The Good Place on NBC

Mike Schur and the show's philosophy consultant, Pamela Hieronymi, are on the latest episode of the Ezra Klein Show podcast: https://www.vox.com/podcasts/2019/12/10/21002589/the-ezra-klein-show-mike-schur-the-good-place-moral-philosophy

(I haven't listened yet.)

great big gap in the schedule

It has done this every year, but this time there are going to be more episodes in the second calendar year than last season, so the pace should be improved if anything

I know it's done it each year, but this series has been unusually baggy, which having an extra episode is unlikely to improve. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of time and affection for this show which is better than almost every other comedy on TV, I'm just disappointed in it this year.

you have a right

Found it baggy and disappointing last year too

But it’s still fine

The common denominator in Schur shows seems to be that, the nicer a character gets, the less interesting s/he becomes

Andre Braugher seems to be the exception. Ted Danson’s still great in this, but he seemed to have more fun as the bad guy

So you all know this came back?

thing that irrationally annoyed me: Timothy Olyphant guesting as "Timothy Olyphant" even though he was clearly meant to be in character as Raylan Givens

Well tbf he was a Janet-created fantasy Olyphant

yeah but it was specifically listed as “Timothy Olyphant” not Timothy Olyphant, so the Judge’s made-up idea of what the guy she only knows from Justified is really like

seems like a distinction they could have milked for a proper joke tbh

anyway that's all from me, the joke police

i thought that joke was implied.

i imagine he was credited as "raylan" in the script before some nbc lawyers got worried about rights issues.

yeah almost certainly some fox/nbc ish and not something worth not suspending your disbelief over

Hm, so reincarnation and karma is the compromise solution?

haha I had that thought too

I was hoping it would embrace universalism - forgiveness solves lots of the problems.

Universal forgiveness goes against the grain of most, if not all, ethical philosophers, because it renders their tortured wrestling with the nuances pointless.

I thought last night's was fantastic and got me really excited about this season (for a week until the season finale). The change in setting seemed to open up something that had been missing for much of the season, tons of laugh out loud moments.

I haven't watched it yet but I don't know if it's a good or bad thing about this show that literally anything could be at the end of the balloon ride and I'd probably buy it.

i've been suspicious they had an eight episode final season and have had to pad the shit out of it.

aka The Americans s5

It has felt like some wheel spinning for some time, but last night's really reminded me of what I love best about the show.

The ending was the ending of A History of the World in 10 1/2 chapters.

Looks like a feature length/double episode finale next week (according to IMDB anyway).

And the episode title seems like a massive fucking spoiler so don't look it up.

Oh! I thought that was the last episode...

Ha, the ending could certainly have scanned as a series finale, but more to come.

Schur on the Olyphant cameo: all this thread's questions answered

https://tv.avclub.com/mike-schur-on-making-the-judge-s-dreams-come-true-with-1840910984

ohhh that wasn't the finale

It's tonight, right?

90-min finale, yup

fuck

Well that was sweet.

i havente even finished watching & it has already destroyed ms

V good

Forgive the thread spam, but I wanted to note that this show's 2019 season is nominated in the 2019 ILX TV poll:

ILX's Best Television of 2019 Poll / VOTING AND CAMPAIGNING THREAD / Voting Ends January 31

If you like this show and you'd like to see it have a good showing in the poll (running in February) all you need to do is submit a ballot including it and your other favorites (4 minimum, 25 maximum, organized by your favorite to least favorite) to forksclovetofu at gmail by end of day today. It'll take five minutes; get to it!

it didn't really work for me overall and I'm not quite sure why

That's kind of my overall statement about the last couple seasons really

Clara Peller!

Lacking cable and uninterested in legal streaming options, I haven't seen S3 & 4. The UK has had single season blus which I passed on. For cord cutters like myself, there will be a US blu-ray set released May 19.

it didn't really work for me overall and I'm not quite sure why

― bold caucasian eroticism (Simon H.), Friday, January 31, 2020 7:32 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

eleanor/chidi imo

i was still often devastated and felt like it was a solid ending but michael schur's romantic couplings really alienate me from his shows

This did pretty much what I expected it to and it was perfectly satisfactory in achieving that. So fine, but otherwise underwhelming (a bit like the whole final series).

Lacking cable and uninterested in legal streaming options, I haven't seen S3 & 4. ...For cord cutters like myself

This show was on broadcast television, and also available via illegal means.

I liked what they did with Michael at the end. I was feeling pretty underwhelmed by the last episode's vision of heaven - like, really, this is all it is? But after watching this one I thought maybe that was the point. Because, you know, all these people are actually dead. And even in this universe where there's an afterlife that gives you everything you've ever wanted, nothing beats getting to actually live your life.

michael's ending was great, as was tahani's, i like that she essentially became an afterlife party planner

my favorite part was cosmic derek

Schur pointed out an (I think) important detail about Chidi's exit. Everyone else took a seat on the bench, but Chidi, who spent his whole life tying himself in knots to make decisions, walked through without any hesitation whatsoever.

that was lovely. I mean the decisiveness of chidi’s exit specifically, but also the whole thing.

The Mary Steenburgen cameo <3

Also the fact that she was a guitar teacher:

In 2007, Steenburgen underwent minor surgery on her arm, which required a general anesthetic; shortly thereafter, she began experiencing "music (...) playing in her head day and night".[12] She subsequently took music lessons so that she could write down what she was hearing, and by 2013 had almost 50 songwriting credits.[12] She has collaborated with musicians from Nashville and was also signed to Universal Music as a songwriter.

I teared up a bit during that.

I had no idea she was Ted Danson's wife. I was thinking "oh, another Justified connection"

I’m going through an amicable ish divorce and the Eleanor-Chidi part fuckin destroyed me.

Feel like this episode accidentally romanticizes suicide.