History Trivia / TheGoodPlace

* PlayingGertrude:
** Leslie Grossman (Donna) is only nine years older than Kristen Bell (her daughter, Eleanor). InUniverse, Donna apparently tried to pass herself off [[ImplausibleDeniability as the newborn Eleanor's older sister at the hospital]].
** Kamilah is Tahani's younger sister. Though their behavior and, often, their wardrobes make their relative ages believable, Rebecca Hazlewood is actually nine years ''older'' than Jameela Jamil.
** At one point, John Wheaton proudly claims that his gossip site had a countdown clock [[TheJailbaitWait for when the Olsen twins became legal adults]], implying he's significantly older than them. However, John's actor, Brandon Scott Jones, is in reality only two years older than Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.

*** Speaking of the chaos sequence, it was eventually decided that each part of the sequence should be directly related to a selfish act by Eleanor at the previous night's party. Before this was decided on, two additions were going to be made for the sake of RuleOfFunny (according to the DVDCommentary): A talking translucent glowing octopus would try to support Michael right when he was reassuring everyone that everything was okay (scaring Michael off), and two human-sized grasshoppers "dressed like they're characters from ''Literature/DangerousLiaisons''" would have a ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers''-style sword fight where they'd be both arguing in French and one of them would yell at the other in French "You have dishonored the House of St. Germaine!" Both of them were cut due to being ''too'' surreal for the episode, though the grasshopper duel actually got far enough along in the production schedule that actual actors were picked out and given mo-cap suits before anything else could come of it.

*** Instead of mentioning that her parents were in the Bad Place torturing each other, Eleanor claims that her parents were good people who are probably [[GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex having sex in the Good Place]], as opposed to AbusiveParents who hated each other and got divorced early in Eleanor's life.

** Creator/DarcyCarden normally pulls double duty as Janet and Bad Janet. This is taken UpToEleven in "Janet(s)", where all four humans take on Janet's appearance. The actual cast did several run-throughs of each scene so Carden could study all their performances. And on top of that, we are also introduced to Neutral Janet in the same episode, giving Carden ''six'' roles for that episode. Carden would go on to play ''32'' Janets in "The Funeral to End all Funerals."

* FakeNationality:
** William Jackson Harper, an American, plays Chidi Anagonye, who was born in Nigeria and raised in Senegal before moving to Australia.
** Kirby Howell-Baptiste, who is British, plays Simone Garnett, who is Australian.

* IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendOfMine: D'Arcy Carden (Janet) and Kirby Howell-Baptiste (Simone) appeared in the recurring cast of the HBO series ''{{Series/Barry}}'' before the latter's introduction in Season 3.

* ActorInspiredElement: Jason and his actor Creator/MannyJacinto are both Filipino.

* InspirationForTheWork: The idea for the series first came out of Michael Schur watching ''Film/{{Moneyball}}'', finding its focus on statistics and mathematics to be interesting, and further contemplating an afterlife system based around every action on Earth having certain specific point values ascribed to them "like in a video game." He then wondered what would happen if the system ever "glitched" and someone who was a terrible person on Earth [[DivineMisfile got sent to Heaven on accident]].

** Kristen Bell (Eleanor) and Ted Danson (Michael) previously co-starred in ''Film/BigMiracle''.

** Kristen Bell (Eleanor) and Ted Danson (Michael) previously both co-starred in ''Film/BigMiracle''.

* Kristen Bell (Eleanor) and Ted Danson (Michael) previously both co-starred in ''Film/BigMiracle''.

* CharacterSpecificPages: [[Characters/TheGoodPlaceMichael Michael]]

** It's also suspiciously similar to ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' episode "A Nice Place to Visit". The first season even has the same TwistEnding.

* AdoredByTheNetwork: By the end, the series had become such a cultural touchstone that Creator/{{NBC}} let Mike Schur end the show on his terms, with a special extra-long episode (two-and-half episodes long rather than double length) and a boosted budget for on-location shooting.

** Leslie Grossman (Donna) is only nine years older than Kristen Bell (her daughter, Eleanor). InUniverse, Donna apparently tried to pass herself off as the newborn Eleanor's older sister at the hospital.
** Kamilah is Tahani's younger sister. Though their behavior and, often, their wardrobes make their relative ages believable, Rebecca Hazlewood is nine years ''older'' than Jameela Jamil.

* ProductionPosse: With ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'' and ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'', which are both Michael Schur productions.

* Drew Goddard was first brought onto the show when Michael Schur was having dinner one night with Damon Lindelof (of ''Series/{{Lost}}'' and ''Series/TheLeftovers'' fame), and Lindelof helped organize a meeting between Schur and Goddard since he thought Goddard would really like the show and find its premise interesting.

