The Good Place premiered September 19, 2016, telling the story of Eleanor (Frozen's Kristen Bell) who died of an embarrassing death (struck by a semi-truck carrying a billboard advertising erectile dysfunction products), and goes to...the Good Place. CSI star Ted Danson guides Eleanor through this wonderful place and introducing to her her soul mate, Chidi, yes they are real (William Jackson Harper).
According to Michael (Danson), the concept of Heaven and Hell isn't real; there is the Good Place and the Bad Place. You judged by the good or bad deeds you did throughout your life on Earth.
Now here's the interesting part. Eleanor knows there is a mistake, she would say someone "royally forked up" (in the show she discovers she can't curse, but that doesn't stop her from sound-alike jargon). She knows she was really a bad person. Luckily, Chidi was a professor of moral ethics. To save her soul from eternal damnation in the Bad Place, he helps her become a good little soul.
Michael Schur (creator of The Office) shows some ingenuity once again, but the real genius is getting rid of the fact of any dominating religion in the afterlife. The show's Michael mentions that every existing religion had the afterlife about five percent correct, except Doug Forcett (hopefully a recurring joke, Forcett got high on mushrooms and got on a rant describing the afterlife, getting 92 percent of it correct; he is considered a hero in the Good Place).
I researched more about the show and Schur states that this show is not about religious salvation, but variations of ethical behavior.
You can watch The Good Place Thursdays on NBC at 8:30 pm.
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