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American television sitcom (1974–1979)
the American TV sitcom

Good Times is an American television sitcom that aired for six seasons on CBS, from February 8, 1974, to August 1, 1979. Created by Eric Monte and Mike Evans and developed by executive producer Norman Lear, it was television's first African American two parent family sitcom. Good Times is a spin off of Maude, which itself is a spin off of All in the Family.

Florida and James (renamed from Henry) Evans and their three children live at 721 North Gilbert Avenue, apartment 17C, in a public housing project in a poor, black neighborhood in inner city Chicago. The project is unnamed on the show but is implicitly the infamous Cabrini–Green Homes, shown in the opening and closing credits. Florida and James have three children: James Jr., also known as "J. J. ", a budding artist and illustrator who thinks of himself as a "Casanova" type and achieves both success and rejection on his path to monetize his talent into a career; Thelma, a very bright girl who takes education very seriously as she sees it as a way to help her family and is shown attending high school and community college over the course of the series; and Michael, whose passionate activism and support for the Black community and Black issues causes his father to call him "the militant midget." When the series begins, J. J. is 17 (portrayed by 26 year old Jimmie Walker, who was just eight years younger than co star John Amos), Thelma 16 and Michael 11. Their exuberant neighbor and Florida's best friend is Willona Woods, a recent divorcée who works at a boutique. Their building superintendent is Nathan Bookman (seasons 2–6), who James, Willona and later J. J. refer to as "Buffalo Butt" or, even more derisively, "Booger." The characters originated on the sitcom Maude as Florida and Henry Evans, with Florida employed as Maude Findlay's housekeeper in Tuckahoe, New York, and Henry employed as a New York City firefighter. When producers decided to feature the Florida character in her own show, they changed the characters' history to fit a new series that was well into development rather than start from scratch to create a consistent starring vehicle, even though to do so meant changing their Black middle class family into to a poverty stricken lower class family. Henry's name became James, he worked various odd jobs due to only being able to attain a sixth grade education, there was no mention of Maude but it was mentioned that Florida was a maid once before in the episode 'The Checkup' and the couple lived in Chicago. Episodes of Good Times deal with the characters' attempts to overcome poverty, living in high rise public housing in Chicago. James Evans often works at least two jobs, mostly manual labor such as dishwasher, construction laborer, etc. Though he is often unemployed, he is a proud man who will not accept charity. He sometimes hustles money playing pool, although Florida disapproves of this.

ActorCharacterSeasons 1 2 3 4 5 6 Esther Rolle Florida Evans colspan="4" colspan="4" John Amos James Evans colspan="3" colspan="3" Ja'Net DuBois Willona Woods colspan="6" Ralph Carter Michael Evans colspan="6" Bern Nadette Stanis Thelma Evans Anderson colspan="6" Jimmie Walker James "J. J." Evans Jr. colspan="6" Johnny Brown Nathan Bookman colspan="3" colspan="2" Janet Jackson Millicent "Penny" Gordon Woods colspan="4" colspan="2" Ben Powers Keith Anderson colspan="5"

