ALL COMEDY IS EXISTENTIAL...:

"Where am I? Who are you? And what's going on?"

Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) asks these questions in the first scene of the first episode of The Good Place because she wants genuine answers to them. She's just arrived in an unfamiliar, albeit pleasantly pristine, office waiting room where she's never been before, unaware that she's (a) dead, and (b) in a carefully constructed version of what appears to be heaven. She's understandably disoriented and needs some clarity about what's happening to her.

But the fact that Eleanor immediately inquires about about her state of being is also The Good Place's way of announcing what sort of show it's going to be. Specifically, it's going to be the kind of show that thrives on raising questions, especially fundamental ones about the meaning of life.

That's pretty heavy stuff for a broadcast network comedy. But comedies that tackle heavy, philosophical matters -- let's call them existential sitcoms -- have become more common in the past few years. These are funny shows, or at the very least dramedies, that explicitly and consistently explore ethics, spirituality, or what purpose human beings are meant to serve on Earth. Typically, they deal with those earthly issues while placing their characters in heightened, even fantastical situations. The Good Place, which will enter its third season this month, is the gold standard for this type of series. But it is not the only example.

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