Posted in: NBC, Preview, Trailer, TV | Tagged: bleeding cool, cable, chidi, eleanor, janet, jason, Michael, nbc, preview, season 4, streaming, tahani, television, the good place, tv
"The Good Place" Season 4: "Cooler Clothes" Eleanor, New Janet & More [PREVIEW IMAGE]
With The Good Place set for its fourth and final season on Thursday, September 26, NBC has released a new preview image and co-executive producer Megan Amram, supervising producer Jen Statsky, and co-star Jameela Jamil (Tahani) shared their thoughts on the return of series creator Michael Schur's "Soul Squad" with TV Line (see below):
● While Eleanor and Chidi's relationship may not be exactly where fans want it to be, Amram reveals that fans will be seeing a side to Eleanor they haven't seen before – a more fashionable one: "You're going to see her in a much different position than she's been in in the past. And in cooler clothes."
● Statsky reassures fans that though this my be the final season, the writers aren't approaching it any differently than they have previous seasons – approaching season 4 "with the same guns-blazing, 'Let's do as many crazy, weird twists and turns as we can'" mantra as they had before.
● We think Jamil gets the award for the biggest tease, though: viewers are going to meet a new Janet: "there's a Janet that you're going to meet in Season 4, and she is my favorite Janet by a mile."
The following images from "A Girl From Arizona" offer a fresh take on what looks to be the most challenging season for Michael (Ted Danson), Eleanor (Kristen Bell), Chidi (William Jackson Harper), Tahani (Jameela Jamil), Jason (Manny Jacinto), and Janet (D'Arcy Carden):
And yes… you will get "the feels," folks…
"The thing that I like about the whole season is we're following through on the idea of the show. People who have liked the show will feel like we didn't pull our punch."
– Michael Schur
Here's a look at what Schur had to say about the show's departure, as well as how the decision to end the series came about:
"After 'The Good Place' was picked up for season two, the writing staff and I began to map out, as best we could, the trajectory of the show. Given the ideas we wanted to explore, and the pace at which we wanted to present those ideas, I began to feel like four seasons – just over 50 episodes – was the right lifespan. At times over the past few years we've been tempted to go beyond four seasons, but mostly because making this show is a rare, creatively fulfilling joy, and at the end of the day, we don't want to tread water just because the water is so warm and pleasant. As such, the upcoming fourth season will be our last.
"I will be forever grateful to NBC and Universal TV for letting us make 'The Good Place,' and for letting us end it on our own schedule. I will also be forever grateful to the creative team, both on-screen and off, for their hard work and dedication to a very weird idea. We ask the question very frequently, on this show, what do we owe to each other? The answer, for me, is: I owe all of you a whole lot.
We look forward to a great final season airing this fall."
For the 2018-19 season, The Good Place averaged a 1.6 rating in adults 18-49 and 4.6 million viewers overall in "Live+7" Nielsens, and more than doubled to a 3.3 rating in 18-49 after 35 days of linear and projected non-linear viewership. Since its launch in 2016, the series has won the AFI Award for Program of the Year, TCA Award for Program of the Year, a Humanitas Award and a Peabody Award. In addition, the series has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award, Writers Guild Award, Producers Guild Award and Critics' Choice Award.
From creator Michael Schur ("Brooklyn Nine-Nine," "Parks and Recreation" and "Master of None") comes a unique comedy about what makes a good person. The show follows Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell, "House of Lies," "Veronica Mars"), an ordinary woman who enters the afterlife, and thanks to some kind of error, is sent to the Good Place instead of the Bad Place (which is definitely where she belongs). While hiding in plain sight from Good Place Architect Michael (Ted Danson – "Cheers," "CSI" – in an Emmy Award-nominated performance), she's determined to shed her old way of living and earn her spot.
The first two seasons featured surprise after surprise and twist after twist, including a world-upending season one finale that threw everything up in the air. At the end of season two, Michael appeared in front of the Judge (Maya Rudolph, also Emmy nominated) to argue that the humans may have been judged unfairly, and deserve a second chance. With a snap of her fingers, the Judge sent the humans back to Earth, in a new timeline where they never died.
Also seeking redemption, along with Eleanor, are Senegalese philosopher Chidi Anagonye (William Jackson Harper, "Paterson"), who is tortured by decision-making; elegant Pakistani-British socialite Tahani Al-Jamil (Jameela Jamil, "Playing It Straight") and dance-obsessed Floridian Jason Mendoza (Manny Jacinto, "The Romeo Section"). Michael is aided by Janet (D'Arcy Carden, "Broad City"), a human-esque repository for all of the knowledge in the universe.
Along with executive producing, Schur also serves as writer and showrunner. David Miner (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, 30 Rock), Morgan Sackett (Parks and Recreation, Veep) and Drew Goddard (The Martian) also executive produce. Universal Television, Fremulon, and 3 Arts Entertainment produce.