TMC
01-31-2018, 05:08 PM
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/jan/30/the-good-place-how-a-sitcom-made-philosophy-seem-cool?CMP=fb_gu%3FCMP%3Dfb_gu
Never studied philosophy? No worries! Here’s a beginner’s guide to the concepts that make the gags in The Good Place so, well, good
Oh, to have been a fly on the wall during the pitch meeting for The Good Place. Who’d have thought that ratings gold would be found in a sitcom about the afterlife, with regular references to Immanuel Kant, David Hume and Aristotle? It presumably helped to have comedy heavyweights Kristen Bell and Ted Danson attached and that it was created by Michael Schur, who has The Office, Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine on his credits.
And the original premise is solid: selfish and immoral Eleanor Shellstrop (Bell) dies and is sent to a non-denominationally pleasant Heaven by accident but becomes determined to become a good person in order to be worthy enough to stay. The writing is reliably hilarious and the ensemble cast have an exceptional chemistry. The show is also peppered with adorable quirks such as the characters being unable to swear in the Good Place, instead defaulting to curses such as “holy shirt!” and “motherforker!”
But moral philosophy is the beating heart of the program, and it has some of the best jokes that this one-time postgraduate in moral philosophy has ever heard.
So, what are the concepts that guarantee The Good Place will endure as both a brilliantly inventive comedy and a tiresomely obvious thesis topic for lazy undergrads?
Never studied philosophy? No worries! Here’s a beginner’s guide to the concepts that make the gags in The Good Place so, well, good
Oh, to have been a fly on the wall during the pitch meeting for The Good Place. Who’d have thought that ratings gold would be found in a sitcom about the afterlife, with regular references to Immanuel Kant, David Hume and Aristotle? It presumably helped to have comedy heavyweights Kristen Bell and Ted Danson attached and that it was created by Michael Schur, who has The Office, Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine on his credits.
And the original premise is solid: selfish and immoral Eleanor Shellstrop (Bell) dies and is sent to a non-denominationally pleasant Heaven by accident but becomes determined to become a good person in order to be worthy enough to stay. The writing is reliably hilarious and the ensemble cast have an exceptional chemistry. The show is also peppered with adorable quirks such as the characters being unable to swear in the Good Place, instead defaulting to curses such as “holy shirt!” and “motherforker!”
But moral philosophy is the beating heart of the program, and it has some of the best jokes that this one-time postgraduate in moral philosophy has ever heard.
So, what are the concepts that guarantee The Good Place will endure as both a brilliantly inventive comedy and a tiresomely obvious thesis topic for lazy undergrads?