I think part of the problem is that this show is really hard to market. I didn’t watch until the season season was already over. When I first heard the premise of “A woman gets into heaven even though she shouldn’t have” I thought there was no way that it would last more than a season.
Yeah, that’s where I ended up. At first it bothered me, but after I started thinking in terms of Jeremy Bearimys, I figured that “delaying the inevitable” was the key point. We may be talking about the equivalent here, not of centuries or millennia, but millions or billions or trillions of years that it would take for a person to be done with their afterlife. And every day the door would be there ready for them, and they would know that.
(To forestall someone pointing out that Eleanor’s spark goes into someone who looks like they’re in modern times–it’s not actually billions of years, its a certain length of Jeremy Bearimys. The “equivalent” I talk about is very rough.)
I’m trying to remember why I started watching it. I think it may have been because it received a prime slot from NBC, so that’s usually a good sign, it starred Kristen Bell and Ted Danson and it was created by Michael Schur.
Well, that’s just because a Bearimy is a loop compared to time on Earth. So she (and Michael) exited the loop at a point when Earth was around 2020.
It was never a top show. The rankings for season 1-3 were 77, 77 & 99[sup]th[/sup]. The average viewers in millions were 5.72, 5.78 & 4.57.
That is what I mean. It was critically acclaimed and thankfully the powers that be at NBC felt it did well enough to justify its continuation. There is a difference between Mass Appeal shows that make the top 30 and shows that stay on the air. Many shows with The Good Place ratings would have been dropped.
When I watched the finale, I wondered about the trip Eleanor and Chidi took to Athens and Paris. Were they visiting a Janet-created simulation of the cities, or the actual ones? And, I wondered, if these were simulations, could she show you Athens at the time of Pericles? Or Woodstock during the 1969 concert? Because I could imagine spending a long time in the afterlife wandering around places and events in history.
They were simulations.
OK. I have to watch the last episode again. I have to admit that I would love to see Athens (the Parthenon especially) restored to its glory.
Hell, maybe it’s true. Maybe, the way a wave goes back to the ocean and becomes part of billions of other waves, we become part of billions of other people. Maybe that’s why we want to love each other so much; we’re kind of reaching out to ourselves.
In “Patty” during their welcome party Janet says the green doors can take them to any time and place, real or imagined (at which point Jason took of to go-kart race with monkeys).
They certainly spent a long time wandering around places and events in history - if they were interested. They were there for at least 3300 Bearimies before Chidi left (just going by the title cards, possibly a lot more - and a Bearimy is a very long time.
I loved everything about the show. My only question is how they managed to film at Sacre Coeur during daylight with empty stairs. It’s permanently crowded.
anyone wanna list some more of the cameos?
They got permission to film an hour before it opened. (Oh wait, that was Greece, not Sacre Coeur)
They also happened to be in Paris during the funeral of Jacques Chirac, so certain streets were already blocked off and they took advantage of some additional freedom that allowed them.
I heard these facts on the official Good Place podcast.
In the scene in paradise where Chidi is teaching a moral philosophy course, two of the students are actual prominent moral philosophers.
I have loved listening to the podcast as I watched the series. If you are planning to re-watch I encourage you to give it a try. Mark Evan Jackson (who plays Shawn) is a skilled host and the guests bring great stories and insight.
At the end of each episode he asks the guests “what is good?” Their varied responses are brilliant and really left me uplifted.
Yeah, those are great. I really loved Michael Schur’s last one.
Weren’t those two actual advisors for the series?
This is perfect. When the rest of you listen to the podcast you’ll know why.
Finished on Sunday, Wow Great. I cried a fair bit, there were so many touching endings, and I was invested in the characters.
It does seem that anything would be boring if it lasts forever. We just can’t conceive of it. Also, we are usually trying to make life better for ourselves and those around us. It doesn’t seem necessary in heaven.
I know as a kid in church I never found the idea of heaven enticing. Singing someone’s praises forever? Living on streets paved with gold? No thanks.
The background music by Arvo Pärt (Spiegel im Spiegel) is just as magical as the speech. We once had it on repeat for 3 days at our house. It never gets old, it never speeds up, it just goes. I hope the service for kaylasmom was everything you all needed.