{"id":35965,"date":"2023-12-24T19:46:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-24T19:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=35965"},"modified":"2023-12-25T23:56:14","modified_gmt":"2023-12-25T23:56:14","slug":"good-times-50-years-ago-norman-lear-changed-tv-with-a-show-about-a-working-class-black-familys-struggles-and-joys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/good-times-50-years-ago-norman-lear-changed-tv-with-a-show-about-a-working-class-black-familys-struggles-and-joys\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Good Times\u2019: 50 years ago, Norman Lear changed TV with a show about a working-class Black family\u2019s struggles and\u00a0joys"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Angela M. Nelson<\/a>, Bowling Green State University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I loved watching Norman Lear<\/a>\u2019s trailblazing television shows when I was growing up in Dalzell, South Carolina, in the 1970s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGood Times<\/a>,\u201d my favorite, debuted on Feb. 8, 1974 \u2013 nearly 50 years ago. CBS aired the show about the daily struggles and triumphs of the working-class Evans family until Aug. 1, 1979.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lear, who died at 101 on Dec. 5, 2023<\/a>, forever changed sitcoms. His characters were more diverse, and their predicaments included situations that had previously been out of bounds for humorous TV programs, such as child abuse, unemployment and alcoholism<\/a>. As a result, they more accurately reflected modern life in America than their counterparts that predominated through the 1960s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGood Times\u201d stood apart from Lear\u2019s other successful comedies because it featured, as Lear put it, the \u201cfirst full black family on television<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have been researching \u201cGood Times\u201d and other shows with primarily Black casts<\/a> since 1989. Along the way, I\u2019ve developed a deep appreciation for the show\u2019s strong female characters and its many nods to Black popular culture. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BqR4S40FtgY?wmode=transparent&start=0 The catchy \u2018Good Times\u2019 theme song emphasized both hardship and resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compelling characters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGood Times\u201d starred actress Esther Rolle<\/a>. She had previously been cast as a domestic worker with the same name but in a different city in \u201cMaude<\/a>,\u201d another popular show Lear produced. \u201cMaude\u201d was also a spinoff \u2013 its main character originated<\/a> on \u201cAll in the Family<\/a>,\u201d Lear\u2019s first breakthrough hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On \u201cGood Times,\u201d Rolle\u2019s character, Florida Evans, was a loving wife and mother. She was married to James Evans Sr. Her hardworking and easily angered husband was played by John Amos until 1976<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their children included J.J. \u2013 James Jr. \u2013 the eldest son and a talented painter<\/a>. He was played by stand-up comedian Jimmie Walker<\/a>. The gangly young man won viewers\u2019 devotion<\/a> by frequently shouting \u201cdyn-o-mite!\u201d to express his excitement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bern Nadette Stanis<\/a> had the role of Thelma, the middle child and only daughter. She aspired to be a doctor, and her beauty attracted many suitors her parents found unsuitable. Michael, the militant youngest son who often expressed his indignation over social justice issues starting as a young tween, was played by Ralph Carter<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The actress Ja’net DuBois<\/a> rounded out the core cast as Willona Woods, the Evans\u2019 fashionable, sassy neighbor who was virtually another member of this boisterous and tight-knit family. Other actors rotated in and out, including a very young Janet Jackson<\/a> cast as Willona\u2019s adopted daughter, Penny. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9FL8rWksRxI?wmode=transparent&start=0 \u2018Good Times\u2019 episodes had themes that were relatable to all viewers, including sibling rivalry and conflict between parents and their older children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Familiar folks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Black characters in \u201cGood Times\u201d looked and sounded real<\/a> to Black viewers. Also, Florida had authority in her home, just as her husband, James, did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Evans family and Willona resonated with me because they authentically presented African American culture on the small screen. Their speech, hairstyles, clothes, dance moves and music were recognizable to me as a young Black girl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cast regularly referenced Black pop culture icons, including Ebony magazine<\/a>, the comedian and variety show host Flip Wilson<\/a>, and the composer and musician Isaac Hayes<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGood Times\u201d also made a mark because Black women had agency on and off the set. Rolle openly shared her concerns<\/a> with Lear and other producers about the show\u2019s direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rolle wanted more stories that focused on the show\u2019s female Black characters. And she got them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thelma was the first Black teenage girl and Willona was the first Black female divorc\u00e9e on prime-time television. Both characters were interesting, funny and beautiful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Race\u2019s role<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One way that \u201cGood Times\u201d differed from Lear\u2019s other Black-cast sitcoms was the role that race played.