On January 4, 2019, a video appeared on The Good Place YouTube feed entitled "Janet's Void: What Actually Happens When * BING *". It consists of five hours of Janet standing around in her void, occasionally disappearing. You Tube commentators soon noticed that her disappearances were about 22 minutes long, the length of an episode.
Michael Schur asked Ted Danson to play the role of Michael, thinking it was a long shot that someone as famous as Danson would agree to do the role. He was pleasantly surprised when Danson accepted the role.
The creators of the show always envisioned that the show would have a four season arc.
Schur was a huge fan of NBC's Must See TV Thursday lineup growing up. He said his two favorite actors were Michael J. Fox from Family Ties (1982) and Ted Danson from Cheers (1982). He said it was his dream to work with them in future projects, and that Danson agreeing to work on The Good Place made his dream come true.