Before the broadcast of The Good Place, I watched the trailer about ten times. There are three reasons: 1. Kristen Bell, since I started watching American TV series a few years ago, I made up for Veronica Mars and chased House of Lies because of her. Even when I watched Gossip Girl, part of the reason was because of her (laughs). I think she is A person who looks very beautiful (of course, I also have friends who say she is "cute and beautiful"), but often has infinite power in his heart (in fact, this is reflected in the previous two dramas). It is one of the few American actresses that I particularly like. 2. Ted Danson, at first glance was actually attracted by his appearance (I’m probably a master [uncle]?), until later I watched Damages, Help Me Help You (the short-lived drama he once starred in) and because of this Opened Fargo and CSI. 3. Michael Schur, he is behind a bunch of good comedies, the US version of The Office, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Parks and Recreation...
After actually watching the four episodes, I feel that my so many expectations have basically met expectations. It is also a drama I will watch on time every Friday. Let me talk about what is worthy of encouragement. At present, it seems that the first four episodes have succeeded in that it gives the audience an accurate "world view". When everyone is watching a series like "Game of Thrones", they will be very satisfied with the whole world built by the creator, the habits of the characters, the festivals, and what specific rules... Such a setting is rarely seen in comedies, but as such a comedy with a distinctive concept (not a family comedy; not a friend Huang Duanzi joke hodgepodge comedy; not an office comedy), The Good Place is in the first two The episode explains the "world" they live in: for example, "Columbus and others are in the evil land" because "they participated in the looting"; for example, any swear words will be corrected in time to other words, fork, bullshirt...; for example; Any language will be uniformly converted into English; and Eleanor's "evil thoughts" will cause chaos to the good... Such a setting is actually rare in many comedies. Most comedies will slowly introduce such "rules" after they are broadcast for a certain period of time (for example, the spring episode of Fresh off the Boat is in the second season. Only confirmed) and may not be strictly followed. From the very beginning, through such a setting, The Good Place can help the audience better integrate into the series (especially considering that it has a series of plots) and it also contains countless possibilities about the story and the characters.
However, it was this ingenuity that also hurt The Good Place to a certain extent. The first is that it creates a certain obstacle to the audience watching the show invisibly. Audiences who like this setting and agree with it will choose to continue watching, and every time there is such a joke afterwards, they will feel more cordial to the show. However, audiences who don't like this setting (for example, if you want to swear, just scold it!) will quickly withdraw. And another background is that if new viewers (referring to viewers who watch live on TV in the United States every week) suddenly jump to one of the episodes, they will appear relatively uncomfortable. The second is the longevity of the series. Many of today's comedies actually have a very good concept at the beginning. However, it may be that the creator himself did not correctly estimate the popularity of his series when he was producing it. After adding the number of episodes, it seems that there is no countermeasure, so that the story becomes more and more chaotic, and it deviates more and more from the original direction (here, for example, Last Man on Earth). Therefore, given so many restrictions, the main creative What means do we have to use to break these rules without making the audience feel strange is what The Good Place needs to think about later.
Another thing that makes drama fans feel distanced is the joke of the film. These comedies by Michael Schur will give people a "smart funny" feeling. Maybe the characters in the film are not particularly exaggerated or hysterical, but rather "awkward". And the lines, such as "Actually...any place or thing in the universe can be up to 104% perfect. That's how you got Beyonce." or "— You are the most self-obsessed person I have ever met.;— You should see Kendall Jenner's Instagram feed. "Most of the posts are related to hot topics, but not everyone seems to have a cold with such posts... Therefore, I can only say if you like to watch Parks and Recreation or The People at Office may be more accepting of such a movie
Speaking of the performance of the actors, I think it seems that Bell and Danson, especially the leading ones, are still good. Especially the performance style/age of the two can be regarded as a weird combination, unexpectedly there is a chemical reaction. Individually, many people still stay on the DB of CSI for Danson (or Hank of Fargo, Arthur of Damages), but in fact, everyone forgets that his real American drama is the legendary comedy Cheers with 270 episodes. He is competent. Comedy is completely fine, and it will feel like an old gentleman. As for Bell, this time the role is a "bitch" role, which is different from the "little girl" I said before, who has "inner power". People who have seen more of her previous roles will look at it now. It may take a while for Eleanor to adapt.
From the perspective of the prospects, the first episode got a good score of 2.3 with the help of "Voice of America", and then moved to its regular schedule (830 on Thursday, the lead is the second season of Superstore) fell to an average level of 1.3-1.4 . This result does not seem to be bad, because fans who are familiar with the ratings know that Thursday is the big hole that NBC is dissatisfied with, and it is "Death Night". At present, it seems that this result is better than the program broadcast in this period last year. Many, if it can be maintained, there are still opportunities for renewal. What's more, the two protagonists with such rich resumes have produced many award-winning comedy screenwriters. If nothing else, they will definitely have a place on the Golden Globe nomination list at the beginning of next year, and become a rare plus point. What this show needs to do is to pay more attention to the design of the "world" in the show (as if Michael has to check it regularly), and to be less "distance", perhaps, this will make it more successful.
One last word, since The Good Place has produced all 13 episodes, NBC will not add more episodes, so whether it is renewing or not renewing, I guess these 13 episodes will be more complete and should be People are not so worried about chasing.
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My rating: ☆☆☆☆
First episode ratings: 2.3/804 million
Metacritics ratings: 78 points (close to excellent, 29 positive reviews from 32 media, 3 Neutral, no negative)
AVClub first episode scoring: A-
chance to get or renew: ☆☆☆
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