7 November 2024
'The Good Place' writers had ethics professors "on speed dial".
Ted Danson revealed The Good Place writers relied on ethics experts
The NBC sitcom - which ran from 2016 to 2020 - followed various characters as they navigated the afterlife and tried to transform their past conduct for the better, and those penning the scripts were determined to ensure the philosophical topics explored were as accurate as possible.
Speaking on his 'Where Everybody Knows Your Name' podcast, Ted Danson - who played afterlife "architect" Michael - said: "'The Good Place' is taught in some universities as part of their ethics [courses].
"On speed dial, we had three or four ethics professors who would talk to the writers daily to make sure what we were talking about was right.
"Sometimes it's good to get a second, third opinion."
The 76-year-old star previously declared the ending of the show - which saw Michael and his crew restructuring The Good Place so people could leave whenever they felt ready - to be "absolutely perfect".
He told 'Today': “We had a wonderful goodbye. It was really lovely because we had the whole year to say goodbye. We knew it was ending.
"It was perfect. It was an absolutely perfect goodbye. It’s how you hope the universe works, really.”
Shortly before filming ended for good, Ted and his wife Mary Steenburgen invited the cast over for a sleepover.
He said: “Mary had everyone come over and we had a sleepover.
“It makes a party even better when you can wake up, have a coffee and reminisce.”
But the celebrations left the veteran actor "not feeling very legendary" because he was so hungover afterwards.
He said: “I tend to handle transitions by doing something a little too much.
"My kids took me to Stonewall. We missed the cabaret, but we played pool into the wee hours.”
English (US) ·