Good Times



"GOOD TIMES! Any time you need a payment! GOOD TIMES! Any time you need a friend! GOOD TIMES! Any time you're out from under! Not gettin' hassled, not getting hustled! Keeping your head above water! Making a way when you can! Temporary lay-offs! GOOD TIMES! Easy Credit rip-offs! GOOD TIMES! Scratchin' and Survivin' GOOD TIMES! Hangin' in a chow line! GOOD TIMES! Ain't we lucky we got 'em? GOOD TIMES!!!"

- The show's theme song.

Good Times was a Norman Lear-produced Sitcom that ran on CBS from 1974-1979. The show was a Spin-Off of Lear's earlier comedy Maude (Itself a spinoff of All in The Family).The show followed the lives of the Evans family, a poor black family living in the high-rise projects of Chicago:


 * Florida Evans (Esther Rolle): Matriarch, occasional Mama Bear
 * James Evans (John Amos): Patriarch, Chew Toy
 * James "JJ" Evans, Jr. (Jimmie Walker): Catch Phrase machine, The Wisecracker, Kavorka Man (cleaned up in later seasons)
 * Thelma Anderson, nee Evans (Bern Nadette Stanis): The Chick
 * Michael Evans (Ralph Carter): "The Militant Midget", male Soapbox Sadie, The Smart Guy
 * And their neighbor, Willona Woods (Ja'net Du Bois): Sassy Black Woman, Drop-In Character

Most episodes featured the efforts of the Evans to get by in the ghetto and make a better life for themselves. Despite the fact that those efforts usually ended in bitter disappointment, the show remained surprisingly positive and uplifting. And like most Lear shows of the time, Good Times wasn't afraid to moralize or bring up controversial topics.

The show's most controversial move was killing off patriarch James at the beginning of the fourth season. Esther Rolle hoped this would bring a shift in JJ's character from the clownish Kavorka Man he had been, to a more responsible Man Of The House. The writers didn't see it that way, seemingly ramping up JJ's foolishness (though it's worth noting that Jimmie Walker, who played JJ, was a stand-up comedian and not much of an actor). This led to Rolle quitting the show for the entire fifth season, her character having relocated to Arizona to be with her second husband. She was brought back in the sixth and final season with promises to clean up JJ's act (and never reference her second marriage, which Rolle thought went against Florida's character in multiple ways).

The series finale aired on August 1, 1979, with a Mega-Happy Ending. Reruns can be seen daily on TV One and occasionally on Nick at Nite's TV Land. All six seasons are available on DVD.

"They asked Johnny to join and he didn't, so they broke his arm. They asked Willy to join and he didn't, so they broke his leg. Then they asked me to join, and they were looking at my neck."
 * Abusive Parents: Penny's mom. One of the show's most infamous scenes is of her burning Penny with a hot iron.
 * The Alcoholic: Ned The Wino. Fishbone.
 * Aluminum Christmas Trees: That song Michael sings at Thelma and Keith's wedding? It's a Stevie Wonder song, "You And I (We Can Conquer The World)" from the album Talking Book.
 * Angry Black Man: James and Michael. For the latter this pretty much vanished in later seasons, however.
 * Attempted Rape: Willona's husband Ray makes advances to Thelma, eventually groping her (and he would likely have taken it further had Willona and Florida not walked in). Later, Penny is similarly assaulted offscreen.
 * Back to School: Bookman, Florida, and James.
 * Bald Black Leader Guy: Alderman Davis.
 * Bad Job, Worse Uniform: J.J.'s uniform while working at a fried chicken restaurant.
 * Break the Cutie: Poor Penny qualifies for this in spades.
 * Bus Crash: James's off-screen death.
 * Butt Monkey: Bookman. Or maybe just call him Buffalo Butt Monkey.
 * Catch Phrase: DYN-O-MITE!
 * Chew Toy: James could never catch a break.
 * The Chick: Thelma
 * Christmas Episode: There was one where Penny stole a gift for Willona. The other one was a Musical Episode.
 * Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Carl Dixon. Florida got married to Carl at the end of the 1976-1977 season and planned to move to Arizona to tend to Carl's chronic health issues; the storyline was planned to explain Esther Rolle's coming departure from the show. At the beginning of the 1978-1979 season, Florida had returned ... without Carl and not offering an explanation. The idea of that was Rolle agreed to return to the show, but only if changes were made, one of them being that there would be no record of Carl ever existing. (Rolle thought it was implausable for Florida, presented as a strong Christian to marry someone who was an avowed atheist.)
 * Cousin Oliver: Penny - though much better received by the audience than most, the result was the same.
 * Daddy's Girl: Thelma to James.
 * Dawson Casting: Thelma and J.J. were supposed to be 15 and 16, respectively, when the series began. BernNadette Stanis was actually 21, and Jimmie Walker was 26.
 * Diabolus Ex Machina: Thelma gets married to a potential NFL star, only for him to blow out his knee at their wedding.
 * The Disease That Shall Not Be Named: Semi-averted, first ever mention of a VD on American TV, but no mention of which or how it was transferred.
 * Fair for Its Day: In those days, VD was used much the same way as "STD" is today: As a catch-all term (and then, there was a smaller range of diseases to refer to.)
 * Dog Food Diet: The episode "Social Security"
 * Don't Make Me Take My Belt Off: James, James, James.
 * Drop-In Character: Willona, one of the first.
 * Drowning My Sorrows: Keith, bordering on The Alcoholic.
 * Earn Your Happy Ending: A great example of this.
 * Failure Is the Only Option
 * Happily Ever After: About the only character who didn't hit it big in the finale is Bookman.
 * Happily Married: James and Florida.
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: Janet Jackson, obviously. Vernee Watson (pre Sweat-Hogs and the Big Bang Theory) as a friend of Thelma's in the episode "Thelma's African Romance."
 * Hollywood Atheist: Carl Dixon, which was one of Esther Rolle's biggest problems with Florida marrying Carl.
 * Hope Spot: A number of episodes revolved around the characters trying to improve their situation and absolutely failing by the time the credits rolled. The most heartwrenching example though has to be in the third season premiere where James has gotten a promising new job in Mississippi and the family plans on moving to join him soon leaving the ghetto behind forever!
 * Insatiable Newlyweds: Thelma and Keith
 * Join or Die: This is why Micheal joins a gang. Quote paraphrased.


