Why 'The Good Place' is a Must Watch?

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Courtesy: NBC
A scene from 'The Good Place'
The Good Place created by Michael Schur is undoubtedly one the best shows out there. With a limited 4 season runtime and a 22 minute duration of every episode, this sitcom is a perfect binge package. Unlike any other sitcoms out there, this show does not capture too many laughs but it has some of the most brilliant writing I have ever seen in a T.V show. This show is a Philosophical Fiction Comedy, which is not a quite common genre that we get to see a lot of.
There might be a few necessary spoilers ahead.

A scene from 'The Good Place' 

The show starts with its 4 lead characters being already dead and waking up in the afterlife which is supposedly The Good Place. This idea of taking different people and putting them in the same place to make each other miserable and psychologically torture them is inpired from "Hell is other people", from Jean-Paul Sartre's play 'No Exit'. During the course of the show the characters try to change themselves to become a Good Person. This leads us the question What is Good and Bad? The show tells us that there is no such thing as good or bad through Character developments in all of its characters. Each character in the show becomes there best self in the end. It answers the all-time question of Good or Bad by using 'Morality' as a concept.
The show teaches us a lot about Moral Philosophy and Ethics through the character Chidi Anagonye, a moral philosophy professor. There are a lot of references to some of the greatest philosophers like  John Locke, Tim Scanlon, Peter Singer, and Derek Parfit. The show also makes use of everything from Jonathan Dancy's theory of moral particularism, to Aristotelian virtue ethics, to Kantian deontology, to moral nihilism. Pamela Hieronymi, a UCLA philosophy professor, served as a consultant while the show was being made. She also made a cameo along with political philosopher Todd May in the final episode.
The show questions the viewer by blurring the line between good & bad and makes them question about 'truth of life on Earth" and "What is a Good Person ?". The Good Place, a show that begins in the afterlife tells us "How life is supposed to be on Earth?" , "Why we can't be always happy ?" , "Why
our idea of Heaven and
A scene from 'The Good Place'
Hell is not accurate?".  The show teaches us that what gives life meaning is the knowledge that it's gonna end. The show tells us what paradise constitutes of through one of its characters, Chidi Anagonye by saying "Having enough time with the people you love." This show is mainly based on a philosophy book named "What we owe to each other?" by Tim Scanlon. The book deals with Contractualism which means to act morally is to abide by principles that no one could reasonably reject.
Book by T.M Scanlon

Everything in 'The Good Place' comes down to basic human need of having relations with each other, sharing a special bond of love. The four main characters (infact all the characters) in the show end up becoming the best version of themselves. The show gives the happiest closure to all of its characters.

This series has a lot of teachings, philosophical questions and other stuff about life, that one can keep talking about it forever. It is definitely one of best works of Michael Schur. This well-crafted, well directed, perfectly researched, brilliantly performed and creative sitcom is a must watch for everyone.
A scene from'The Good Place'

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