The 'Good Times' Nobody Wanted

Netflix disrespects the Black community like a Klan member

This Friday, April 12th, Netflix will debut its reboot/spinoff of the 1970s hit sitcom Good Times, and if the trailer is any indication, the late Esther Rolle is turning in her grave. The original Good Times was a powerful portrayal of an intact, loving, strong, God-fearing Black family and a great source of pride and redemption for Black Americans who rarely saw accurate depictions of themselves on screen. Yes. Even despite their high marriage rates from the end of the Civil War through the 1950s, there had not been a Black nuclear family on television until Good Times aired in 1974.

Good Times was The (working class) Cosby Show a decade before The Cosby Show would air. My mother, father, and siblings watched it together every week as did every Black family we knew. What Netflix seems to have done to the franchise is make it what is known as ‘N*gga TV’, and the backlash the new show seems to be receiving on social media is well-deserved.

Virtually every negative Black stereotype was shoved into the 2-minute 42-second Netflix trailer, including literal babies shooting at babies — with automatic weapons. And as one commenter asked, how is this spinoff set in the ghetto when, by the end of the original series, the Evans’ had all moved out of the ghetto?

Esther Rolle was the actress who portrayed original Good Times matriarch Florida Evans, a character who first debuted on the 1970s sitcom Maude. 1970s Good Times show was created by the late Mike Evans and Eric Montes and the executive producer was the late Norman Lear. When Lear pitched the show to Rolle she refused to accept unless her lead character had a husband as Florida Evans was to be a single mother. After much resistance, Lear and company finally agreed and actor John Amos was brought on to play husband and father James Evans. While the original Good Times became an instant ratings hit, both Rolle and Amos expressed their disappointment that their oldest son and comic relief, JJ (played by James Walker) was getting more and more screen time. Rolle on the character, JJ:

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 JJ more stupid and enlarged…Negative images have been slipped in on us through the character of the oldest child. I resent the imagery that says to black kids that you can make it by standing on the corner, saying “Dynomite!”

John Amos was the most vocal in his protest of the writers’ constant promotion of JJ among other artistic offenses to Black people, and for this, he was eventually fired. I discuss Amos’ termination in Episode 4 of the Super Heroes Show entitled Fathers. After Amos was removed at the beginning of Season 4, Rolle reminded everyone that she only agreed to be Florida Evans if she had a husband. The writers attempted to insert a new love interest for Florida who just happened to be an atheist (again, the family was God-fearing). Having had enough of the disrespect to the show and to the Black community, Esther Rolle quit after Season 4.

Yes. Esther Rolle quit her job playing Florida Evans on the hit show Good Times because the writers and producers refused to uphold a positive, wholesome image of a Black nuclear family.

In his book Disinformation: Former Spy Chief Reveals Secret Strategies For Undermining Freedom, Attacking Religion, And Promoting Terrorism, the late Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa explained that one method of societal demoralization used by the KGB was to take revered American historical or pop culture figures and re-present them as the opposite of who they were. I am not suggesting that Netflix Good Times is a Soviet-produced psyop. What I am suggesting is that, if this Netflix abomination catches on, the effect is the same. It is yet another attack on the family — especially the Black family — and it has the gall to use one of if not the most beloved TV franchises in the Black American community. To better understand the travesty taking place, consider the example of just one scene of Season 1 of Good Times (1974) where they address the necessity of having a strong father figure in the home and his role in negating teen pregnancy and sexual promiscuity.

Years ago, Spike Lee famously, controversially denounced Tyler Perry’s brand of Black entertainment as “coonery buffoonery.” But, not many Black leaders will criticize Netflix’s latest offense to the Black community so as not to run afoul with the popular Black elites in charge. Executive producers for the new Good Times show include NBA-future Hall-of-Famer Stephen Curry, while Barack and Michelle Obama serve as Netflix content creators (it is not known what if anything the Obamas had to do with the Netflix Good Times show). Yet, the timing of such a potentially damaging show — while the internal war around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), access to quality primary, education, the state of the nuclear family and more are raging — could not be worse.

Shortly after Kanye West’s series of Jew-hating tirades back in 2022, I wrote Say it loud, "I'm Black and I'm proud!”: On Kanye West's envy of the Jewish people and what it teaches us. In it, I make the case that Kanye’s self-proclaimed jealousy of the Jewish community is based on the fact that he doesn’t know his own illustrious Black American history. He does not know from whence he came. Entertainment like Netflix’s Good Times represents a key reason why young Black people don’t know who they are or think so little of themselves.

Good Times 1974-1979 was an example of a proud, strong Black family that despite great challenges, was a symbol of morality and virtue. Of course, comedy — even irreverent comedy — is a huge part of entertainment. People who make us laugh are important to any society. But taking a known franchise like Good Times and producing the opposite of what the original stood for seems almost diabolical.

To the young people reading this, do yourself a favor and Google/watch the original Good Times series (at least the first three seasons). If/when you have children, show them too.