 * Kavorka Man: JJ.
 * Killed Off for Real: James.
 * Landlord: Bookman... well, technically a building superintendent, but close enough, as he did collect the rent every month and gleefully served the Evanses their many eviction notices when they were late, pissed him off, pissed off Alderman Davis, etc.
 * Limited Wardrobe: James seemed to wear the same brown shirt and off-white corduroys every single episode. Lampshaded in one episode when he ponders whether to wear "my brown shirt, my brown shirt or my brown shirt?"
 * Mama Bear: Florida
 * McLeaned: James' death followed actor John Amos' dismissal from the show over negative comments he made in Ebony magazine concerning its direction.
 * Musical Episode: One doubled as a Christmas Episode while the plot of the other was a talent show to raise money for a daycare center in their building.
 * My Girl Is Not a Slut: Played with in the episode, "Sex and the Evans Family".
 * My Name Is Not Durwood: Willona to Alderman Fred Davis.
 * Neighborhood Friendly Gangster: "Sweet Daddy" Williams was generally portrayed as one of these, despite being a racketeer, loan shark, and pimp.
 * Playing Gertrude: John Amos was only 34 when the show began, making him just 8 years older than his "son" Jimmie Walker, and 19 years younger than his "wife" Esther Rolle. He pulled it off by being Younger Than He Looks.
 * Promotion to Parent: JJ in season 5.
 * Put on a Bus: Florida, season 5.
 * The Bus Came Back, season 6.
 * The Rashomon: The episode "Where's There's Smoke"; the couch catches fire and burns a hole in one of the pillows. JJ, Thelma, and Michael each tells Willona their version of what happened.  version of the story is the truth.
 * Sassy Black Woman: Willona, the Trope Codifier.
 * Scary Black Man: James was this when he got mad.
 * Soapbox Sadie: Michael "The Militant Midget".
 * Spin-Off: Second generation Spinoff: From All in The Family to Maude to this show.
 * Oddly, this wasn't originally planned as one and Florida was added into the mix later in preproduction. This explains some of the odd and unexplained lapses in continuity between Good Times and Maude including Florida and her family appearing to have lived in Chicago for quite some time, her having said her husband was a fireman on Maude and a lack of references to Florida having ever cleaned houses.
 * Trademark Favorite Food: JJ's "Kool-Aid Sour".
 * Uncle Tomfoolery: JJ fell increasingly into this in later seasons. However, he did improve by the show's final season.
 * Unintentional Period Piece
 * Very Special Episode: The VD Episode, complete with disclaimer before the start of the show.
 * Subverted with the child abuse storyline that introduced Cousin Oliver Penny. The Very Special Problem was resolved in no fewer than 6 episodes and Penny remained on the show until its end.
 * A classic example was the topic of sex education. The show handled it pretty well, and avoided Anvilicious commentary.
 * We Sell Everything: Lenny. He would give the residents a rhyme about his merchandise and then open up his fur coat to display his (usually ill-gotten) wares.
 * Written-In Absence: Florida, Season 5. The kids would "talk to her" on the phone once every other episode.