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In \u201cSanford and Son<\/a>,\u201d which revolved around a Los Angeles junk dealer and his adult son, and \u201cThe Jeffersons<\/a>,\u201d in which the audience saw a successful Black entrepreneur and his wife \u201cmovin\u2019 on up<\/a>\u201d to a fancy Manhattan apartment, the protagonists disliked and distrusted white people. And they let everyone know it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Evans family, on the other hand, were mostly cordial and welcoming in their interactions with the white characters who infrequently appeared in \u201cGood Times.\u201d They also turned distant and aloof when racism intervened, as happened in the episode \u201cThelma\u2019s Scholarship<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thelma and her family are initially thrilled by the prospect of getting a full ride to a boarding school in Michigan. But they reject the opportunity in disgust when it turns out she would have become a token Black student rather than being valued for her academic achievement and potential. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fsl2Lkxzb6s?wmode=transparent&start=0 Thelma beams while telling her family about her shot at a scholarship to a prestigious boarding school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Normal people\u2019s problems<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGood Times\u201d also broke ground because the Evanses lived in poverty. Their fictional, cramped two-bedroom apartment was in Chicago\u2019s very real Cabrini-Green Homes<\/a>, which the city has since demolished after years of neglect<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hassles and heartaches tied to their housing problems often became part of the plotlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast, typical TV families in the 1950s and 1960s were white, middle class and suburban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These included the Nelsons in \u201cThe Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet<\/a>,\u201d the Andersons in \u201cFather Knows Best<\/a>\u201d and the Stones in \u201cThe Donna Reed Show<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nelsons, Andersons and Stones, however, also had some things in common with the Evans family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, Betty Anderson in \u201cFather Knows Best\u201d contemplated marrying her boyfriend in the episode \u201cVine Covered Cottage,\u201d as did Thelma in \u201cThelma\u2019s Young Man.\u201d Michael dealt with a bully in \u201cThe Lunch Money Rip-Off<\/a>,\u201d as did Bud Anderson in \u201cBud, the Boxer<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGood Times\u201d showed that Black families had many of the same problems and concerns as white families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Good Times\u2019 reboot<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I believe that \u201cGood Times\u201d lives on in contemporary depictions of 21st-century, urban, Black, working-class nuclear families. Netflix\u2019s \u201cThe Upshaws<\/a>\u201d is the most recent example of a two-parent, Black, working-class nuclear family with children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like Lear\u2019s comedies, \u201cThe Upshaws\u201d is packed with situations that would have been out of bounds before Lear redefined TV sitcoms \u2013 such as adultery and gay central characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, as it happens, \u201cGood Times\u201d itself is being reincarnated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFamily Guy\u201d creator Seth MacFarlane and NBA star Stephen Curry joined with Lear in 2020 to executive-produce an adult animated reboot<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The series, slated for release in 2024 on Netflix, will follow a new generation of the Evans family 50 years after it first showed up in American living rooms. Lear will reportedly make a posthumous cameo appearance<\/a> in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope a new generation of viewers will find as much to revere in the new \u201cGood Times\u201d as I have in the old one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Angela M. Nelson<\/a>, Associate Professor of Popular Culture, Bowling Green State University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Angela M. Nelson, Bowling Green State University I loved watching Norman Lear\u2019s trailblazing television shows when I was growing up in Dalzell, South Carolina, in the 1970s. \u201cGood Times,\u201d my favorite, debuted on Feb. 8, 1974 \u2013 nearly 50 years ago. CBS aired the show about the daily struggles and triumphs of the working-class Evans […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":35966,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[293,8025],"tags":[501,14995,3348,1538,6511,1715,3079],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35965"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35965"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35967,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35965\/revisions\/35967"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}