S06.E04: American Good Place Warrior

[Jaded]

The NBC site says this episode was the 4th of the 6th season but other outlets are saying it was the season premiere. I guess the specials that have aired since Nov. of last year are counted towards the 6th season.  
 

Quote

American Ninja Warrior hosts Akbar Gbajabiamila and Matt Iseman join Superstore's Nico Santos and The Good Place's D'Arcy Carden, Marc Evan Jackson and Jameela Jamil at Jane's new beach house to play new game Whipflash! as well as classic favorites.
 

Original Airdate: 07/11/19

[peeayebee]

Matt Iseman was so good. I don't know him, or Akbar, who was also good, but Iseman surprised me. Very impressive.

... except in the final Celebrity Name game. First off, the celeb pair should always decide who will take the lead so the contestant won't have two people yelling clues at him/her. Second, both he and D'Arcy didn't give great clues, except for Iseman saying that Winona Ryder shoplifted. It was funny when the contestant immediately knew who it was.

But for Taylor Swift? List her songs. Geez. 

I didn't care for the new Whipflash game. Posing for [non]selfies for just dumb. However, I did like that they had to remember who was in which movie.

I liked Sounds Off. Is that new? Anyway, I was terrible at it, but it was still fun.

[sugarbaker design]

On 7/14/2019 at 8:48 AM, peeayebee said:

But for Taylor Swift? List her songs. Geez.

I couldn't name a TS song if my life depended on it.  Howabout 'young blond pop star who writes songs about ex-boyfriends'?

[peeayebee]

I'd have to think hard to come up with songs. I know one of her albums was titled '1989.' Another one was 'Red.' Oh, songs -- Shake It Off. Is that her biggest one?

[Rinaldo]

On 7/14/2019 at 8:48 AM, peeayebee said:

except in the final Celebrity Name game. First off, the celeb pair should always decide who will take the lead so the contestant won't have two people yelling clues at him/her. Second, both he and D'Arcy didn't give great clues...

Agreed on both counts. Plus a third, whereby they ignored a cardinal principle as demonstrated in this context by the master, Yvette Nicole Brown: "If it's not coming readily, pass immediately!" Trying to parse the elements of Rachel Bloom (and then abandoning it 20 seconds later) is what lost them the game.

[BobH]

Tara and Joe return for a Show and Yell for this week's episode (it seems like they missed this one) over on the Extra Hot Great Patreon extras feed. Sounds like they're only doing the single episode for auld lang syne, not a regular thing.

I liked this one quite a bit. I was rooting for the Good Place team, since I love that show and the cast members, but I the guys on the other team were pretty good and earned that come-from-behind win.  I think Whipflash was the only new game, and I thought it was pretty clever, with a good fundamental game beneath the goofy gimmick you need to make it work on TV. The other games were all pretty good old stand-bys.

Matt Iseman was definitely the MVP of his team.  I think I would have gone with Marc over D'Arcy, but that was a tough call.  Painfully close final round, they could definitely have gotten there with a bit of better gameplay. Skipping Dalai Lama and Rachel Bloom when the civilian didn't get them right away (and I loved CRAZY EX, but I'm not sure Rachel Bloom is a big enough name to use in that game) would have bought enough time.

Rare episode where I'd be happy to have any of the celebrities back.

Looking at the opening montage, there are a few celebrities I'm looking forward to, and one or two I'm dreading.

[aradia22]

I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this episode because it was basically Team People I Find Unbearable vs. Team Actors I Love From The Good Place.

The American Ninja Warrior guys started to win me over with how good they were at Clue-boom. I guess it's not their fault that their jobs are to yell unhelpful, annoying things while people try to complete an obstacle course. 

I'm not sure I love all the physical challenges and set pieces. I liked that the old version of the show was very much like a game night you could actually have at home. 

Sounds Off was so good. I could watch The Good Place cast members play games forever.

Damn. It's been years and the clue for Winona Ryder is still "arrested for shoplifting"? XD

Also, I felt bad they didn't win but Basic Attraction was a confusing clue since it combined Basic Instinct and Fatal Attraction.