November 8, 1978, the moment when the show ran out of GAS!!!!!

[TVFactFan]

After 11/8/78, the show ratings looked to really take a sudden dive to the bottom because after 11/8/78, the show was moved to Wednesdays, then after two Wednesday night airings, the show was moved back to saturday on dec 13, 1978. After Two Saturday Night airings, the show was moved back to Wednesday Night on Jan 3, 1979-lol Then after 1/3/79, the show went on a 5 month hiatus for some reason instead of just being cancelled and picked back up in May.


Why did the producers think the show was still going to have viewers after being on a 5 month Hiatus?

[jamesanthony]

Originally posted by TVShow Analyzer
After 11/8/78, the show ratings looked to really take a sudden dive to the bottom because after 11/8/78, the show was moved to Wednesdays, then after two Wednesday night airings, the show was moved back to saturday on dec 13, 1978. After Two Saturday Night airings, the show was moved back to Wednesday Night on Jan 3, 1979-lol Then after 1/3/79, the show went on a 5 month hiatus for some reason instead of just being cancelled and picked back up in May.


Why did the producers think the show was still going to have viewers after being on a 5 month Hiatus?

I look at it like this: if they just axed the show at that point we would have been left with fewer episodes (including the finale which was rare for a sitcom at that time). Plus the episodes were probably already in production so they decided to burn them off although there are a few that never aired on CBS.

[Edster2973]

Originally posted by TVShow Analyzer
After 11/8/78, the show ratings looked to really take a sudden dive to the bottom because after 11/8/78, the show was moved to Wednesdays, then after two Wednesday night airings, the show was moved back to saturday on dec 13, 1978. After Two Saturday Night airings, the show was moved back to Wednesday Night on Jan 3, 1979-lol Then after 1/3/79, the show went on a 5 month hiatus for some reason instead of just being cancelled and picked back up in May.


Why did the producers think the show was still going to have viewers after being on a 5 month Hiatus?

Methinks the hiatus was just the network (and not the producers) trying to figure out if the show should return or not. Obviously, the show still had viewers, but what happens after a while is that fans don't know where or when to find it, and thus the ratings suffer. CBS is notorious for letting shows languish while they sit on the fence deciding a particular show's fate. It happened with Archie Bunker's Place, which was cancelled at the last minute and was denied a finale, something which angered Carroll O'Connor to the point he swore he'd never work for CBS again. It happened with other worthy shows too, like City, The Five Mrs. Buchanans, Designing Women, The Flash, The Golden Palace, and Major Dad. Between switching the nights that these shows aired on, and pre-empting them in favor of sports games, these shows, while some lasted longer, didn't end up lasting as long as they deserved to due to CBS' mishandling of their schedules.

One thing is for certain, Good Times should have and could have lasted a lot longer than it did if the network (and not the show itself) hadn't screwed around with it. Even with the loss of John Amos, there was still potential there, even though I'd prefer to have had John stay with the cast.

Seems to me to be a no-brainer that too much pre-empting and switching of a show's line-up will bring down the ratings and isn't necessarily a reflection of a show's so-called diminished quality, but I'm not a TV station exec, so what do I know?


Ed

[jamesanthony]

Originally posted by Edster2973
.

One thing is for certain, Good Times should have and could have lasted a lot longer than it did if the network (and not the show itself) hadn't screwed around with it. Even with the loss of John Amos, there was still potential there, even though I'd prefer to have had John stay with the cast.


Ed

I think Good Times ended at just the right time actually. Esther Rolle came back and we got to see one of the children get married. I don't think they needed a year 7. To me year 6 was better than year 5 so it ended on a better note than if it had ended at year 5 (no Florida) or even at year 4 (too few episodes).

[Edster2973]

Originally posted by jamesanthony
I think Good Times ended at just the right time actually. Esther Rolle came back and we got to see one of the children get married. I don't think they needed a year 7. To me year 6 was better than year 5 so it ended on a better note than if it had ended at year 5 (no Florida) or even at year 4 (too few episodes).

