Good Times Fun Facts
Here are some fun facts about Good times:
Good Times Received the following nominations: Golden Globes, USA: Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor - Television, Best TV Actress - Musical/Comedy, Best Supporting Actor - Television
Did you know?
- A spin-off of Maude, itself a spin-off All in the Family
- John Amos was fired from the series after the third season after comments he made about the backstage fights in an interview. His character was one of the first comedy sitcom characters to ever be killed off.
- Good Times was the first African American family sitcom.
- During the first three seasons that John Amos was with the show, the closing credits showed a portrait of the Evans family painted by J.J. After Amos was killed off, a mural that J.J. painted for the local bank was shown.
- During the final season, a painting of the cast was shown during the opening credits and it morphed into a live shot of the cast.
- Jimmie Walker's expression "DY-NO-MITE!" became a mid-1970s catchphrase.
- It was ranked #14 in TV Guide's list of "TV's 20 Top Catchphrases" [21-27 August 2005 issue].
- In later years, J.J.'s catchphrase was changed from "Dy-no-mite" to "You know, what can I say?"
- J.J.'s nickname for himself was "The Ebony Prince".
- J.J.'s nickname for Michael was "Miguel".
- Among J.J.'s many girlfriends the ones that were mentioned the most were Henrietta, "Boom Boom" Belinda and Samantha "the Human Panther". However, the only one that ever was seen was Henrietta, who was played by Tina Andrews.
- When Norman Lear, Mike Evans, and Eric Monte were first developing this show, it was not a spin off. Then Esther Rolle was cast as the lead and it became a spin off. Rolle's character's name was changed to Florida Evans, but the first names of the other characters were not changed. This led to Michael having the same name as one of the creators. Left unexplained was why they moved from Tuckahoe to Chicago, and how John Amos's character went from being Henry who had worked many years as a fire fighter to James who could never hold a job.
- Wanda (Helen Martin) was often referred to as "Crying Wanda"
- Penny's real first name was Millicent. The name "Penny" derived from the word "cent" in her name.
- Florida had four sisters and one brother. However, the only one of her siblings that ever appeared on the show was her brother Wilbur, who was played by Louis Gossett Jr.
- Esther Rolle left the after the 1976-1977 season due to her displeasure with the what she saw as the character of J.J. being a bad role model for young blacks. She returned at the beginning of the 1978-1979 season after the producers guaranteed that they would make J.J. a more respectable character.
- At the end of the 1976-1977 season, Florida was written out by having her marry the character of Carl Dixon. However, when she returned, Carl was nowhere to be seen and was never mentioned again.
- Both Jay Leno and David Letterman were writers for the show
- In the final episode, all the characters had happy endings. Keith found out that his knee had gotten better and he was able to play football again, he also announced that he had rented an apartment in a duplex on the North side and that he and Thelma (who announced that she was pregnant) were moving out.
- After a little persuasion they convinced Florida to move in with them.
- Also, J.J. announced that he finally sold a comic book character he had been working on and used Thelma as a model. He used some of the money he was advanced to give Keith and Thelma a Caribbean vacation. Finally, Willona announced that she had gotten a promotion at her job and that she was also moving to an apartment in a duplex on the North side. As it turned out the apartment was in the same duplex as the apartment Keith rented.
- The name of the comic book character that J.J. created, using Thelma's likeness was "Dyno Woman".
- J.J.'s favorite drink was always Kool-Aid
- James always referred to his daughter, Thelma as "Baby Girl".
- James always referred to his son, Michael as "Militant Midget".
- During the first season, J.J. would answer the phone by saying "Heloooooooo", but in later years he would answer it by saying "Cello".
- During the series, Bookman was often referred to as "Buffalo Butt", although Willona called him "Booger".
- Willona's pet name for Michael was Gramps.
- The name of Bookman's wife was Violette.
- The name of the gang that J.J. was briefly a member of was the Satan's Knights. Michael was also briefly a gang member when he was forced into joining the Junior Warlords.
- The name of the school that Keith attended was never mentioned.
- When Thelma's husband, Keith, first came to the show, he was a running back for the NFL's St. Louis Cardinals before injuring his knee at the wedding. In the final episode, Keith announces that, after a tryout, he's now a member of the Chicago Bears.
- John Amos's character was named Henry when he would appear on Maude
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