NBC’s The Good Place Embraces the Golden Rule, Becoming a TV Palate Cleanser in the Age of Trump
NBCUniversal
As 2017 begins and a Trump presidency looms, thousands prepare to gather in Washington to protest. Donations to organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center and Planned Parenthood have spiked in response to the shocking (or perhaps not-so-shocking) results of the November election. These are trying times, and no one should seek to diminish them. But after a long day’s work of calling your representatives and completing your daily activism task for the Injustice Boycott, consider allowing yourself a TV palate cleanser with a message of acceptance. We’re all going to need one.
The Good Place, which returns to NBC tonight at 8:30 p.m., follows Eleanor (Kristen Bell), a terrible person who is mistakenly sent to an afterlife built strictly for good people. It’s a joke-dense, candy-colored spectacle that evokes the memory of Pushing Daisies (RIP, never forget). It has the showrunner who brought us Parks & Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. And it holds a place in the historically coveted NBC Thursday night lineup.
It also happens to be a philosophy-focused show casually guiding viewers to lead a life of religious tolerance and acceptance—a weighty task for any 30-minute comedy, much less one featuring giant CGI shrimp in its pilot.
To be fair, the task is a (mostly) unintended one. In a September interview with The Hollywood Reporter, showrunner Mike Schur discussed taking on the possibly unenviable prospect of creating a series with such heavy emphasis on religion. After doing a bunch of research, Schur decided to circumvent religion, for the most part—it was simpler, he decided, to eschew traditional religious beliefs and opt for an afterlife in which every major sect was a little bit right, but mostly wrong.
As underrepresented populations in America grapple with the potential consequences of the Trump administration, The Good Place offers the positive attitude toward diversity and tolerance we need right now. And it’s a gift lovingly bestowed upon us regardless of our current rankings in the “good person” points tally.
The series could have easily gone the route of poking fun at organized religion, in the vein of shows like South Park and even, at times, Transparent. Instead, it does a kindness by embracing those of all beliefs. The white Christian male isn’t the default archetype on this show: For the first several episodes, Ted Danson’s Michael is the only white dude with a regular role. That is, before the arrival of Trevor (Adam Scott) from “the bad place.” Trevor’s dialogue embodies a blunt, Trump-like sexism, which feels fitting—for example, upon meeting Eleanor, he calls her “sweetheart” and suggests that she smile more.
The Good Place makes a point of not building a case for one religion’s beliefs over any others in its opening scene. “Every religion guessed about five percent,” Michael explains to Eleanor in the pilot episode. Instead, a positive afterlife experience comes down to being a good person, regardless of religion, race, or gender.
As a result, those who make it to the Good Place convey a broader range of life experience than we are used to seeing in primetime. Major characters include Chidi (William Jackson Harper), a Nigerian who made learning and teaching ethics his life’s work; Tahani (Jamela Jamil), a Pakistani-born philanthropist; and Jianyu (Manny Jacinto), a (supposed) Buddhist monk from Taiwan. It’s an eclectic group, to be sure, but in the Good Place, everyone speaks the same language.