Quick question - where do people think this ranks in the Michael Schuur-verse of 4 (all imo outstanding) sitcoms? I think the last 2/3 seasons let it down massively, but at it's peak (seasons 2-4) was as good as anything else (and better than the original, largely as I hate Ricky Gervais with every fibre of my being). I do think his shows have a lot in common (in terms of niceness, good characterisations, etc.)so I think it is very difficult to rank. I think I rank them (looking at overall the shows, not at their peak), and this could change tomorrow it is so close between all 4:
1) The Good Place - Edges first place because, as much as people have criticised the first half of the third season compared to the other 2 seasons, I think it has not had quite as many lows as the P&R, plus the best episodes of this blow the best episodes of the P&R out of the water (in fact, I'd say the only other sitcom since 2000 which had the ability to occasionally produce the magic TGP has at it's very best was Community).
2) Parks and Recreation - More consistent, but never had as high a high as a few episodes of TGP; and the last 2/3 seasons were a slight decline in quality (but still consistent in their approach); what lets this down was the first pilot season being too much like the Office.
3) Brooklyn 99 - Again, this only just edges out the Office due to there hasn't really been any consistently poor seasons so far, they have all been roughly of the same quality; nothing too ground breaking, but nothing as high peak wise as the others in the list
4) The Office - In last place, despite having higher highs than B99 and possibly P&R for two reasons - the first season being a shot for shot for the UK version, which I did not enjoy and actually on the first 2 times I tried watching this version caused me to switch off and not continue; and the last 2/3 seasons being by a margin the worst seasons of any of the shows on this list.