Ned the Wino (Raymond Allen) is the local drunk who frequents the neighborhood and the apartment building where the Evans family reside. In the season one episode "Black Jesus," J. J. uses Ned the Wino as the model for a portrait of Jesus. Another episode is centered on Michael's plan to "clean up" Ned and get him off the booze by letting him stay at the Evanses' house. Carl Dixon (Moses Gunn) is a shop owner for whom Michael briefly works. Despite their religious differences, Carl and Florida begin dating and become engaged in the final episode of season four. Carl breaks off the engagement after he is diagnosed with lung cancer. After a talk from Bookman, Carl again asks Florida for her hand in marriage. The two marry off screen and move to Arizona. Florida returns at the beginning of season six, this time without Carl for Thelma's wedding. Carl is referenced briefly in that season's second episode "Florida's Homecoming Part 2," but he is never mentioned again (Florida continues to use the surname Evans instead of Dixon). (Rolle decided to come back to the show on the condition the character of Carl Dixon was written out.) Florida then revealed to Willona he died from his battle of lung cancer. Marion "Sweet Daddy" Williams (Theodore Wilson) is a menacing neighborhood numbers runner and pimp, who has a reputation for wearing flashy clothing and jewelry. He is usually accompanied by bodyguards (one portrayed by Bubba Smith, the other by series painter Ernie Barnes) and comes across as cool and threatening, but has shown a soft heart on occasion, particularly when he decided not to take an antique locket (to settle a debt) that Florida had given to Thelma because it had reminded him of his late mother. (Wilson also plays a club owner named Stanley in the season four episode, "The Comedian and the Loan Sharks"). Alderman Fred C. Davis (Albert Reed Jr.) is a local politician with a slightly shady disposition whom the Evans generally despise. Spoofing President Richard M. Nixon, he would state in a speech, "I am not a crook." He frequently relies on the support of the Evans family (his "favorite project family") for re election or support and resorts to threats of eviction to secure their support. In a running joke, Alderman Davis frequently antagonizes Willona by "forgetting" her name, and calling her another similar sounding name that began with a "W" (such as Wilhemina, Winnifrieda, Winsomnium, Wyomia and even Waldorf Astoria), thus earning him her everlasting ire as well as the nickname "Baldy." (In the 2019 ABC special, Live in Front of a Studio Audience, Amos portrayed the role of Davis, the only cast member from the original series to appear.) Lenny (Dap 'Sugar' Willie) (also known as "Lootin" Lenny), is a neighborhood hustler and peddler who tries to sell presumably stolen items that are usually attached to the lining of his fur coat. He usually approaches people with a laid back rap and a rhyme ("my name is Len nay, if I ain't got it, there ain't an nay"). He is typically rebuffed by the people he approaches and responds by saying "that's cold" or uses a small brush to "brush off" the negativity. "Grandpa" Henry Evans (Richard Ward) is James's long lost father. He abandoned the family years before because he was ashamed that he could not do more to provide for them. This deeply hurt James, who disregarded his father's existence, telling everyone that he was dead. Thelma learns about her grandfather while doing some family research. She meets him and invites him to the Evanses' home to surprise James for his birthday, not knowing that James was well aware of his whereabouts but chose to stay out of his life. After Henry arrives at the Evans home and meets the rest of the family, he realizes that James would not welcome him in the home and decides to leave. Florida convinces him to stay and talk to James and explains that there may never be another chance to do so. Henry and James have a heart to heart talk, with Henry being remorseful and apologetic. James ultimately forgives his father. After James's death, the Evans family embraces Henry into the family, alongside his common law (and eventually legal) wife Lena (Paulene Myers) in later episodes. Wanda Williams (Helen Martin) is another resident in the apartment building where the Evans reside. Earlier episodes show her at a women's support group, and the tenants rallying around her by giving her a rent party. Later episodes show her appearing and crying at several funerals, whether she knew the person or not, thus earning her the nickname "Weeping Wanda" from J. J. and Willona. Lynnetta Gordon (Chip Fields) is Penny's abusive biological mother whose first appearance is in the four part fifth season opening episode, "The Evans Get Involved." Penny's father abandoned her mom when Lynnetta became pregnant at 16. As a result, she takes her anger and frustrations out on Penny, including burning her with a hot iron. After the abuse is finally brought to light, she tells the Evans family that she herself was abused as a child. She gets into a fighting match with Willona and Thelma and they plead for her to seek therapy. Just before she disappears, she expresses regret for hurting her child, telling Willona that Penny deserves better than her. This clears the way for Willona to adopt Penny. She reappears more than a year later, in the sixth season episode, "A Matter of Mothers," having gotten married and reveals that her new husband is from a very wealthy family. She uses her husband's wealth to send Penny anonymous gifts and, in an effort to regain custody of Penny, also attempts to frame Willona as an unfit adoptive mother who throws wild parties with less than wholesome attendees. However, her scheme is exposed by being recorded on tape admitting that the scheme was a set up to get Penny back. After Lynnetta tries to get the tape from Penny and threatens to hurt her again, which is stopped by Willona, Penny tells Lynnetta that no matter what anyone says, she will always consider Willona her real mother. Devastated, Lynnetta decides to drop the charges against Willona and leaves Penny with her, never to be seen again. Cleatus (John Bailey) is a cousin of J. J. Evans, Thelma Evans Anderson and Michael Evans and nephew of Florida Evans and James Evans. He made one appearance in the episode "Cousin Cleatus." Violet Bookman (Marilyn Coleman) is the wife of Bookman (episodes: "Bye, Bye Bookman" and "Willona, the Other Woman" in season 5).

Good Times was created by Eric Monte and actor Mike Evans. The series also features a character named "Michael Evans" after Evans, who portrayed Lionel Jefferson on the Lear produced series All in the Family and The Jeffersons.

The gospel styled theme song was composed by Dave Grusin with lyrics written by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. It was sung by Jim Gilstrap and Motown singer Blinky Williams with a gospel choir providing background vocals. Because of the singing style of the song, and the audio mix, the lyrics to the theme song are notorious for being hard to discern, notably the line "Hangin' in a chow line"/"Hangin' in and jivin'" (depending on the source used). Dave Chappelle used this part of the lyrics as a quiz in his "I Know Black People" skit on Chappelle's Show in which the former was claimed as the answer. Slightly different lyrics were used for the closing credits, with the song beginning on a verse instead of the chorus.

Chip Fields was one of the finalists for the role of Thelma, but Bernadette Stanis was selected. Haywood Nelson screen tested and was hired for the role of the youngest Evans child, Michael, but was replaced by Ralph Carter who, at the time, had more experience in front of a live audience. Carter was a cast member in the Broadway musical Raisin and the producers of Raisin were initially reluctant to accept Tandem Productions' buyout offer. While Carter's contract was being negotiated, another young actor, Larry Fishburne (later Laurence) filled the role of Michael during initial rehearsals for Good Times. Rich insisted Walker say it in every episode. Walker and executive producer Norman Lear were skeptical of the idea, but the phrase and the J. J. Evans character caught on with the audience. As a result of the character's popularity, the writers focused more on J. J. 's comedic antics instead of serious issues. Throughout seasons two and three, Rolle and Amos grew increasingly disillusioned with the direction of the show and especially with J. J. 's tomfoolery and stereotypically buffoonish behavior. Rolle was vocal about her hate of his character. In a 1975 interview with Ebony magazine she stated: He's 18 and he doesn't work. He can't read or write. He doesn't think. The show didn't start out to be that Little by little—with the help of the artist, I suppose, because they couldn't do that to me—they have made J. J. more stupid and enlarged the role. Negative images have been slipped in on us through the character of the oldest child. Despite doing so less publicly than Rolle, Amos also was outspoken about his dissatisfaction with the J. J. character, stating: While Amos was less public with his dissatisfaction than Rolle, he was fired after season three due to disagreements with Lear and the writing staff, which, according to Amos, were often confrontational and heated. Amos' departure was initially attributed to his desire to focus on a film career, but he admitted in a 1976 interview that Lear called him and told him that his contract option with the show was not being renewed. Amos stated, "That's the same thing as being fired." The producers decided not to recast the character of James Evans, instead opting to kill off the character in the two part season four premiere, "The Big Move," with Florida finding out that James died in an automobile accident while in Mississippi setting up a new business opportunity at an auto repair shop, which would have allowed the family to move from the ghetto.