I have to weigh in on this...um..."controversy" about the "spin-off" status of "Good Times". I've been reading everyone's comments and the back and forth with some amusement("It Is so a spin-off!" "No, it's not!" "Yes it is!" "Well, you're stupid!" "Oh, yeah?" "Yeah!"), and all I have to say about it is THIS:

"It IS, and it ISN"T!!"

You see, Eric Monte (who wrote the movie "Cooley High") and Mike Evans (who originated the role of Lionel Jefferson on "All In The Family" and "The Jeffersons" {a TRUE spin-off}) created "Good Times as a seperate entity...if my understanding is correct, they presented the concept to Norman Lear in 1971 or '72.

During this same time, Esther Rolle's turn as Florida Evans on "Maude" (yet ANOTHER 'true' spin-off) was gaining in popularity, and the producers, always out to milk a good thing into oblivion decided to give Ms. Rolle her own show.

Well, with the "Good Times" proposal a-sittin' around, they decided to do a li'l tweakin' with the concept, and lo' and behold---INSTANT SPIN-OFF!!

So, the sarcastic upshot to all this is that even though "Good Times", as concieved by Mr. Monte and Mr. Evans, was never INTENDED to be a spin-off of "Maude", it IS a spin-off nevertheless because the lead character, Florida Evans, and the actress who portrayed her, Esther Rolle, were the same character she played on the parent show.

Keep those fires burning, kiddies...heh, heh, heh, heh...:rotflmao: :devil:

Originally posted by W.J. Griffin
I have to weigh in on this...um..."controversy" about the "spin-off" status of "Good Times". I've been reading everyone's comments and the back and forth with some amusement("It Is so a spin-off!" "No, it's not!" "Yes it is!" "Well, you're stupid!" "Oh, yeah?" "Yeah!"), and all I have to say about it is THIS:

"It IS, and it ISN"T!!"

You see, Eric Monte (who wrote the movie "Cooley High") and Mike Evans (who originated the role of Lionel Jefferson on "All In The Family" and "The Jeffersons" {a TRUE spin-off}) created "Good Times as a seperate entity...if my understanding is correct, they presented the concept to Norman Lear in 1971 or '72.

During this same time, Esther Rolle's turn as Florida Evans on "Maude" (yet ANOTHER 'true' spin-off) was gaining in popularity, and the producers, always out to milk a good thing into oblivion decided to give Ms. Rolle her own show.

Well, with the "Good Times" proposal a-sittin' around, they decided to do a li'l tweakin' with the concept, and lo' and behold---INSTANT SPIN-OFF!!

So, the sarcastic upshot to all this is that even though "Good Times", as concieved by Mr. Monte and Mr. Evans, was never INTENDED to be a spin-off of "Maude", it IS a spin-off nevertheless because the lead character, Florida Evans, and the actress who portrayed her, Esther Rolle, were the same character she played on the parent show.

Keep those fires burning, kiddies...heh, heh, heh, heh...:rotflmao: :devil:


Sounds like a much better explanation. Thank you

At least we all know it is a spinoff...THE END

Originally posted by Brian Damage
At least we all know it is a spinoff...THE END


You can say that it is and you can also say that it's not-THE END

no you can't...not if Florida Evans is the same character from Maude...The End

Originally posted by Brian Damage
no you can't...not if Florida Evans is the same character from Maude...The End

Like he said-it's a spinoff and it's not a spinoff. NO one way-only two.

Originally posted by Sitcom Analyzer
Like he said-it's a spinoff and it's not a spinoff. NO one way-only two.

Is this all really that big a deal?

Originally posted by vashti1999
Is this all really that big a deal?


just a sitcom discussion. relax

Originally posted by Sitcom Analyzer
just a sitcom discussion. relax

It's just a sitcom! Relax. Who cares spin off or not??

Originally posted by vashti1999
It's just a sitcom! Relax. Who cares spin off or not??

IF THIS TOPIC BOTHERS YOU THEN SKIP IT!!!!!!!!!!

Originally posted by Sitcom Analyzer
IF THIS TOPIC BOTHERS YOU THEN SKIP IT!!!!!!!!!!

All I asked was if it was that big a deal? There was nothing in that question that suggests the topic bothers me or that I need to relax. So before you tell me to relax, take a look at yourself.

Originally posted by vashti1999
All I asked was if it was that big a deal? There was nothing in that question that suggests the topic bothers me or that I need to relax. So before you tell me to relax, take a look at yourself.


it's a discussion that's been going months before you registered.

Its amusing :lol:

Originally posted by mr roper
Its amusing :lol:

It is isn't it. ;)

hehe.

