Original ‘Good Times’ Cast Members Don’t Seem to Feel Great About Seth MacFarlane’s Animated Reboot
What’s the lukewarm version of “dy-no-mite”? Firecracker? Is that what the original Good Times cast secretly wants to say about Seth MacFarlane?
Back in September 2020, Netflix announced that it would be developing an animated revival of the historic, Norman Lear-produced 1970s sitcom Good Times with Lear again serving as executive producer. Assisting Lear in the project would be Family Guy creator MacFarlane and, for some reason, four-time NBA champion Steph Curry. Good Times was the first African-American two-parent family sitcom in TV history, led by powerhouse performances by John Amos as James Evans and Esther Rolle playing his wife Florida. Set in Chicago’s Cabrini-Green housing projects, the success of the original Good Times signified a massive moment of progress in TV comedy.
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But despite the steps forward Good Times took half a century ago, Amos had to take a step back when he saw the trailer for the animated series that continued production even after Lear’s passing back in December. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Amos said of the animated series that is set to premiere on April 12th, “Norman — and the entire cast and company — set the bar pretty high. They’ll have a hard time reaching that level of entertainment (and) education.”
Amos admits that he hasn’t had any pre-release input or exposure to Netflix’ animated comedy based on one of his biggest roles, saying of the revival, “I really can’t form an opinion, as I’ve not seen any of the episodes yet.” He expressed some hesitation about an animated show’s ability to ever reach the level of greatness that the original Good Times enjoyed, though he said of MacFarlane and his team, “I wish them the best. I see people aspiring to (the original), but I don’t see anybody reaching that goal, especially in an animated version.”
BernNadette Stanis, who played James and Florida Evans’ middle child Thelma in the original series, returned to play a minor voice role in the Good Times animated show. Though Stanis is more involved in the new project than Amos, she didn’t exactly offer a ringing endorsement of the new series either, saying of her role, “I did a little voice for them, but I did not know it was going to be the way it is. I thought it was going to be different. … It’s just a little here and there. But I think that they did that because they knew what their show was going to be like. So I guess they figured, if you put us in there, it wouldn’t look so bad or whatever.”
Still, the new series has its own star power supporting it, with J.B. Smoove, Yvette Nicole Brown and Jay Pharoah all lending their voices to the revival. Even if Netflix’ Good Times isn’t as good as the original series, there’s certainly enough talent involved in the project to hopefully make it at least watchable, but there are no guarantees. Even Steph Curry misses his shots sometimes.
