Posted by I have too much downtime on my hands being at home on medical leave, but it does allow me to binge watch entire seasons of tv shows and many more movies than I was able to do while working.
I went out on a limb with this one, and the main reason why I decided to watch it was because I love Ted Dansen, and he was awesome in this show. It’s also made by the people who brought you Parks and Rec so if you enjoy that show I’d encourage you to check this out. It’s available on Hulu and *maybe* Netflix? I’m not sure where this show started to be honest I just watched it on Hulu.
One of my favorite old shows was Dead Like Me, which unfortunately was canceled way before it should have been to make room for a Barber Shop show that flopped hard. I guess the show is sort of an occult thing, but I loved it for it’s originality. I’ve got a thing for after life books, shows, and movies which is sort of strange considering I don’t believe in an afterlife, but I love peoples imaginings of what it could be.
The show starts out with Kristen Bell being introduced to an Architect who welcomes her to The Good Place, they never say Heaven, but it’s pretty clear there’s a heaven and hell. Only the top of the top of humanity makes it into The Good Place, and they do it by calculating peoples acts of kindness and selfishness, each action you perform on earth has a weight to it, hold a door open for someone and you get +3 points, cut someone off in traffic or be rude to someone and you lose points. Kristen Bell has been mistaken for someone else and she ends up in heaven when she should have been in hell.
For the first half of the season I was unsure if I was liking it or not, it was kind of funny but also kind of corny and someteimes the humor landed and sometimes it didn’t – my biggest problem though was the main character, I couldn’t stand he for the first half of the season because she seemed a little over the top in the bitchy and selfish department, but she had a few redeeming qualities so I kept watching – mainly for Ted.
About halfway though the season I started to like the characters more and I started to adjust to the corniness of it, the sets and props are very minimalistic and borderline cartoony at times so I didn’t know if I was going to end up liking the show or not.
Most of the reason why I changed my mind from hesitantly thinking it was okay, to enjoying it was the character development, each character gets a bit of backstory by the end of the show and it made it easier to relate to them. The personalities are exaggerated and at first you don’t know if it’s going to be toned down to be more realistic or not, but it does by the end.
The last episode was by far my favorite and I think the show went out on it’s best episode which is a good sign. Many shows that I absolutely adore weren’t at their best during their first season, not every show can be Stranger Things.
Oeverall I think this series has potential, and it will depend a lot on what they do with the next season which is coming out this fall. I do intend on continuing with the series if for no other reason than to see what they do with the twist at the end of the last season.
I think I’d give this show a 7 so far, with the potential to grow. IMDB gives it a 7.7, and Rotten Tomatos gives it a 90%, which surprised me when I looked it up, so it’s entirely possible you’d love this show more than I did.