Good Times: Season 04  (1976)

Theatrical Release Information:
Good Times: Season 04

Season four of Good Times marked the first of the series' significant cast changes -- or, to be more precise, cast deletions. Long disenchanted with the way in which the series had devolved from the weekly saga of a poor but indomitable ghetto family into a vehicle for the brash buffoonery of Jimmie Walker (aka J.J. Evans), actor John Amos, who had played Evans family patriarch James from the outset of the show in January 1974, quit the series outright. Amos' abrupt departure prompted the series' producers to exhume a script that had initially been written for another Norman Lear TV sitcom, All in the Family. Originally conceived to compensate for the possible defection of series star Carroll O'Connor, the script, as written, showed the members of Bunker household -- mother Edith, daughter Gloria, and son-in-law Mike -- coping with the accidental death of bumptious bigot Archie Bunker. As it happened, O'Connor remained with All in the Family, and thus this pivotal script went unfilmed -- until John Amos quit Good Times. Undergoing a hasty rewrite, the script emerged as the two-part opener for Good Times' fourth season; it was thus James Evans, and not Archie Bunker, who was killed in a traffic accident while on an out-of-town trip. Esther Rolle, who played James's wife, Florida, was not altogether pleased with Amos' departure, but she could understand his motivation. She, too, regarded the character of J.J. as a poor role model for African-American youths, and she hoped that J.J.'s sudden ascension to "man of the house" status would force the character to grow and mature. At the same time, one of the reasons that Rolle signed on to Good Times was because of the series' depiction of an closely knit inner-city family with a strong and positive father figure at the head. With Amos gone, Rolle was herself less than anxious to continue with her participation in the series. And this, coupled with the producers' insistence upon retaining the "zany" qualities that had endeared J.J. to millions of viewers, prompted her to consider leaving the series as well -- which indeed she did, at the end of season four. Before this happened, however, the series' writers contrived to pair off Florida Evans with a new sweetheart in the form of Carl Dixon (Moses Gunn), the employer of Florida's youngest son, Michael (Ralph Carter). Although Carl was obstreperous, profane, and something of an atheist, Florida managed to bring out the best in the man, and with the blessings of her children -- including daughter Thelma (BernNadette Stanis) -- Florida and Carl had decided to wed by the time the last fourth-season episode had rolled around. The many changes in Good Times' basic premise, combined with its move to a suicidal Wednesday-night time slot opposite ABC's surprise hit The Bionic Woman, had an injurious effect on the program's ratings. Having already dropped from seventh to 24th place during season three, the series failed to even crack the Top 25 during season four. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide