TV shows, especially comedy ones, there are numerous protagonists with the same value to the story; examples for this are ‘Friends’, ‘How I Met Your Mother’, ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’, and many others. In such series, viewers are often able to say who their ‘favorite character’ is. Viewers are often even able to rank the characters. Personally, that did not happen to me while watching ‘The Good Place’. At one moment I thought to myself ‘Who is my favorite character?’ and an answer didn’t occur. ‘Who is my least favorite character?’ also remains unanswered. All personas in this show are created beautifully and they are all extremely cool people with whom the viewer has a lot of fun. They all provide the same amount of value to the story. That, for me at least, is amazing; having no drawback with the characters and enjoying all of them equally is surely one of the things that makes ‘The Good Place’ a modern classic for me.
Conclusion.
Overall, this a one fantastic show. There are may other points one can discuss, but the general message will still remain the same: ‘The Good Place’ is brilliant. It’s an astonishingly good piece of television and everyone should appreciate it. Combining fantastic comedy, great story, and great characters, this might be Micheal Schur’s best work yet. If you haven’t seen ‘The Good Place’ yet, make sure you check it out.
It’s motherforking awesome.
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And there you have it! A couple of reasons why ‘The Good Place’ is awesome! Will you see this show? If you have already seen it, what do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments section below, please. Also, don’t forget to LIKE and SHARE this article if you enjoyed it and SUBSCRIBE to Our Movie Life.
As always, thank you so much for reading,
Pouty Boy