I want some more of Shawn retreating into his cocoon
― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 1 October 2017 22:37 (six years ago) link
Enjoyed the first couple but it feels like the writers have written themselves into a corner that might be quite difficult to get out of.
― Matt DC, Monday, 2 October 2017 10:24 (six years ago) link
you have identified perhaps the primary pleasure of the show!
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Monday, 2 October 2017 10:28 (six years ago) link
Once again it's the pernicious hand of the AV Club: as soon as a show gets good, you start to worry about it fucking up or burning out. There are TV reviewer tropes just as there are TV tropes.
― Chuck_Tatum, Monday, 2 October 2017 12:17 (six years ago) link
i believe that (s)he is sincere (forksclovetofu) at 8:05 30 Sep 17....in the last episode it showed that they always end up In love with each other? What am I missing here?**extremely nerd voice** Mindy said they had had sex 20 times over 8 sessions but only said they loved each other once.
― Monster fatberg (Phil D.), Monday, 2 October 2017 12:26 (six years ago) link
Once again it's the pernicious hand of the AV Club: as soon as a show gets good, you start to worry about it fucking up or burning out.
It was good from the very first episode but pressing a consistent reset button so that the characters remember nothing from the first season is a difficult corner to get yourself out of, and they've spent two episodes trying to find a way out of it already.
― Matt DC, Monday, 2 October 2017 12:49 (six years ago) link
They aren't making the show week to week you know. They have months of story meetings where they lay aaaaaaalllll this shit out
― ein Sexmonster (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Monday, 2 October 2017 12:56 (six years ago) link
It will console none of you that Schur specifically consulted w/ Damon Lindelof to figure out how to (and how not to) navigate a high-concept series
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 2 October 2017 13:12 (six years ago) link
Given Schur's track record, I'm fine with him doing a post-mortem on a popular series with its creator so he can avoid the same pitfalls.
― Marcus Hiles Remains Steadfast About Planting Trees.jpg (DJP), Monday, 2 October 2017 13:32 (six years ago) link
"It was good from the very first episode but pressing a consistent reset button so that the characters remember nothing from the first season is a difficult corner to get yourself out of, and they've spent two episodes trying to find a way out of it already."
did you not see the end of the season 2 opener? they are not going to keep doing that.
― akm, Monday, 2 October 2017 13:43 (six years ago) link
Consulting with the guy who made The Leftovers seems pretty smart.
― Frederik B, Monday, 2 October 2017 13:47 (six years ago) link
*I* thought it was a smart move but given the Lindelof hate elsewhere on the board (see the nu-Watchmen thread) I figured it might cause some concern
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 2 October 2017 13:57 (six years ago) link
"i was reluctant to check this out because i thought it was by some pushing daisies people,"
no, that's the new Star Trek (or was until he quit; he also did American Gods and Hannibal, so I wouldn't hold Pushing Daisies against him)
― akm, Tuesday, 3 October 2017 03:20 (six years ago) link
please let Hannibal show up. Space Hannibal. maybe he’s the sous chef
― mh, Tuesday, 3 October 2017 03:41 (six years ago) link
I mean, on Star Trek. He should show up in The Good Place too, though
― mh, Tuesday, 3 October 2017 03:42 (six years ago) link
i mean, i liked pushing daisies (or maybe i liked anna friel), it just was a little suffocating and cloying
― j., Tuesday, 3 October 2017 03:47 (six years ago) link
i finished s1
it's weird that this is such an LA show and the only Latino is a criminal with the moral and mental capacity of a 12-y.-o. whose innocent stupidity is played for laughs
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 3 October 2017 08:16 (six years ago) link
i know it's churlish, as is noting there appear to be no gay people despite kb's luggy side
happy_shruggie.gif
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 3 October 2017 08:18 (six years ago) link
I don't think anyone in the show is from anywhere near LA (Eleanor: Arizona; Chidi: Nigeria/Senegal; Tahani: UK; Jason: Florida)? Does "LA show" mean something more general? Also, I think Jason is Filipino-American; idk if that makes it better or not.
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Tuesday, 3 October 2017 11:34 (six years ago) link
I thought Antonio and Gunner played a gay couple on the first season, too. Don't know if that counts.
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Tuesday, 3 October 2017 11:38 (six years ago) link
*in
If anything makes me uncomfortable, I think it's that Jason's character might come close to being actually intellectually disabled at times but it is always played for laughs. I don't have a clear opinion about it yet, just a potential red flag.
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Tuesday, 3 October 2017 11:48 (six years ago) link
the neighborhood is like a parody of LA suburbs i.e. all the frozen yogurt, sunshine etc, but it's true it's neither here nor there as far as my discomfort around that character goes.
i like the show! i just wish it could be a little braver about race (and gender and sexual identity)
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 3 October 2017 12:00 (six years ago) link
There are four main human characters on the show, only one of whom (and arguably the least moral of them) is white. Two of the others are an African philosophy professor and a British Asian millionaire philanthropist, neither of which seem like stereotypical or insulting portrayals. I don't think it's statistically unrealistic that all four would be predominantly heterosexual. What am I missing?
