Kristen Bell explains why good friends can be a problem

Kristen Bell has a problem with her friends. But it's not what you'd call a bad problem.  Says the star of NBC's upcoming comedy The Good Place:

"I have a really good group of friends in L.A. I'm constantly amazed at their desire to be fun-loving and cultured and to help other people. So, yes, I feel inadequate in my friendships."

Concepts of good, not-so-good and evil were hot topics during a Television Critics Association press panel for The Good Place, a sort-of-heaven for humans who acted nobly during life. A clerical error helps Bell's Eleanor, a selfish sort, get to the Good Place, where she's mentored by a middle-management angel type played by Ted Danson.

During her life, Eleanor sold useless fake medication to the elderly, ridiculed an environmental activist and stole things, a habit she continues after death.

"The characteristics that Eleanor displays when she gets to The Good Place (are) not malicious. They're not evil. She's been living by the guideline: Isn't this every man for himself? Shouldn't I put myself first? Her road to (being) a good person is learning how to incorporate other people into her world view."

Bell admires at least one of the earthly traits that sticks Eleanor in the Great Beyond.

"What I love most about Eleanor is the fact that she just lets her tongue loose. She has no edit or tact. She just says what she's thinking, what she's feeling, at all times. The great thing about it is it's usually also inarguable. (But) it's not necessarily the kindest thing to say in the moment."