That smack didn't look stage at all-lol Oh my god James pop the sh*t out of Cleatus. John Amos had skills in making the James Evans character believable. I wonder if the actor who played Cleatus said-"Got damm John you smacked me kind of hard there pal" "We are just acting"-lol

I don't think John Amos was acting. He had a lot of pent up frustration in him. lol

Probably during rehearsals he was being "easy" on the actor, and they probably decided to work on the smack, to make it more believable. Some actors are willing to go to lengths to make things look real. Like when I see someone get slapped real hard, and there is no doubt it is a real slap, you know the two actors had to work at that.

The slap seemed real to me.:lol:

That's one of my all times favorite James moments

Speaking of Cleatus, once again where was Michael going with the Medgar Evers comments? And if you look at Florida's face, she looked as if she agreed with him in a way. She didn't tell him to keep quiet.

As for the smack upside the head:

"We sit here in this apartment on Lake Shore Drive and all we do all day son is eat caviar and count stocks and bonds". I woulda smacked him myself. Such a dumb question. James was licking his chops for something like that.

Speaking of Cleatus, once again where was Michael going with the Medgar Evers comments? And if you look at Florida's face, she looked as if she agreed with him in a way. She didn't tell him to keep quiet.

As for the smack upside the head:

"We sit here in this apartment on Lake Shore Drive and all we do all day son is eat caviar and count stocks and bonds". I woulda smacked him myself. Such a dumb question. James was licking his chops for something like that.
til I die, I will never agree with that Medgar Evans comment and I will never accept the way the writers had the FBI men react that way. THAT IS ANOTHER THING THAT SHOULD NEVER NEVER BEEN IN THE SCRIPT. solomon, put this comment in that thread pleeeeeeze.

Speaking of Cleatus, once again where was Michael going with the Medgar Evers comments? And if you look at Florida's face, she looked as if she agreed with him in a way. She didn't tell him to keep quiet.

As for the smack upside the head:

"We sit here in this apartment on Lake Shore Drive and all we do all day son is eat caviar and count stocks and bonds". I woulda smacked him myself. Such a dumb question. James was licking his chops for something like that.

Medgar Evers was assassinated in the early 60s, and the FBI and police wasn't looking for his killer almost 10 years later. And I believe that Michael felt that at the time, he didn't think that Cleatus robbed the bank and the FBI were wasting time looking for his cousin a black man when they should have been looking for the killer of Medgar Evers who turned out to be a KKK member. And back in the 70's that was when young black people were involved in the black moment.

Medgar Evers was assassinated in the early 60s, and the FBI and police wasn't looking for his killer almost 10 years later. And I believe that Michael felt that at the time, he didn't think that Cleatus robbed the bank and the FBI were wasting time looking for his cousin a black man when they should have been looking for the killer of Medgar Evers who turned out to be a KKK member. And back in the 70's that was when young black people were involved in the black moment.
It is just sad to think that the writers wrote this episode to insert that. It seems that they wanted to "televise" that to the world and they decided to use a good, quality show to express that, rather than focus on the show, and the actual plot. Kinda like when that stupid salesman came to the house in the Alaska job episode. What the hell was that even put in that episode? No need for that to have been there. I just feel in my heart of hearts this show was used alot for the writers own purpose. I made a thread of a recent article where John Amos didn't like a majority of the writing that was done on the show and he wanted to make changes to the plot, storylines, etc. but he was "dismissed". Which is one of the major reasons he was pissed at the show in general, not to mention the writers.

Here it is!!! I just thought of it after thinking of it while watching it. How could the cops miss Cleatus when they were waiting downstairs for a taxi? they didn't see him.

It is just sad to think that the writers wrote this episode to insert that. It seems that they wanted to "televise" that to the world and they decided to use a good, quality show to express that, rather than focus on the show, and the actual plot. Kinda like when that stupid salesman came to the house in the Alaska job episode. What the hell was that even put in that episode? No need for that to have been there. I just feel in my heart of hearts this show was used alot for the writers own purpose. I made a thread of a recent article where John Amos didn't like a majority of the writing that was done on the show and he wanted to make changes to the plot, storylines, etc. but he was "dismissed". Which is one of the major reasons he was pissed at the show in general, not to mention the writers.


I agree, that somethings that they added in the scripts that weren't needed. But you have to look at who the writers were. I think it was Bill Duke or another writer who said that it was a bad idea to have an all white writing staff writing about black ghetto life LOL. And I agree with him on that.

I agree, that somethings that they added in the scripts that weren't needed. But you have to look at who the writers were. I think it was Bill Duke or another writer who said that it was a bad idea to have an all white writing staff writing about black ghetto life LOL. And I agree with him on that.
Oh i highly agree with that. No doubt abt it. But John Amos had an issue with the writers of the show, and the color of their skin wasn't the issue, it's how the storylines were written, subject matter, etc. For John Amos to have wanted to make major writing changes in the scripts, that tells me alot. It's not just me who finds the writing on this show at times, bad. Our posts here abt the inconsistencies, things that didn't need to be mentioned, how the characters were written, etc. are just some examples. I just feel the writers had their own agenda in putting certain things in the show.

Here it is!!! I just thought of it after thinking of it while watching it. How could the cops miss Cleatus when they were waiting downstairs for a taxi? they didn't see him.



The Evans should known he was guilty when he sent that little boy upstairs-lol

Oh i highly agree with that. No doubt abt it. But John Amos had an issue with the writers of the show, and the color of their skin wasn't the issue, it's how the storylines were written, subject matter, etc. For John Amos to have wanted to make major writing changes in the scripts, that tells me alot. It's not just me who finds the writing on this show at times, bad. Our posts here abt the inconsistencies, things that didn't need to be mentioned, how the characters were written, etc. are just some examples. I just feel the writers had their own agenda in putting certain things in the show.

I would have REALLY liked for Amos to have written some of the episodes. Can you imagine how much depth and/or real life comedy could have been inserted into the scripts? He DID, in fact, have a background in writing. First on a program called The Leslie Uggams Show in 1970, and later I THINK he was a consultant on scripts when he was Gordy the weatherman on The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1973. Oh, well. Those producers/writers REALLY missed a good bet ignoring John Amos' skills IMO

The Evans should known he was guilty when he sent that little boy upstairs-lol
It's called DENIAL...:rolleyes:

As for Jeff's post, I would have loved to see John's writing skills put to work. I too wonder what kind of realism he would have brought to the show.

I think James knew something was up, he didn't even want Cleatus to spend the night.

It's called DENIAL...:rolleyes:

As for Jeff's post, I would have loved to see John's writing skills put to work. I too wonder what kind of realism he would have brought to the show.


The problem with GT as the show got older is the majority of writers were white. How could they possibly know about ghetto life if they have never been?

The problem with GT as the show got older is the majority of writers were white. How could they possibly know about ghetto life if they have never been?


Totally agree.

I would have REALLY liked for Amos to have written some of the episodes. Can you imagine how much depth and/or real life comedy could have been inserted into the scripts? He DID, in fact, have a background in writing. First on a program called The Leslie Uggams Show in 1970, and later I THINK he was a consultant on scripts when he was Gordy the weatherman on The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1973. Oh, well. Those producers/writers REALLY missed a good bet ignoring John Amos' skills IMO
That would have been AWESOME...especially since most of GT's writers were white. :confused: