# The Good Place – Season Finale S4E13 (1/30/20)



## pope90 (Oct 21, 2012)

The series finale of The Good Place will air on Thursday, January 30 at 8:30 pm Eastern on NBC. This is a 90-minute episode, but the guide has only the first 30 minutes (8:30-9:00) as the episode followed by two 30-minute blocks of To Be Announced. My season pass is set to record only the first 30 minutes. Not relying on Rovi to get this right, I have extended the recording to encompass the extra hour. This will also retain the episode’s metadata.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

I believe it's a 60-minute episode followed by a 30-minute after-show...


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

I show 30 minutes and two 30 minute TBA at this time (so does CBS Interactive). TitanTV has a 90 minute program, as does Gracenote. Gracenote (zap2it.com) has a funny description.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

Fios guide has it as one 90 minute episode.


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## Sparty99 (Dec 4, 2001)

I don't understand the after show. I love this show, but after shows should be left for things like Friends, or Cheers, or Seinfeld. This doesn't rise to that.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Sparty99 said:


> I don't understand the after show. I love this show, but after shows should be left for things like Friends, or Cheers, or Seinfeld. This doesn't rise to that.


I'm sure you mean "this doesn't sink to that."


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## ManeJon (Apr 14, 2018)

Isn't a season ending but a end of the show, I believe.


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## oscarfish (Mar 2, 2009)

My guide for that day on the NBC station just says "Upcoming: Take 5" from 4pm on, I don't know when it stops. I'm assuming that just means they don't have the program data entered yet.


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## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

My TiVo/Comcast guide shows the 30 minutes, plus the two TBA segments after. On DirecTV, it's correct, with a 90 minute block of The Good Place.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

JoeKustra said:


> Gracenote (zap2it.com) has a funny description.


*Whenever You're Ready*
*SEASON 4, EPISODE 13 • FINALE*
8:30 PM ON NBC • TV-PG • STEREO • CC • DVS
Various conversations occur, between various groups of people.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

krkaufman said:


> *Whenever You're Ready*
> *SEASON 4, EPISODE 13 • FINALE*
> 8:30 PM ON NBC • TV-PG • STEREO • CC • DVS
> Various conversations occur, between various groups of people.


I think that falls into the category of "mailing it in".


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

JoeKustra said:


> I think that falls into the category of "mailing it in".


It reminds me of the loglines The Magicians always uses, which are brief and vague. (E.g. last week: "Penny and Julia go stargazing; Eliot and Margo forget a sandwich.")


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Fixed. (90 minutes, starting at 7:30 Central.)


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

JoeKustra said:


> I think that falls into the category of "mailing it in".


This is the description I am seeing in multiple guides that are independent from each other. I have to assume that is what NBC sent out.


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## tim1724 (Jul 3, 2007)

TonyD79 said:


> I have to assume that is what NBC sent out.


And I assume it was written by Neutral Janet.


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## Puppy76 (Oct 7, 2004)

Sparty99 said:


> I don't understand the after show. I love this show, but after shows should be left for things like Friends, or Cheers, or Seinfeld. This doesn't rise to that.


meh. I assume you mean you think it's worse than those shows. 1) I think is the best of the four, certainly better than the first two. 2) why? Makes sense to do them for most anything if there's something interesting to talk about.

speaking of which, the best after shows I've ever seen were Kevin Smith's two for Crisis on Infinite Earths back in December. Really fun and well conceived.


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## Puppy76 (Oct 7, 2004)

tim1724 said:


> And I assume it was written by Neutral Janet.


I adore Janet.

And Evil Janet is the most utterly pointless thing ever


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## Puppy76 (Oct 7, 2004)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> It reminds me of the loglines The Magicians always uses, which are brief and vague. (E.g. last week: "Penny and Julia go stargazing; Eliot and Margo forget a sandwich.")


I so hope to see that show eventually. I'm a gigantic fan of Sera Gamble circa Supernatural, so...


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## Sparty99 (Dec 4, 2001)

Puppy76 said:


> meh. I assume you mean you think it's worse than those shows. 1) I think is the best of the four, certainly better than the first two. 2) why? Makes sense to do them for most anything if there's something interesting to talk about.
> 
> speaking of which, the best after shows I've ever seen were Kevin Smith's two for Crisis on Infinite Earths back in December. Really fun and well conceived.


No, I don't think it's worse than those shows. Those shows are much, much bigger. Those shows ending were cultural events deserving of after shows to discuss their impact on society. I'm sorry, but considering the number of people I talk to who don't watch The Good Place (pretty much everyone), this show has no impact on society.


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## mlsnyc (Dec 3, 2009)

Sparty99 said:


> No, I don't think it's worse than those shows. Those shows are much, much bigger. Those shows ending were cultural events deserving of after shows to discuss their impact on society. I'm sorry, but considering the number of people I talk to who don't watch The Good Place (pretty much everyone), this show has no impact on society.


Maybe not to society, but it does have an impact to those that watch it. It is also a critical darling. And NBC loves this show.

All those things to me say it is absolutely deserving of an after show wrap up.

And who is anyone to say if a show deserves it or not? If the network wants to put one on, with all the cost and logistics associated with putting one on, it's their prerogative. To paraphrase Bill Munny in Unforgiven, "deserves got nuthin to do with it."


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

It’s the kind of snow that almost demands one, though as it is the kind of show that is cultish and appeals to those who would watch podcasts about it. NBC is just bringing the podcast to the airwaves in a way.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

mlsnyc said:


> Maybe not to society, but it does have an impact to those that watch it.


Exactly. The people who watch this show are fanatics (in the best and most literal sense of the word).

I suspect the after-show will have a higher retention rate than, e.g., Friends. And of course that's what it's all about.


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## Sparty99 (Dec 4, 2001)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> Exactly. The people who watch this show are fanatics (in the best and most literal sense of the word).
> 
> I suspect the after-show will have a higher retention rate than, e.g., Friends. And of course that's what it's all about.


So I was wrong, there weren't after shows for those shows, there were retrospectives prior to the shows. The Friends one got 36 million viewers (compared to 52.5 million for the actual finale). I realize we're not in the same era and viewership numbers are drastically different today, but The Good Place has averaged just over 5 million viewers for its entire run. Even if you get a better retention RATE you're still talking 4 million viewers tops. And The Good Place isn't going to draw in curious viewers who have never watched the show to see the finale, so it's not like all of a sudden 10 million people are going to watch the finale.

Like I said earlier, I don't mind the after show, I'll almost certainly watch it, but The Good Place just doesn't seem to rise to the level (viewership/cultural wise, not quality) of show for which this has been done previously. It seems like a cable TV gimmick...keep it for the podcast for us die hards to listen to.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

But they're not expecting a show that airs after Good Place to get Friends-level ratings. They're hoping for Good Place-level ratings. And I still believe that Good Place, due to the nature of its following, has a better chance of achieving that than Friends did.

(Although I doubt we'll be able to tell, since the Good Place after-show is being lumped in with the actual finalé as a single broadcast unit...)


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## Puppy76 (Oct 7, 2004)

Five million nowadays is great numbers, and who cares what the numbers are?

abd the good place TODAY is a much bigger deal than possibly any of those shows are, and certainly than cheers is today. I know others who watch the hood place...in fact probably all my friends , but don’t know anyone still watching any of those. (Though i could probably really get in to Seinfeld a second time, if I didn’t have so much new stuff to watch. It looks great literally and figuratively when I see a few minutes in HD in Syndication)


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## Sparty99 (Dec 4, 2001)

Puppy76 said:


> Five million nowadays is great numbers, and who cares what the numbers are?
> 
> abd the good place TODAY is a much bigger deal than possibly any of those shows are, and certainly than cheers is today. I know others who watch the hood place...in fact probably all my friends , but don't know anyone still watching any of those. (Though i could probably really get in to Seinfeld a second time, if I didn't have so much new stuff to watch. It looks great literally and figuratively when I see a few minutes in HD in Syndication)


I'm not talking about comparing The Good Place to Friends, Seinfeld, or Cheers today, I'm comparing 4 shows at the time of their respective finales. And there's simply no arguing that The Good Place is anywhere near where the other 3 shows were at their heights.

And my guess is we'd find that at least in the case of Seinfeld and Friends, their streaming numbers today could very well be higher than The Good Place's average viewership is. There's a reason Warner snatched Friends back from Netflix the minute they could.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Sparty99 said:


> There's a reason Warner snatched Friends back from Netflix the minute they could.


