Saturday Graverite!

  I have been obsessed with watching Good Times, it's not something that I would normally be all about because I am not a huge comedy fan unless it is a horror comedy. But what can I say, since I got the boxset for the Mister it is pretty much all we have been watching.

  Good Times is an American sitcom that originally aired from February 8, 1974, until August 1, 1979, on the CBS television network. It was created by Eric Monte and Michael Evans, and developed by Norman Lear, the series' primary executive producer. It was a a spin-off of Maude, which was itself a spin-off of All in the Family. The series was set in Chicago but all episodes were produced in the Los Angeles area. The first two seasons were taped at CBS Television City in Hollywood. and in the fall of 1975, the show moved to Metromedia Square, where Norman Lear's own production company was housed. Good Times is based on Eric Monte's childhood. 

  The series stars Esther Rolle as Florida Evans and John Amos as her husband James Evans, Sr. Florida and James Evans and their three children live in a rented project apartment, 17C, at 963 N. Gilbert Ave., in a housing project (implicitly the infamous Cabrini–Green projects, shown in the opening and closing credits but never mentioned by name on the show) in a poor, black neighborhood in inner-city Chicago. The children were James, Jr., also known as "J.J." played by Jimmie Walker, Thelma played by Bern Nadette Stanis, and Michael played by Ralph Carter. Their exuberant neighbor, and Florida's best friend, was Willona Woods played by Ja'net Dubois, a recent divorcée who worked at a boutique. Her adopted daughter, Millicent "Penny" Woods played by Janet Jackson, a victim of child abuse, joined the show in the fifth season. There were a lot of other great cast members that came and went. Episodes of Good Times dealt with the characters' attempts to "get by" in a high rise project building in Chicago, despite all the odds stacked against them. When he was not unemployed, James Evans was a man of pride and would often say to his wife or family "I ain't accepting no hand-outs". He usually worked at least two jobs and once in a while Florida would go out and work jobs here or there to help out. The episodes were usually more uplifting and positive than they were depressing, as the Evans family stuck together and persevered. There were lots of changes thru out the series but as the series went on the changes weren't for the better and it lost a lot of ratings. Good times finally ended after the sixth season with somewhat of a happy ending.