--- title: Kristen Bell's The Good Place Is Like The Office Meets Lost description: Creator Mike Schur of Office and Brooklyn Nine-Nine fame consulted with Lost creator Damon Lindelof for the show that also stars Ted Danson canonical: https://time.com/4419200/kristen-bell-comedy-the-good-place/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-22T15:22:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:28:36.647Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: This New Kristen Bell Comedy Is Kind of Like 'Lost' Meets 'The Office' og:description: Creator Mike Schur consulted with Damon Lindelof on 'The Good Place' og:url: https://time.com/4419200/kristen-bell-comedy-the-good-place/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbae84187f1dce9a4/69889c94f887dc7571e96ada/the-good-place.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The Good Place - Season 1 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This New Kristen Bell Comedy Is Kind of Like 'Lost' Meets 'The Office' twitter:description: Creator Mike Schur consulted with Damon Lindelof on 'The Good Place' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbae84187f1dce9a4/69889c94f887dc7571e96ada/the-good-place.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This New Kristen Bell Comedy Is Kind of Like _Lost_ Meets _The Office_ > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account.  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Jul 22, 2016 3:22 PM UTC  THE GOOD PLACE -- Pictured: "The Good Place" Horizontal Key Art -- (Photo by: NBCUniversal) THE GOOD PLACE -- Pictured: "The Good Place" Horizontal Key Art -- (Photo by: NBCUniversal)NBC Universal  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Jul 22, 2016 3:22 PM UTC The upcoming NBC comedy _The Good Place_ starring Kristen Bell and Ted Danson is a major departure in premise for creator Mike Schur, the man behind the American version of _The Office_, _Parks and Recreation_ and _Brooklyn Nine-Nine_. In the pilot, which screened at Comic-Con on Thursday, Kristen Bell’s character discovers that she has died and gone to “the good place,” an idyllic neighborhood with shops like “Everything Fits” and “Lunches With Dragons” designed by Ted Danson’s character. Except it’s all a huge clerical error: She was a bad person in life and should have wound up in “the bad place.” The show is much more premise-based and sci-fi-esque than the affable office comedies Schur has created before—the pilot involves giant, flying ladybugs and shrimp. The writer said at a panel after the screening that each episode “will have a huge, twisty cliffhanger after it,” which is why he consulted with _Lost_ creator Damon Lindelof before creating the show. “It was an ‘Is this anything?’ lunch,” Schur recalled. “This was the idea he got most excited about. He was very encouraging, and he was the one reason that I got Drew Goddard to direct the pilot.” (Goddard helmed _The Martian_ and _Cabin in the Woods_.) The result is a show with the humor of the office but the feel of a fantasy drama a la Lindelof. Schur said that the idea for the pilot came when he was driving his child to school every day. “It came largely from being at an intersection in my car and the light turning green and then people going the other way turning left through their yellow light to go back the other way from where I was going,” he explained to press after the panel. “In my opinion, two cars are allowed to do that. And sometimes there’s a third car, and I would get a little annoyed. But I would give them the benefit of the doubt and say, ‘Maybe your kid is sick and you have to get home and see your kid.’ And then sometimes there’s a fourth car and I’m like, ‘You’re a bad person. You’re putting your need to go left above the needs of all of these people to go straight and that’s not okay.’ So I started imagining that person.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4419200/kristen-bell-comedy-the-good-place/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4419200/kristen-bell-comedy-the-good-place/"},"headline":"This New Kristen Bell Comedy Is Kind of Like Lost Meets The Office","datePublished":"2016-07-22T15:22:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:28:36.647Z","description":"Creator Mike Schur consulted with Damon Lindelof on The Good Place","url":"https://time.com/4419200/kristen-bell-comedy-the-good-place/","keywords":["Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbae84187f1dce9a4/69889c94f887dc7571e96ada/the-good-place.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbae84187f1dce9a4/69889c94f887dc7571e96ada/the-good-place.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Good Place - Season 1","caption":"The Good Place - Season 1","creditText":"NBC Universal","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4419200/kristen-bell-comedy-the-good-place/","name":"This New Kristen Bell Comedy Is Kind of Like Lost Meets The Office"}}]}] ```