* AuthorAppeal: Many of the seemingly minor things that can either get someone sent to the Bad Place or are [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment various tortures]] in the Bad Place are actually the personal pet peeves of creator Michael Schur and the writing staff. These include:
** Being a member of the Portland Trailblazers.
** [[SmugStraightEdge Vegans who don't shut up about being vegan]].
** Liking the Music/RedHotChiliPeppers.
** Manhattan and New England Clam Chowder.
** Taking off shoes and socks on airplanes.
** Rooting for the New York Yankees.
** UsefulNotes/{{Florida}} in general. Jacksonville especially (Michael Schur has disparagingly compared the city to a virus or a fungus).
** UsefulNotes/{{Arizona}}, aka the "Florida of the West", according to Schur.

* OrphanedReference: When Michael first shows Eleanor his paperclip collection, there was originally a sequence of her making him a paperclip bracelet. This part of the scene was cut out of the final episode, but Michael still wears the paperclip bracelet for the rest of the episode without any comment or explanation.

** "The Final Door" (a.k.a. [[spoiler:the forest archway that the humans in the Good Place go through when they're ready to end their existence]]) wasn't designed for the show; it just happened to have been left behind at the episode's filming location by a recent wedding party.

* ExecutiveMeddling: [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools A positive example]]; after the massive WhamLine in "Michael's Gambit," the episode continued on and showed [[spoiler:[[EvilAllAlong Michael]] [[EvilIsPetty pushing a potted plant off a table out of annoyance]] at being found out]]. However, the [=NBC=] executives asked for a commercial break to be placed immediately after the big reveal so that the plot twist could sit with the viewers for longer, and the audience would have more time to mull over what the twist would mean and represent for the series going forward. In the episode's DVDCommentary, Michael Schur admitted that it was a brilliant move and in retrospect, he was embarrassed that he hadn't thought of it in the first place.

* ExecutiveMeddling: [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools A positive example]]; after the massive WhamLine in "Michael's Gambit," the episode continued on and showed [[spoiler:[[EvilAllAlong Michael]] [[EvilIsPetty pushing a potted plant off a table out of annoyance]] at being found out]]. However, the [=NBC=] executives asked for a commercial break to be placed immediately after the big reveal so that the plot twist could sit with the viewers for longer, and the audience would have more time to mull over what the twist would mean and represent for the series going forward. Michael Schur said that it was a brilliant move and in retrospect, he was embarrassed that he hadn't thought of it in the first place.

** Additionally, Creator/MichaelSchur previously worked with Creator/LisaKudrow all the way back in 2005 on ''Series/TheComeback'', and Kudrow stars here as Hypatia of Alexandria in Season 4.

* TheRedStapler: Sales of T.M. Scanlon's philosophical text ''What We Owe To Each Other'' spiked after it was used as a recurring element in the show. A number of viewers have become more interested in studying ethics and philosophy overall because of the series.

** In "The Worst Possible Use of Free Will", Jameela Jamil plays Tahani and Tahania, the mirror centaur.

* CreatorBacklash: A hilariously downplayed case; Creator/NickOfferman ''hated'' the chair he praised in "Whenever You're Ready", later saying that it was awfully designed and constructed, and even claiming that the scene would make him a laughingstock among his woodworking friends.

* PlayingTheirOwnTwin: Jameela Jamil plays both Tahani and Tahani's pet mirror centaur (a centaur whose top half reflects their owner's appearance) in Season 3's "The Worst Possible Use of Free Will".

** Chet, one of the Bad Place demons introduced in "Rhonda, Diana, Jake, and Trent", is played by Bell's husband Dax Shepard.

* ShrugOfGod: Michael Schur in interviews clarified that his own interpretation of the series finale's AmbiguousEnding is that [[spoiler:the final disposition of Eleanor's soul itself is [[RiddleForTheAges meant to be a mystery]]. The "sparks" left behind by her soul aren't a final answer of what happened to her soul as a whole, just one final effect her soul had on the universe before its exit]].

** "The Final Door" (a.k.a. [[spoiler:the forest archway that the humans in the Good Place go through when they're ready to end their existence]]) wasn't designed for the show; it just happened to have been left behind at the epsiode's filming location by a recent wedding party and so it was worked into the episode.

** In regards to the series premiere "Everything is Fine", are a few differences between the [[https://www.scriptslug.com/assets/uploads/scripts/the-good-place-101-everything-is-great-2017.pdf first draft]] and the final episode.

** [[invoked]] The ObviouslyEvil glowing-red black obelisk seen in "Dance Dance Resolution" was originally going to have a throwaway joke where Michael would claim "[[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext If [the obelisk] gets angry, then it'll give birth!]]". However, it was cut because while Megan Amram (the episode's writer) thought the joke was some hilarious SurrealHumor, she also felt that it would've detracted from the moment via invoking FridgeLogic and so the scene would've flowed better without it.