Boy, talk about Pavlovnian responses!! To all you psychology students out there, please feel free to use this thread in your master thesis!!! (heh heh heh...arent' I a devil?):devil: :devil: :devil: :devil: :devil:

SPINOFF! SPINOFF!

Originally posted by ThomasE
SPINOFF! SPINOFF!


Good Times was not a spinoff, just a show about a black family in the projects

Originally posted by vashti1999
All I asked was if it was that big a deal? There was nothing in that question that suggests the topic bothers me or that I need to relax. So before you tell me to relax, take a look at yourself.


Vashti1999, don't pay any attention to Sitcom Analyzer. He's a goof.

Originally posted by Sitcom Analyzer
Good Times was not a spinoff, just a show about a black family in the projects

LOL, it is, man. You have to realize what you are saying is an opinion, not factual. The idea for the show was concieved before 74 but was spunoff from another show. Plain and simple. Just Like Knots Landing was spunoff from Dallas, it was also concieved before Dallas but got spun off from Dallas. You don't give up, huh? LOL.

Originally posted by ThomasE
LOL, it is, man. You have to realize what you are saying is an opinion, not factual. The idea for the show was concieved before 74 but was spunoff from another show. Plain and simple. Just Like Knots Landing was spunoff from Dallas, it was also concieved before Dallas but got spun off from Dallas. You don't give up, huh? LOL.


I will never give up until someone gives me a detailed explanation on how the Evans moved to a Chicago Ghetto from NY when Florida;s husband was promoted. So once someone gives me that explanation maybe i will call GT a spinoff

Originally posted by Sitcom Analyzer
I will never give up until someone gives me a detailed explanation on how the Evans moved to a Chicago Ghetto from NY when Florida;s husband was promoted. So once someone gives me that explanation maybe i will call GT a spinoff



The detailed explanation is that it's only a TV show and writers or producers can make whatever inconsistent changes they want. That's the main point that you don't seem to grasp. :crazy:

HEHE

*Sigh*

Okay, I admit I was being a wise-guy when I started this thread, but now things seem to be getting out of hand. I do have a solution, of sorts, if anyone cares to hear it...

Different realities.

Remember in the old DC comics from the 60s and 70s, when there was an "Earth-One", where the Justice League existed and "Earth-Two", where the Justice Society originated? Well, it's the same deal with Florida Evans from "Maude" and Florida Evans from "Good Times".

The Florida Evans from "Maude" lived in Harlem in New York City with her husband Henry, who was a fireman, and their children. She commuted to Tuckahoe, New York, to work for the Findlays. The Florida Evans from "Good Times" lived in the Cabrini-Greene housing projects on Chicago's south side with her husband James, whose occupations varied when there was work, and their three children...James Jr. (J.J.), Thelma, and Micheal, and a next-door neighbor who was her best friend, Wilona Woods (who later adopted a child who looked an awful lot like Janet Jackson!). As far as we can tell, if this Florida worked as a domestic, it sure wasn't for Walter and Maude Findlay in Tuckahoe, New York.

Different Realities. Although we can assume that Florida Evans, as portrayed by Esther Rolle, is the same woman, the conflicting backstories suggest seperate planes of existance...the only constant being Mrs. Evans' faith and gentle nature.

Two different realities, same woman.

Like I said at the beginning of this mess, "Good Times", while not being a TRUE spin-off, (as is "The Jeffersons" and "Maude", their relation to the parent show, in this case "All In The Family" being a catalyst), IS a spin-off nonetheless because the lead character, Florida Evans, and the actress who played her, Esther Rolle, are the same as the popular supporting charater on the parent show.

Everyone is right. Whether or not this stops all the bickering, only Henry Kissinger can say....peacesign:

Originally posted by W.J. Griffin
*Sigh*

Okay, I admit I was being a wise-guy when I started this thread, but now things seem to be getting out of hand.

What did you expect?

Originally posted by GeeBee
What did you expect?

I know, right? LOL. I'm mad nor obsessed. I'm just having fun with this issue. It is very humorous. In the 3 1/2 years I have been posting, I have never been in a debate such as this one. Folks we all know for sure now that Good Times is a spinoff, so it's cool and I have no issue with the "Analyzer" for his very different opinion on this matter.

I find it amusing too. Even Solomon knows it is a spinoff....his little article admitted that.

At least W.J. got sitcom to agree. I thought that was an impossible road. All hail to W.J.patriot:

Originally posted by GeeBee
What did you expect?


LOL:lol:

Originally posted by laneyday
At least W.J. got sitcom to agree. I thought that was an impossible road. All hail to W.J.patriot:

:lol: :lol: :lol: You guys...:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: