NBC has renewed its critically acclaimed Thursday night comedy The Good Place for a 13-episode third season. The news was confirmed by a network spokesperson this morning. So far this season, The Good Place is averaging a 2.0 rating in adults 18-49 and 6.2 million viewers overall in "live plus seven day" averages from Nielsen Media Research. When projected alternate-platform viewing is added to its rating, the show grows to a 2.60 in 18-49. So far, The Good Place Season 2 ratings are pacing just ahead of its first season.
In its rookie season last year, The Good Place averaged a 1.9 rating in adults 18-49 and 6.1 million viewers overall in "live plus seven day" figures from Nielsen Media Research, improving the timeslot by +36% over NBC's Thursday 8:30 average in its previous season. The show's Season 1 finale delivered 5.2 million viewers after three days of time-shifted and video-on-demand viewing, for the show's biggest L+3 audience since Oct. 27. The Good Place has also generated a strong upscale audience, indexing at a 135 among adults 18-49 living in homes with $100K+ incomes (with 100 representing an average concentration of those homes).
From Michael Schur, executive producer of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Parks and Recreation and The Office, comes a smart, unique new comedy that follows Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell, House of Lies, Veronica Mars), an ordinary woman who, through an extraordinary string of events, enters the afterlife where she comes to realize that she hasn't been a very good person. With the help of her wise newfound afterlife mentor (Ted Danson, Bored to Death, Cheers), she's determined to shed her old way of living and discover the awesome (or at least the pretty good) person within. The pilot episode was directed by Drew Goddard, the Oscar-nominated writer of The Martian.
The Good Place stars Ted Danson, Kristen Bell, William Jackson Harper, Jameela Jamil, Manny Jacinto and D'Arcy Carden. Michael Schur, David Miner, Morgan Sackett and Drew Goddard executive produce. "The Good Place" is produced by Universal Television, Fremulon and 3 Arts Entertainment. Critics have raved about the first two seasons of The Good Place," with New York Newsday calling it "TV's most brazenly original comedy," Entertainment Weekly adding that the show is "a slice of comedy heaven" and The New York Times says "The Good Place is a dream come true." Kristen Bell may soon be splitting time between this show and a potential Veronica Mars TV revival, which the actress hinted may happen last month, but it has yet to be confirmed.
Originally the show was supposed to debut its second season on Tuesday nights, in between powerhouse dramas The Voice and Chicago Fire. Both Superstore and The Good Place were set to air in the 9 PM hour, when the network originally moved its breakout hit This Is Us to Thursday nights at 9 PM. Just a few weeks later, the show moved This Is Us back to its Tuesday 9 PM slot that it had occupied throughout its first season. This allowed the network to keep its Thursday night comedy block intact, with Superstore kicking off the night at 8, followed by The Good Place at 8:30, the Will & Grace revival (which has allready been renewed as well) at 9, Great News at 9:30 and Chicago Fire at 10 to close out the night. The Good Place's Season 2 All of these shows will return to kick off the back half of their season on Thursday, January 4, on NBC.