The Good Place: The Complete Series [Blu-ray]

The Good Place was a comedy that aired over the course of four seasons on NBC. It was a show about the afterlife that managed to avoid religion or much religious discussion. The premise is that during your time on earth you earn or lose points through your actions and that depending on your point total at death you end up in The Good Place, or The Bad Place.The series stars Kristen Bell as Eleanor Shellstrop, a person that was basically a horrible human being and ended up in The Good Place because of a clerical error, and Ted Danson as Michael, the architect of the neighborhood that Elanor lives in during the afterlife. The rest of the main cast is made up of newcomers and/or unknown actors and actresses, D'Arcy Carden as the afterlife version of Alexa or Siri, named Janet, William Jackson Harper as Chidi, a recently deceased professor of ethics and moral philosophy, Jameela Jamil as Tahani, a rich British socialite, and Manny Jacinto, who plays Jianyu, a monk who has taken a vow of silence. There are a lot of twists and turns throughout the course of the series, and not everything, and everyone, are as they seem. I will not go into too much detail to keep from spoiling anything, but the show (and the characters) go through a ton of change and development over the course of the series. But, the main themes narrow down to that of what it means to be family and friends, soulmates, what makes a good person good, and a bad person bad, and can a person improve themselves to be better. And of course, a take on what happens after we die.The show was created by Michael Schur, who was a writer (and played Dwight's cousin Mose) on The Office, as well as an executive producer of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Parks And Recreation. While this show is totally different from any of those, you do get some cameo appearances by some of the actors from those shows (Adam Scott, for example), as well as some SNL alums (like Mya Rudolph). The series was relatively short, 13 episodes per season, and just 4 seasons. It is mostly a comedy, with some elements of drama mixed in. The series finale was one of the best I have seen for any show, and I believe, found a way to perfectly end the series and give a great sendoff for all the characters. The finale was the one episode of the series with almost no comedy in it but was really an hour-long, very sad, goodbye to both the fans of the show, as well as the characters and the actors who played them.The series comes on 9 BluRay discs. Each season has two discs just containing the 13 episodes spread across the two discs, and then there is a 9th disc with just the bonus material. It is most of the extras that were included in the individual season set DVD releases like the gag-reels and the fx reels and included a 50-minute long portion of the 2019 comic-con panel, and the after-show that ran on NBC after the series finale. Apparently, the extended episodes that are included are not the same as those that can be streamed on the NBC website or that were included in the UK Blu-Ray releases, nor were there the episodes (which sound like web-shorts) that bridged seasons three and four. So, while what was included was good, it is not complete.Overall, the series itself was fantastic. The show was well served by having a shorter run of episodes per season, and the series ended before it got stale and repetitive. As I said above, it managed to steer clear of any real discussion of religion and never endorsed or took shots at any particular religion. The acting and writing were top-notch. I think a special shout out has to go out to D'Arcy Carden who not only had to play different versions of her own character but in one season-three episode had to play most of the other characters on the show as well. I would describe the show as PG-13 plus, as there were definitely sex and drug references, although the show did cleverly find a way to get around swearing. Although, the gag reels had a ton of swearing in them. While I cannot guarantee that everyone will love the show, if you are looking for a good comedy to check out, this one is definitely worth it. And, while getting this Blu-Ray set does require a lot of people to double-dip who likely bought the individual season sets on DVD for seasons 1-3, and the extras are not as good as they should have been, I believe it is still worth picking up on Blu-Ray.

Picture & sound quality are absolutely top notch in this complete series collection now out on Blu-ray.The Good Place is one of the funniest and most cleverly written sitcoms ever produced on American TV. It's won a Peabody Award, three Hugo Awards, been nominated for fourteen Emmy Awards (including Outstanding Comedy Series), has been placed on The Guardian's list of 100 best TV shows of the century, and the final season has even received a spectacular 100% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes!This fantasy comedy series takes place in an imaginary afterlife in which a truly reprehensible human being is apparently mistakenly sent to a place so exclusive that even Mother Theresa couldn't get in--a place set aside for only the very, very best of humanity.Can a totally self centered & utterly immoral person pass herself off as a good human being? Can such a terrible person actually BECOME a good human being? And what ultimate criteria should be used to judge them by?This is a sitcom that asks such weighty questions and, in the process, examines human nature, ethics, philosophy and so many questions about morality the way The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy skewered politics, history, sociology and scientific speculation--very cleverly, and for the sake of incredibly hilarious fun. It proves once and for all that making you think and being very, very funny CAN actually be the same thing!The cast is superb (this is Ted Dansen's best role since Cheers, and Christine Bell and the rest of the cast are just as phenomenally excellent), the writing is utterly without compare and the unexpectedly twisting, turning and endlessly surprising plot keeps you guessing how it will all turn out right up until the extremely satisfying conclusion of this wonderfully funny series (it boasts one of the best final episodes ever!)Not many shows are this incredibly funny. Not many are this smartly written. To come across a show that is both is like finding a diamond on your doorstep. The Good Place is one such unbelievably rare gem.If you love well written, thought provoking and gut-bustingly funny, laugh-out-loud comedy, this show is not to be missed! Watch The Good Place and join the millions of fans who've already fallen in love with the most hilariously clever TV show to come along in years. Don't miss out on all the fun.This Blu-ray complete series set contains every single episode of the show (including extended versions) and boasts excellent picture and sound quality. The only thing it's missing is "The Selection", the web series that falls right between seasons three and four. It was absolutely hilarious and really should have been included in the special features of this set. Even taking that one small omission into account, this is a really great buy. I have to thank Shout Factory! for releasing The Good Place on bluray for all of us to enjoy. The DVD version, although just as funny, did not do the spectacular special effects and visual aspects of this show justice. This excellent Blu-ray set couldn't come more highly recommended!