The Good Place
COMEDY Netflix Self-centred Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) is sent to the Heaven-like ‘good place’ after she dies but quickly realises there has been a mistake. Ted Danson co-stars.
TED DANSON AND KRISTEN BELL team up in a divine new sitcom
IT’S ALWAYS GOOD to see Ted Danson back on our screens – especially when the former Cheers favourite is in a TV show worthy of his talents.
Luckily, that’s the case in
The Good Place, a new sitcom by Parks and Recreation creator Michael Schur, which has been a big hit Stateside.
With the first season available this week on Netflix and the second released weekly, it stars Veronica Mars actress Kristen Bell as Eleanor, who is killed in a car accident and sent to heaven where she meets her mentor, Michael (Danson).
MISTAKEN IDENTITY
As you’d expect, it’s a pretty nice place where her every wish is granted. As
Michael puts it: ‘You know the way you feel when you see a picture of two otters holding hands? That’s how you’re going to feel every day.’
However, Eleanor realises that she’s been mistaken for someone else, and should have been sent to the Bad Place instead.
‘Eleanor’s not malicious or evil. She’s very average,’ explains Bell. ‘She simply puts herself first and doesn’t understand that her actions have a ripple effect.’
When strange events make Michael suspect something might be wrong, Eleanor realises the only way she’ll get to stay is if she learns how to be a better person. Meanwhile, she’s also playing cat-and-mouse with Michael, who’s trying to uncover the source of the chaos.
PERFECT NIGHT IN
‘The show is a great metaphor that it’s never too late to change, even after you’re dead,’ says Bell. So what’s her idea of heaven? ‘Mine would be humid Michigan summer nights when there’s a lightning storm,’ she smiles. ‘also a night in binge-watching with my husband. We call it our party
time.’