There’s a College Course Devoted to Binge-Watching ‘The Good Place’

To us, college calls to mind memories of cramming for exams, all-nighters and the occasional frat formal. Clearly, a lot has changed since our days as a student because Netflix and chill has officially infiltrated one university’s curriculum.   

How? Well, there’s actually a course dedicated to binge-watching The Good Place starring Kristen Bell at Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin.

Students taking Intro to Philosophy at Beloit will be tasked with watching all three seasons of the NBC comedy from Parks & Recreation creator Michael Schur. That’s, um, an interesting albeit fun homework assignment.

But it’s not all about zoning out and tuning in, according to Professor Robin Zebrowski, who created the course. The show actually explores a number of philosophical theories in a fun and easy to understand way.

Zebrowski believes that the show adds a modern touch to the study and a fuller view of how philosophy functions in the real world, not just in books and theories. The course will center on The Good Place and Zebrowski will highlight key themes from the series along with traditional philosophy readings.

And, since this is clearly the most exciting class one could take on any campus, the oral reports and presentations will also be fun. One example? Students will have to create a rap about ethics just like Chidi (William Jackson Harper) did in season two as a way of educating Michael (Ted Danson) about ethical philosophy. Chidi is, after all, a foremost authority on the subject.  

The fourth and final season of The Good Place airs on NBC on Thursdays at 9 p.m. PT/ET. Now if only they offered this as an online course…