Random Observation on Good Times and The Jeffersons

They wanted to portray the head woman in the family as a strong matriarch. A quiet weakling can't handle crazy George Jefferson and it takes one hell of a strong matriarch to hold the Good times family together.

 

I was often curious about that as well.
I did not even think about it until they were all much older


Rocket River

 

I never noticed there was that big of age difference.

 

John Amos is only 7 years older than Jimmie Walker.

 

A 7 year old father? ...

Spoiler

DY-NO-MITE!

 

The father from Good Times doesn't age.

 

Saw him in an episode of psych and he didn't look like he aged 40 years since the show.

 

Ms. Jackson was nasty!

 

He's always been stocky as hell and went bald very young, like Chiklis who was in his twenties on The Commish and during his Seinfeld guest spot.

 

These were two of my favorite shows while growing up. Good Times actually was a spinoff of Maude and Esther Rolle was married to John Amos on that show from what I recall but he had a different name. Norman Lear, the producer, always thought of Esther Rolle as a major league player stuck in a minor league role, so he wanted her to be the focus of Good Times. John Amos continued being her husband on the new show because the two just clicked on-screen according to what I read in Lear's memoirs.

Lear had seen Hemsley in a Broadway musical and when he decided to move a black family next to the Bunkers in All in the Family, he was at the top of the list. But he didn't show up until later on All in the Family because the Broadway play hadn't finished its run. Isabel and George going at it basically clicked from the moment they hooked up on the screen.

I also could've sworn I read once, possibly in Demond "Lamont Sanford" Wilson's book, that the talent pool of black actors back then was small since black tv was in its infancy, so it's not like you had a giant pool of talent to choose from. It's why you often see the same black actors in various episodes of different black tv shows. Hell, this issue crossed into higher positions, as well. Remember the first "Lionel Jefferson" on the Jeffersons who disappeared, was subsequently played by another actor, but then came back? He was the co-creator of Good Times. The period where he left the Jeffersons was when he wanted to focus on writing for Good Times.

There are a lot of interesting twists around these two shows, like how the Jeffersons ended up being about rich black people instead of just a black family living next to the Bunkers, but I'm sick of typing on this dumb tablet. Somebody else can type if they know, otherwise I'll type it tomorrow. Lol.

 

I remember seeing an episode of Good Times where JJ met Jay Leno in the VD clinic.

 

I need to watch more episodes of The Jeffersons. Sherman Hemsley is one one of my all time favorites. I even watch old episodes of Amen from time to time to catch a few laughs from him.

I've seen every episode of Good Times like 10x over thanks to all day marathons on TVOne every Saturday. Love that show.

 

The best TV show intro of all time in my opinion.

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Man, Archie Bunker & The Jeffersons really exposed & broke down some walls. It was truly great television for the purpose of not only entertainment, but social change.


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Good TV there

Rocket River

 

So technically speaking that make Good Times a grandchild of All in the Family.

 

Loved both of these shows growing up. Add Sanford and Son to that mix.

Also, I want to add that Detroit still looks like that beginning scene in Good Times.

 

Damn, damn, damn