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Tuesday, 3 October 2017 12:13 (six years ago) link
the fact that the only latino is a borderline-retarded criminal
but yes i take your point
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 3 October 2017 12:17 (six years ago) link
He's not Latino!
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Tuesday, 3 October 2017 12:20 (six years ago) link
ha okay well i guess i am dumm sorry everyone
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 3 October 2017 12:21 (six years ago) link
i think its cool that they went with unknowns for jason, tahani, and chidi. i looked them up and chidi and jason have done almost nothing! and tahani would only be known by people who watch british music chart shows on t.v. completely unknown here.
― scott seward, Tuesday, 3 October 2017 12:32 (six years ago) link
yeah, he's filipino on the show. and filipino/chinese in real life.
― scott seward, Tuesday, 3 October 2017 12:33 (six years ago) link
and even jason thinks that heaven is racist. he says so on the show.
i know jameela! we used to work together. here's a picture i took of her once. v proud of how it came out
https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/640x360/p01pqps9.jpg
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 3 October 2017 12:40 (six years ago) link
I think it's that Jason's character might come close to being actually intellectually disabled at times but it is always played for laughs
That's a bit heavy! I thought the character was a parody of a lamebro Youtuber / Viner type
― Chuck_Tatum, Tuesday, 3 October 2017 12:48 (six years ago) link
Tracer: whoa!
The Jason character seems more culturally dumb to me than mentally challenged? I’ve known people who were actually book smart who come off more naive. I think he’s just... from Florida.
― mh, Tuesday, 3 October 2017 12:52 (six years ago) link
jameela and kristin bell are two of the most beautiful people on television, but I kind of like that the show doesn't really play up their beauty
― akm, Tuesday, 3 October 2017 13:00 (six years ago) link
Chidi is a well known NY stage actor
― ein Sexmonster (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Tuesday, 3 October 2017 13:53 (six years ago) link
as soon as I read that, my first thought was "so what L&O episode was he on?"
one way back in 2010, looks like
― mh, Tuesday, 3 October 2017 13:56 (six years ago) link
lol
― Marcus Hiles Remains Steadfast About Planting Trees.jpg (DJP), Tuesday, 3 October 2017 13:57 (six years ago) link
"Chidi is a well known NY stage actor"
which kinda means unknown. in t.v. terms.
i just think it's cool that they are not people who have been in 10 different awful people sitcoms.
― scott seward, Tuesday, 3 October 2017 13:59 (six years ago) link
I get a little bit of cognitive dissonance watching this show and realizing that Eleanor and Chidi, or at least the actors playing them, are my age. At least I'm not in hell.... I think.
― mh, Tuesday, 3 October 2017 14:00 (six years ago) link
xp he was also in High Maintenance!
I have to agree that people who regularly do (or have done) stage work are better at actual acting. Or at least I hold to that bias.
― mh, Tuesday, 3 October 2017 14:02 (six years ago) link
I liked him in Paterson too.
― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 3 October 2017 14:42 (six years ago) link
one more slightly dim filipino-american bro on a lighthearted-look-at-existential-dilemmas-focused primetime show and we'll officially have a trend (see also josh chan on CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND)
― maura, Tuesday, 3 October 2017 16:32 (six years ago) link
I like The Good Place a lot more as a show but tbf, at least in Crazy Ex-Gf, you also saw Josh's family (incl e.g. a doctor father iirc) and friends (incl a Filipino-American priest). But yeah, I was wondering if this is a Filipino-American stereotype I didn't really know about.
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Tuesday, 3 October 2017 17:36 (six years ago) link
jason's friends from the old days show up briefly in flashbacks. crazy ex girlfriend does have a season and double the episode length on the good place...
― maura, Tuesday, 3 October 2017 17:53 (six years ago) link
I remember Jason's friends being similarly dumb but I could be forgetting. Second point is totally fair and I do think Good Place is mostly really good on race.
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Tuesday, 3 October 2017 17:56 (six years ago) link
no one is arguing for unjust slandering of floridians I see
― mh, Tuesday, 3 October 2017 18:00 (six years ago) link
Yeah, it might be more of a Florida stereotype than anything.
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Tuesday, 3 October 2017 18:01 (six years ago) link
It is 100% a Florida stereotype
― Marcus Hiles Remains Steadfast About Planting Trees.jpg (DJP), Tuesday, 3 October 2017 18:02 (six years ago) link
you know you're in the bad place if your soulmate doesn't even know who blake bortles is
― bodak horseman (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 3 October 2017 18:59 (six years ago) link
anti-Florida, anti-dj bigotry is acceptable
― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 3 October 2017 19:01 (six years ago) link