The Good Place: A Comedy Inspired by Lost

On Tuesday, the creator and cast of The Good Place was at the Television Critics Association talking about the new series that in some way is like another series, Lost.

The NBC series, from the co-creator of Parks and Recreation Michael Schur, stars Kristen Bell as a woman who dies and accidentally winds up in the Good Place due to a clerical error. Ted Danson plays a Good Place manager who realizes he's in way over his head on this one.

It's left with the TV critics to wonder whether the whole first season of 13 episodes will be a "chaotic" as the pilot. 

"This show is never going to be a 'was, rinse, repeat' kind of show," said Schur at the TCA. 

The Good Place pilot is a "pretty good template" for what is contained story in which something dramatic happens at the end "that ends it spiraling to a different place," he explained. 

The model of the show is in some ways to Lost, which is only the second other new NBC show of the three fall series (This Is Us) whose creators have said at the TCA their show is like Lost. 

"I love that show," Schur said of Lost.

He loved it so much that Lost co-creator and showrunner Damon Lindelof was one of the first people he sought out for guidance as he was working on this new NBC series. 

"We're going to play a game called 'Is This Anything?" Schur said he told Lindelof. "He gave me a lot of wonderful advice."

That included a recommendation that Drew Goddard directed the pilot; he's an executive producer of the series too. 

Schur says that the first season was "carefully piloted" so it didn't fly off the rails. Not to mention that he didn't pitch the series to NBC until  he knew what the whole season would be about.

Goddard mentions Kristen Bell makes being bad look charming. 

Bell says her character will struggle with trying to earn her spot in the good place. Her favorite thing about her character, Eleanor, is "that she just lets her tongue loose." She "has no edit button and she says what she feels."

We've been hearing from the promos of what the bad place sounds like, but Schur won't confirmed that we'll see the bad place this season.

And not to mention that there will be life flashbacks for several of the characters in the first season.

The season contains only 13 episodes and will not get picked up for any additional episodes. 

The Good Place will premiere on Monday, Sept. 19th at 10/9c after The Voice and moved to it's regular night Thursdays at 8:30/7:30c after Superstore on NBC.