The Good Place

There’s no question that he [creator Mike Schur] and NBC are taking a chance with this tangy fantasy froth, but the necessary elements for a successful comedy are there, including the chemistry between Danson and Bell.

Nothing is perfect, but the wise whimsy of The Good Place comes close.

The show’s premise has so much potential for musing and puzzling that it’s a relief it remembers to be funny, too.

It shines through and stands out as the fall season’s best new comedy among the major broadcast networks. ... Her character is a fraud who so far doesn’t belong, but Bell herself is the very best thing about The Good Place.

The brilliance of the writing and world-building on The Good Place is taken to another level by its cast.

A gem of subversive mockery, trashing everything from New Age cosmic-muffin deism to central planning with gleeful comic bloodlust.

The first episode starts out whimsical and veers into freakish by the end, but I'm already invested in seeing where it goes from there.

Just as “Parks and Rec” was built around a strong female character (Amy Poehler), so is The Good Place and Bell brings her daffy range of sensibilities to the show. She somehow manages to run through sassy, clueless, innocent, rude, earnest, spunky, well-intentioned and selfish modes in every episode.

Fun, colorful, lively--but is there a real show here, or just a good joke?

Although less thought provoking [than the film "Defending Your Life"], this new series uses a similar premise but has the potential to be even funnier. A fascinating theme and a charismatic cast make The Good Place appointment television.

NBC’s breezy new comedy The Good Place manages to tackle thorny issues like morality and religion while still delivering the most laughs of any new series this fall. In short, it’s a godsend.

The first five episodes propel the story with so many surprises and calamitous cliffhangers that even nonbelievers might want to check the out-of-this-world Place out. [26 Sep 2016-2 Oct 2016, p.17]

A series pilot has to walk a rather tricky line of setting up a series premise, giving a hint of things to come, and, you know, being entertaining. As far as pilots go, NBC's The Good Place (from Parks and Creation co-creator Michael Schur) hits it out of the park with all of the above-not to mention some honest to goodness earned laughter.

The five episodes I've seen of The Good Place showed it to be smart with heart, and that combination should be worth a fair number of afterlife points.

Smart and delightful.

Jokes are plentiful and original and the show hums along delivering a lot of welcome joy. It might not be fall-on-the-ground funny, but you can definitely see a strong hand here in the creative writing and spot-on performances.

This show is offbeat, but it's definitely worth checking out.

It’s a laugh-out-loud sitcom that nonetheless strives to investigate its storylines on deeper metaphysical grounds.

Though endlessly inventive and consistently funny at this early stage, the series is flying by the seat of its pants, ending episodes on unexpected cliffhangers and distributing fresh information about its setting at an ostensibly unsustainable rate. If it’s able to maintain its sprightly attitude and enthusiastic momentum, however, NBC could be looking at a new golden goose.

Creator Michael Schur (“Parks and Recreation”) must be commended for not only playing to Bell and Danson’s strengths but much like he did with his previous NBC hit, Schur creates a place for lesser-known cast members to truly shine.

The Good Place offers a clever high-concept premise that’s complemented with intelligent, sometimes absurdist humor.

I’m eager to see how Schur develops his amiable setup, beyond the amusing idea that there are no hangovers in heaven.

At this stage of things, The Good Place is more often clever-funny than haha-funny. Thankfully, it's really forking clever, not just in all the little details of how the Good Place functions, but in the way it gradually reveals all the things wrong with the neighborhood beyond Eleanor's presence.

It makes for a funny pilot, but the exact quality that made Parks and Recreation such a novel, engrossing series--its exploration of goodness and decency; its rejection of cynicism--is what weighs down The Good Place somewhat. Its punchlines, after a while, seem based on the same set-up: Eleanor bad, Good Place good.

Like many high-concept sitcom pilots, "The Good Place" ... at first seems more like a movie idea (e.g., "Defending Your Life"). But over five previewed episodes, it holds up.

In its first five episodes, the show is more gently amusing than laugh-out-loud funny, and no character pops as much as Ron Swanson did in the early days of “Parks and Rec.” That said, “The Good Place” is more polished than the first few installments of that earlier series.

The Good Place has the right intentions. It has the big idea. It even has the players. But someone needs to move them more effectively.

Schur has created a wonderfully full-bodied fantasy universe, complete with any number of witty flourishes. ... Unfortunately, little of it seems to stick. With each episode, it becomes harder to root for Eleanor, a fairly terrible person on earth who seems likely to destroy the afterlife for everyone around her, Michael included.

The Good Place,” from “Parks and Recreation” creator Michael Schur, is the true heir to “Lost,” right down to the flashbacks, half-baked philosophy and Colorforms-simple metaphors.

The Good Place, needs some work. ... If there’s a purgatory for mediocre comedies that are built on wobbly premises, then that’s where this should go. A viewer will spend too much time grappling with the show’s intent (what might it be saying about the various ideas and beliefs people have about the afterlife?) and not enough time laughing.