The TV Column

Danson's Good Place returns on Wednesday

The Good Place, starring Ted Danson and Kristen Bell, returns to NBC on Wednesday. Last season’s finale twist revealed that the Good Place is, in fact, part of the Bad Place.
The Good Place, starring Ted Danson and Kristen Bell, returns to NBC on Wednesday. Last season’s finale twist revealed that the Good Place is, in fact, part of the Bad Place.

The slow rollout for the fall season continues, but the action really heats up next week. Meanwhile, the networks are up to their old tricks, again.

The Good Place will premiere its second season with a special hourlong episode at 9 p.m. Wednesday on NBC. This time slot will be taken over by the return of Chicago P.D. on Sept. 27.

Yes, it is confusing. The Good Place will settle into its permanent time at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 28 (that's a Thursday) following the return of Superstore.

Why is NBC going through this scheduling contortion? Wednesday's Good Place hour will follow the finale of America's Got Talent at 7 p.m. The network hopes that the special night will cause more viewers to sample the sitcom ahead of the regular time.

The Good Place was renewed despite modest ratings. More than 8 million viewers tuned in for the series debut a year ago, but only 3.93 million were around for the finale in January. The season average of 5.72 million placed the show No. 77 for the year.

But NBC still sees promise in the comedy. After all, it stars two of the biggest names on the tube -- Kristen Bell and Ted Danson. How could that not guarantee success?

The 37-year-old Bell was the popular star of Veronica Mars and went on to a string of movies, a starring role in House of Lies and, as every little girl in America knows, she was the voice of Princess Anna in Frozen.

Honorary Arkansan Danson (he has been married to favorite daughter Mary Steenburgen since 1995), played the beloved Sam Malone on Cheers, starred in Becker, had roles in CSI and CSI: Cyber and was featured in the second season of Fargo.

That's just part of the 69-year-old California native's resume.

In The Good Place, Bell plays Eleanor Shellstrop, an ordinary (but dead) woman who, thanks to some sort of error, is sent to the Good Place in the afterlife instead of the Bad Place, where she obviously belongs.

Eleanor hides in plain sight from Michael (Danson), the architect of the Good Place who does not realize there has been a mistake. For her part, Eleanor is determined to rid herself of her bad habits and become a person deserving of the Good Place.

But wait! In the Season 1 finale there was a shocking twist -- a jaw-dropping, game-changing, 180-degree, helluva twist.

In it, Eleanor and her fellow Good Place denizens -- including her assigned "soulmate" Chidi (William Jackson Harper), Tahani (Jameela Jamil) and Jason (Manny Jacinto) -- learn that they were not, in fact, in the Good Place. Instead, they were in an experimental torture scenario of the Bad Place created by Michael. It's all a part of his experiment to torment these eternally damned souls for a thousand years.

Michael's under the gun to succeed. Failure means he burns. Literally.

Torment? All the coffee is now from those little pods, and pizza places offer only Hawaiian style. There is a clam chowder fountain and even more clown decor around.

Diabolical.

In the finale, everyone had their memories erased by Michael. Results: Season 2 will be a fresh beginning. In Wednesday's episode, Eleanor is struggling to figure out where she is and the meaning behind the secret note she wrote to herself that tells her to find Chidi.

NBC has ordered 13 episodes for Season 2.

WEDNESDAY FINALES

America's Got Talent, 7-9 p.m. on NBC. It's the live results show with Tyra Banks revealing the winner of $1 million.

Big Brother, 7-9 p.m. on CBS. This is what I'll be watching. Regular readers know Big Brother is my guilty summer pleasure. Sadly, DeValls Bluff's self-proclaimed "Arkansassy," Raven Walton, didn't represent very well. Her hair extensions, thick Kabuki makeup and puerile touchy-feely showmance were grating and she was voted out of the house on Sept. 7.

CBS has announced that this winter it will air its first celebrity edition of Big Brother with multiple episodes each week.

There is no list yet of who will pass as "celebrities," or a premiere date, but the goal is to counterprogram NBC's 2018 Winter Olympics. ABC will air its all-star edition of The Bachelor during the Olympics.

Salvation, 9 p.m. on CBS. The season finale finds our heroes looking to topple the illegitimate government and Darius (Santiago Cabrera) finalizing plans for the ark.

No word yet on whether the series will return. Ratings have been modest, but this is a summer series and expectations aren't as high. Besides, there were pre-season overseas deals and a streaming agreement with Amazon that lowered the risk for the series.

The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:

mstorey@arkansasonline.com

Style on 09/19/2017

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