How Will NBC's 'The Good Place' Tackle Religion?

Series creator Mike Schur talks with THR about how the Kristen Bell and Ted Danson starrer will handle its relgious undertones.

SEPTEMBER 15, 2016 10:45am PT
by Joanne Ostrow

At first glance, a viewer could be forgiven for thinking NBC's The Good Place is a show with a religious undercurrent, maybe even a comedic send-up of religious themes and beliefs.

That viewer would be mistaken, executive producer and creator Michael Schur hastens to note. Schur (Fox's Brooklyn Nine-Nine and NBC's gone but not forgotten Parks and Recreation and Netflix breakout Master of None) understands the confusion. But he stresses The Good Place, premiering Sept. 19 on NBC, is a comedy set in the afterlife but that doesn't make it a religious show.

“It is very important to make clear in the first 30 seconds of pilot, this is not one religion’s concept of the afterlife,” Schur tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I did a lot of research.”

After perusing various theological studies and treatises on holy documents, “I stopped doing research because I realized it’s about versions of ethical behavior, not religious salvation. The show isn’t taking a side, the people who are there are from every country and religion.”

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/good-place-religion-explained-mike-927402