Well, yeah, the same reason Disney, CBS, etc., have been snatching things back. To fill out their own streaming service.


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## trainman (Jan 29, 2001)

Sparty99 said:


> I'm sorry, but considering the number of people I talk to who don't watch The Good Place (pretty much everyone), this show has no impact on society.


They'll be sorry when it turns out the actual architects of the afterlife are big fans, and set "watched every episode of 'The Good Place'" at +50,000,000,000 points, thus guaranteeing admission to the actual Good Place.



Puppy76 said:


> And Evil Janet is the most utterly pointless thing ever


She can fart in my general direction anytime.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

Sparty99 said:


> So I was wrong, there weren't after shows for those shows, there were retrospectives prior to the shows. The Friends one got 36 million viewers (compared to 52.5 million for the actual finale). I realize we're not in the same era and viewership numbers are drastically different today, but The Good Place has averaged just over 5 million viewers for its entire run. Even if you get a better retention RATE you're still talking 4 million viewers tops. And The Good Place isn't going to draw in curious viewers who have never watched the show to see the finale, so it's not like all of a sudden 10 million people are going to watch the finale.
> 
> Like I said earlier, I don't mind the after show, I'll almost certainly watch it, but The Good Place just doesn't seem to rise to the level (viewership/cultural wise, not quality) of show for which this has been done previously. It seems like a cable TV gimmick...keep it for the podcast for us die hards to listen to.


Uh. Why do you care? The people making it sure think it is worth it and that is all that matters.


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## jcddc (Sep 20, 2006)

My listing was fixed for one day, oddly, and then reverted to a 30 minute show followed by two TBA 30 minute shows. CPI and TDL this morning did nothing. So I’ve padded the recording by one hour. I’m noticing I now have to check each day’s recordings in the morning, as errors aren’t always fixed in time.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

jcddc said:


> I'm noticing I now have to check each day's recordings in the morning, as errors aren't always fixed in time.


I just checked and my guide shows a single 90 minute recording. It won't change because my next connection on that TiVo isn't until tomorrow about 6am.


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## HarleyRandom (Sep 17, 2015)

This is the series finale.

I won't be watching for a while. While I don't think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread, I do like most of the characters and don't want to give this up.


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## MikeMar (Jan 7, 2005)

Sparty99 said:


> I don't understand the after show. I love this show, but after shows should be left for things like Friends, or Cheers, or Seinfeld. This doesn't rise to that.


On the podcast they explain WHY they had the aftershow

A normal episode runtime is 21:30 but this one was 52 minutes. Which is too long for an hour episode, so they figured out to create an aftershow that could fill that 20'ish min leftover from the overflow.


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## Sparty99 (Dec 4, 2001)

MikeMar said:


> On the podcast they explain WHY they had the aftershow
> 
> A normal episode runtime is 21:30 but this one was 52 minutes. Which is too long for an hour episode, so they figured out to create an aftershow that could fill that 20'ish min leftover from the overflow.


So, I didn't really have an answer for Tony's question earlier, so I kind of moved on. But when I was watching the aftershow I kind of figured it out although I probably won't articulate it very well (shocking, I know). I think it's because I didn't really need the actors' impressions of the show so immediately. Let me process things. Obviously NBC loved this show (as did I and everyone here), and they wanted to give it the treatment of shows like Friends and Cheers, even if idiots like me didn't think the show warranted it. I think a pre-show like they did with those shows would've been justified and could've been trimmed to fit the time slot. Put those guys on The Tonight Show and let me choose whether to watch or not. It felt forced upon me.


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## MikeMar (Jan 7, 2005)

Haha you could just stop watching


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## Sparty99 (Dec 4, 2001)

MikeMar said:


> Haha you could just stop watching


I mean, I could, but...

I got nothing.


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## Puppy76 (Oct 7, 2004)

MikeMar said:


> On the podcast they explain WHY they had the aftershow
> 
> A normal episode runtime is 21:30 but this one was 52 minutes. Which is too long for an hour episode, so they figured out to create an aftershow that could fill that 20'ish min leftover from the overflow.


that's an awesome idea! Glad they thought of that. And I heard on Seth this week that he did the after show!!!! Could not be cooler for my needs.


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