Author Archives: Christine

About Christine

Christine Becker is an Associate Professor in the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre at the University of Notre Dame.

The Good Place: The Podcast Features The Good Class

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Profs. Becker, Sullivan, and Herbst along with students Kelsey Allen and Lulu Phifer were featured on The Good Place: The Podcast and got to chat with Marc Evan Jackson! This was part of a special series of the podcast focusing on fans. Our segment starts at the 1:12:50 mark. Listen to the group answer Marc’s legendary question: What’s good? And hear the story of how Notre Dame helped to change the course of Good Place history.

The Good Class Application Form

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To be considered for admittance into The Good Class for the Fall 2019 semester, you must fill out the application form at this link and submit it via Google Forms by 11:59pm on April 7.

Please note:

  • Only declared or anticipated FTT majors and Philosophy major/minors at the University Notre Dame are eligible to apply.
  • The class will be small, so seats are limited and the application process will be competitive.
  • Students will be informed of the admittance decisions by April 12.

If you’d like to contemplate the application questions before launching the form, they are:

  1. Why do you deserve to be admitted into The Good Class? Provide specific reasons accompanied by the approximate points (see explanation) you believe you have earned for each of these achievements.
  2. We recently discovered that no one has passed The Good Class in centuries, so please provide your suggestions for how the course should be fairly graded going forward.Answers should be no longer than 400 words each, and creativity will be rewarded.

Course Description

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FTT 30111/PHIL 33101: The Good Class — The Philosophy and Production Behind The Good Place

This one-credit Fall 2019 course at the University of Notre Dame will offer an interdisciplinary deep dive into the ground-breaking NBC sitcom The Good Place.  We’ll look at the philosophical theories of goodness and human flourishing that back the episode scripts. We’ll consider how moral change figures in comedy and how television helps shape the conversation between popular art and morality. We’ll look at the economic and aesthetic forces that guide work like this. And we’ll get into the details of how the show was devised, pitched, and produced. There will be five 90-minute class meetings, plus an in-depth session with showrunner Michael Schur. Participants will be expected to watch and critically analyze episodes of the series, engage with relevant secondary literature (including some secondary viewing), and submit writing assignments.

In order to be admitted into The Good Class, students must submit an application form no later than Thursday, April 7. Instructions for submission and a link to the application form can be found at http://sites.nd.edu/thegoodclass/. Only declared or anticipated FTT majors and Philosophy majors/minors are eligible to apply.

Instructors: Meghan Sullivan (Philosophy), Christine Becker (FTT), Ricky Herbst (FTT)

Meeting times: The first five Fridays of the semester, 11-12:30, plus a lunchtime meeting on Monday, Sept 16.

Location: B043 DPAC

Coming Up… The Good Class

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This is The Good Class, a class about The Good Place. Sponsored by: otters holding hands while they sleep. You know the way you feel when you see a picture of two otters holding hands? That’s how you’re gonna feel every day.

The architects: Christine Becker and Ricky Herbst, Department of Film, Television, and Theater, and Meghan Sullivan, Department of Philosophy, at the University of Notre Dame

Welcoming you in Fall 2019. Good luck racking up points for admittance in the meantime!