Just A Reminder That ‘The Good Place’ Is Back On Netflix This Forking Week

On paper, The Good Place is as far from a surefire hit as it is possible to imagine.

After all, we live in the age of peak TV, which means that acclaimed shows can wink out of existence almost as soon as they debut. Remember the Deadwood movie that people waited years to see? That expensive, large scale project that debuted to strong reviews and then sank from the cultural consciousness completely? How about The Romanoffs, the new show from Mad Men‘s Matthew Weiner? Or the 14-hour hallucinatory Nicolas Winding Refn classic Too Old To Die Young?

Things do not hang around these days, which is why it’s so weird that The Good Place has. The show is a classic sitcom, of course, and stars some well-liked actors. But it’s also mostly a knotty series of philosophy problems, each more complicated and dubious than the last. You couldn’t convince most people to attend an hour-long philosophy lecture each week, so why is The Good Place such a hit?

The answer, presumably, is the sheer energy of the writing. Every time Mike Schur and his team could go for the easy option, they take the tricky one instead, crafting a complicated and involving work of moral torpitude. After all, who can forget the third season finale, one big complex series of bungles?

Shit’s good, is what I’m saying.

Anyway, after a considerable time away from our screens, the show is coming crashing back for its final season. The Good Place season four is hitting Netflix this September 26.

Not that we’ve been given much of an indication what direction the new series will take. There’s been no trailers; no promotional photos. All there is to go off is a brief ‘first look’ video, most of which obscures the actual plot. This thing’s as close to a surprise drop as it’s possible to be with a publicly-accessible release date.

Which is good news, as far as we’re concerned. After all, there’s nothing like getting surprised, and what show is better at doing that than The Good Place?