My two reasons for saying the writing was poor

1.Incomplete Storylines

2.No Mention of Chicago Landmarks-Only NY landmarks

Originally posted by Sitcom Analyzer
My two reasons for saying the writing was poor

1.Incomplete Storylines

2.No Mention of Chicago Landmarks-Only NY landmarks

I can give you two more reasons...1. Internal strife, and 2. catastrophic cast changes.

To elaborate: The internal strife was a result of a power struggle between executive producer Norman Lear and series leads Esther Rolle and John Amos about the show's direction, particularly as it relates to Jimmie Walker's portrayal as J.J. Now, whether this is because of a genuine concern for the images being presented to the audience about Black Americans, or, as someone suggested in another post on this board, simple jealousy, is difficult to discern as most of the participants either refuse to discuss it openly or, in the case of Ms. Rolle, are no longer around to elaborate.

But the strife led to the unhappy situation of point #2, the catastrophic cast changes...you can agree or disagree about the points that John Amos was trying to make, but his (invouluntary) expulsion from this show, a program concieved as a treatise about a COMPLETE Black Family, had the sorry effect of sending "Good Times" into a slow, downward spiral from which it never recovered. And the producers realized this, so they brought in Moses Gunn as Carl Dixon, but we all know that replacement actors for popular characters are, at best, a mixed blessing (consider, if you will, the Dick York/Dick Sargent controversy over on the "Bewitched" board for further proof.)

Even the last minute additions of Penny and Keith, not very strong characters to begin with, had the effect of sinking what was a once popular television program (not that I'm suggesting Janet Jackson and Ben Powers were jinxes to the show...quite the contrary, their additions generated some powerful storylines...it was just too little, too late.)

But these things going on in the background have the effect of dumping a bucket of very cold water on an atmosphere that needed to thrive on cooperation and good will. And it killed what was once a very original, well-written show.

Originally posted by W.J. Griffin
I can give you two more reasons...1. Internal strife, and 2. catastrophic cast changes.

To elaborate: The internal strife was a result of a power struggle between executive producer Norman Lear and series leads Esther Rolle and John Amos about the show's direction, particularly as it relates to Jimmie Walker's portrayal as J.J. Now, whether this is because of a genuine concern for the images being presented to the audience about Black Americans, or, as someone suggested in another post on this board, simple jealousy, is difficult to discern as most of the participants either refuse to discuss it openly or, in the case of Ms. Rolle, are no longer around to elaborate.

But the strife led to the unhappy situation of point #2, the catastrophic cast changes...you can agree or disagree about the points that John Amos was trying to make, but his (invouluntary) expulsion from this show, a program concieved as a treatise about a COMPLETE Black Family, had the sorry effect of sending "Good Times" into a slow, downward spiral from which it never recovered. And the producers realized this, so they brought in Moses Gunn as Carl Dixon, but we all know that replacement actors for popular characters are, at best, a mixed blessing (consider, if you will, the Dick York/Dick Sargent controversy over on the "Bewitched" board for further proof.)

Even the last minute additions of Penny and Keith, not very strong characters to begin with, had the effect of sinking what was a once popular television program (not that I'm suggesting Janet Jackson and Ben Powers were jinxes to the show...quite the contrary, their additions generated some powerful storylines...it was just too little, too late.)

But these things going on in the background have the effect of dumping a bucket of very cold water on an atmosphere that needed to thrive on cooperation and good will. And it killed what was once a very original, well-written show.


Also, the Penny character was in the first episode produced for the 5th season without explanation as to who she was and where she came from. It wasn't the first episode aired because the public would have been really confused-LOL