The things you speak of in year 6 are good, but those things happened because I think the producers anticipated that the show would be ending. Had they been given the green light for another season, perhaps the stories would've lended for more development in other areas. Instead, things were wrapping up. They saw the writing on the wall.


But I think there were still more stories to tell...

Ed

[jamesanthony]

Originally posted by Edster2973
The things you speak of in year 6 are good, but those things happened because I think the producers anticipated that the show would be ending. Had they been given the green light for another season, perhaps the stories would've lended for more development in other areas. Instead, things were wrapping up. They saw the writing on the wall.


But I think there were still more stories to tell...

Ed

They probably did see the "writing on the wall" because Michael and Penny skip a year in age between years 5 and 6; this allowed them to put Michael in college and have Penny go through puberty and have Willona have to deal with telling her the facts of life. I guess many of this year's plots could have been from the supposed season 7. What do you think are some plots that could have occurred to round out season 6 or make up a season 7?

One thing that they could've done was give Willona or Michael a steady romantic interest or do more with Michael's character.

I think the fact that they left the viewer wanting more is part of this series' charm.

[Edster2973]

Originally posted by jamesanthony
What do you think are some plots that could have occurred to round out season 6 or make up a season 7?

Well, for starters, they could have delved more into Florida's relationship with her new husband (I forget his name, was it Carl?) instead of just using him as a means to explain her absence from year 5. I can't remember if the kids had any complaints or issues with Florida re-marrying. It's been over 10 years since I've seen these episodes and since I don't have cable, I won't be able to see them again until they're released on DVD. But surely the kids' relationship with their new step-dad could have led to more stories, and I don't mean that they'd have to necessarily have a problem with it. But instead it was just ignored.

And surely James' family could have been used more instead of just his father. Just because James was deceased doesn't mean his family would stop having anything to do with his wife and kids.

And how about Penny? Couldn't someone else from her family, besides her abusive mother, want to raise Penny? Isn't there a potential story there, that someone would think they're better suited to raise Penny than Willona is simply because they're of Penny's blood?

And dare I say it, how about if the Evans/Willona had some of that good luck that they experienced in the finale much earlier in the series? Wouldn't the show be just as entertaining even if the Evans/Willona wasn't always down on their luck? I'm not saying it would've been better or preferable, but surely stories could be told of their trying to adjust to some good fortune. I think the Evans' appeal was attributed to a lot more than just their being poor. In fact, I think whenever something good did happen to one of the family members, it was too predictable that somewhere, somehow things were going to go wrong. We fans would've loved these people even if they weren't poorer than the poor people.

This is just off the top of my head. A lot more could have been done if handled correctly and all without the show feeling tired or old. All that was needed was a little more effort and care. But again, I haven't seen seasons 4 - 6 in over 10 years, so maybe by the time I view them I'll agree with your assessment that it was time to end the show. But until then, I'll stick with my points...

Ed

[TVFactFan]

Originally posted by Edster2973
Well, for starters, they could have delved more into Florida's relationship with her new husband (I forget his name, was it Carl?) instead of just using him as a means to explain her absence from year 5. I can't remember if the kids had any complaints or issues with Florida re-marrying. It's been over 10 years since I've seen these episodes and since I don't have cable, I won't be able to see them again until they're released on DVD. But surely the kids' relationship with their new step-dad could have led to more stories, and I don't mean that they'd have to necessarily have a problem with it. But instead it was just ignored.

And surely James' family could have been used more instead of just his father. Just because James was deceased doesn't mean his family would stop having anything to do with his wife and kids.

And how about Penny? Couldn't someone else from her family, besides her abusive mother, want to raise Penny? Isn't there a potential story there, that someone would think they're better suited to raise Penny than Willona is simply because they're of Penny's blood?

And dare I say it, how about if the Evans/Willona had some of that good luck that they experienced in the finale much earlier in the series? Wouldn't the show be just as entertaining even if the Evans/Willona wasn't always down on their luck? I'm not saying it would've been better or preferable, but surely stories could be told of their trying to adjust to some good fortune. I think the Evans' appeal was attributed to a lot more than just their being poor. In fact, I think whenever something good did happen to one of the family members, it was too predictable that somewhere, somehow things were going to go wrong. We fans would've loved these people even if they weren't poorer than the poor people.

This is just off the top of my head. A lot more could have been done if handled correctly and all without the show feeling tired or old. All that was needed was a little more effort and care. But again, I haven't seen seasons 4 - 6 in over 10 years, so maybe by the time I view them I'll agree with your assessment that it was time to end the show. But until then, I'll stick with my points...

Ed

If the show had picked up where it left off in season 4, then it probably would have lasted to 1981/82. But i think viewers were very confused that Florida was set to Marry to Carl at the close of season 4 and then was no longer on the show at the start of season 5. And to make things worse, a 10 year old is added to the cast. Viewers in the fall of 77 was probably like "WHAT THE HELL? after seeing the first episode of the 77-78 season-LOL.

[jamesanthony]

Originally posted by Edster2973


This is just off the top of my head. A lot more could have been done if handled correctly and all without the show feeling tired or old. All that was needed was a little more effort and care. But again, I haven't seen seasons 4 - 6 in over 10 years, so maybe by the time I view them I'll agree with your assessment that it was time to end the show. But until then, I'll stick with my points...

Ed

It all sounds very valid, but I can't help but think that someone behind the scenes just stopped caring or didn't know how to pull something of better quality together and the quality just wasn't there to sustain this show. Years 4-6 have a lot of mediocrity, which makes it amazing that the show is so well liked in spite of it all. I've only seen a handful of these in recent years as well though I saw every single episode when I was younger. There are mediocre elements to this show all the way through which have been listed in other posts, but James being there kind of distracts from them (for one thing single and childless Willona could have lived in the ghetto but not the projects). Over all I say be happy for the 130 some odd episodes which from my memory no matter how mediocre always had some entertainment appeal to them. I can't think of any unwatchable episodes.

[TVFactFan]

Originally posted by jamesanthony
It all sounds very valid, but I can't help but think that someone behind the scenes just stopped caring or didn't know how to pull something of better quality together and the quality just wasn't there to sustain this show. Years 4-6 have a lot of mediocrity, which makes it amazing that the show is so well liked in spite of it all. I've only seen a handful of these in recent years as well though I saw every single episode when I was younger. There are mediocre elements to this show all the way through which have been listed in other posts, but James being there kind of distracts from them (for one thing single and childless Willona could have lived in the ghetto but not the projects). Over all I say be happy for the 130 some odd episodes which from my memory no matter how mediocre always had some entertainment appeal to them. I can't think of any unwatchable episodes.

Season 4 was mediocre, season 5 and 6 was beyond mediocre

[ThomasE]

Originally posted by TVShow Analyzer
Season 4 was mediocre, season 5 and 6 was beyond mediocre

I could tolerate season four, it was ok. Season five is where I had an issue. Season six is a vast improvement from the previous season. I like season six. People say that they don't like but I enjoyed it: The Four Part Homecoming episode, The birds and bees eps along with others. Esther Rolle was needed back. Norman Lear was not thinking straight when he did not meet Ms. Rolle's demands. The show needed a lot more than JJ and Wilona as the stars.

[TVFactFan]

Originally posted by ThomasE
I could tolerate season four, it was ok. Season five is where I had an issue. Season six is a vast improvement from the previous season. I like season six. People say that they don't like but I enjoyed it: The Four Part Homecoming episode, The birds and bees eps along with others. Esther Rolle was needed back. Norman Lear was not thinking straight when he did not meet Ms. Rolle's demands. The show needed a lot more than JJ and Wilona as the stars.

And I personally didn't care to have episodes focused around Willona. It didn't make sense becasuse the Willona character was so minor in seasons 1-3 and to make it her show was so crazy. That's like Archie and Edith leaving all in the FAmily and the show being centered around Gloria-lol