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After “The Good Place”: Three More Shows To Help You Think About Ethics, Philosophy, and Being a Good Person
The Good Place marks a weird experiment in TV: what if you made a half-hour sitcom about the afterlife that was all about moral philosophy? And what if, instead of quietly fading after a sparsely-viewed pilot, it became a modest hit and generated intense critical and fan conversation? What if it caused books like What We Owe Each Other by T.M. Scanlon to briefly hit the bestseller list?
The Good Place was unique in that it structured itself around trying to figure out what it means to be a good person. It presented us with four deeply flawed people (as well as a demon and one not-a-girl) and showed us how they overcame those flaws and learned what it meant to be a well-rounded human being.
It works because the show gave us compelling characters with believable personal drama, and had them not only explain, but demonstrate the philosophy at the heart of the show. This fun and accessible approach to difficult philosophical questions got a mainstream audience to think seriously about moral philosophy. If it worked for you, you might be wondering where to go next. The…