The 'Good Times' Reboot Is Absolutely Terrible

Fifty years ago, “Good Times” premiered on CBS. The series — starring Esther Rolle, John Amos, Jimmie Walker, Bern Nadette Stanis, Ralph Carter and Ja’Net DuBois — was set in 1970s Chicago in the public housing projects in a poor Black neighborhood. The spinoff of “Maude,” the first series to feature a two-parent Black family on television, was created by Eric Monte and Mike Evans, and developed by the late TV legend Norman Lear.

The sitcom was a historic moment for representation of a Black family on screen, featuring the Evanses trying to keep “their head above water” — and “making a wave” when they can, as it is sung in the iconic theme song.

Fast forward to 2024, and we are now being tortured with a reboot of the sitcom, which premiered Friday on Netflix. The animated series is 10 episodes long and stars J.B. Smoove, Yvette Nicole Brown, Jay Pharoah, Marsai Martin and Gerald Anthony “Slink” Johnson as a new generation of Evanses. (Smoove’s character, Reggie, is James Evans Sr.’s grandson. James was portrayed by Amos in the original series.)

When the trailer was first released, Netflix and creators of the series received a lot of backlash online for producing the show. At the time, audiences could only assume that the series would be just as terrible as its teaser.

On Friday morning, Erin E. Evans, Candice Frederick and Taryn Finley watched the first and second episodes of the new TV series so you don’t have to. Here’s our conversation below:

Let’s start with the trailer and the backlash that quickly followed.

I’ll start by saying this: The “Good Times” trailer is the worst trailer I have ever seen in my entire life. It’s just a bunch of animated characters in vignettes that are not funny and don’t make sense. I have