(AllHipHop News) “Good Times” is a staple in Black television history – all history for that matter. Now, the original living cast is trying to get the ball rolling on a new movie that represented a Black family in the project of Chicago.
“Good Times” originally aired from February 8, 1974 to August 1, 1979, on CBS. It was created by Eric Monte and Mike Evans, and further developed by Norman Lear. The stars of the show were Esther Rolle, John Amos, Jimmie Walker, Ja’net Du Bois, Bern Nadette Stanis and Ralph Carter.
There are some significant challenges to this otherwise cool idea. Esther Rolle, the mother in “Good Times,” died in 1998 at the age of 78. The father character James Evans, played by John Amos, was killed off the show in 1976 after Amos had creative issues with Norman Lear.
Collectively, the cast plead their case why this movie should be supported nearly 40 years after the show was a hit.
This is it, we’re making a Good Times Movie. The only question is:
How big can we make it? We need your help.
From the day we walked off the set of Good Times, forty years ago, all we have heard is When are you going to have a Good Times reunion? Our audience have told us they need completion. They tell us we are not finished with the first Black T.V. family show. What happened? We want to see our favorite family show back on T.V.
Well, here it is a chance to make that happen. We as a cast have always said maybe one day, we will have a reunion. That one day is here now. It is not just up to us, it is up to our millions of fans who have the power to make it happen.
During these forty years as a cast we have been giving a numerous amount of scripts that were written about what happened to the Evans’ family. The ideas are countless, but as a group we have made a decision on where each character should go and what this long awaited script should be about. We are bursting at the seems to bring this exciting movie to you. All that we can tell you at this point is that it will be exactly what you expect from us and more.
I am sure you will agree that the ones who can tell the stories of each character are those who have lived with those characters for forty years. That would be each one of us in the cast. Therefore in this movie we will have great input into what our characters will be about now. The success of kick-starter will give us as a cast control of what this movie will be about. Therefore bringing great satisfaction to our audience and to us as a cast who wants to bring nothing but the best to you.
We as the cast have decided to go on the Kick-starter website because we had heard this would be excellent in making the dream of a Good Times Movie Re-Union happen. We checked it out, studied the success of some of your favorite artists who have decided to bring their projects right here on kick-starter and have been very successful in seeing their projects become a reality through the help of their fabulous fans. This is exactly what we want our fans and Good Time lovers to do for our project. Support us in making this movie happen. You will become an active part of bringing this generational movie to the big screen.
Let all of those wonderful memories, those back in the day memories, come back to you with a brand new flare. You know the ones when you watched the show with your mom and dad and grandparents. Sitting in the living room watching that one television set, on CBS one of three stations back then. Well I hope its bringing a smile to your face because its bringing a smile to mine. Those were truly fond memories that we will never forget as we pass the tradition on of watching the show with our children and grandchildren.
Good Times has become a family staple in many American homes. The Evans Family was an African American family placed in the Cabrini Green projects in Chicago. It’s been playing on television somewhere in the world for 37 consecutive years. Proving that GoodTimes is not just an African American show, it is an American iconic show that all people have come to love. It has found its place not only in television history but in the hearts of people all over the world.
The Good Time Family as we call ourselves, want to thank each and every one of our fans for the love and support all of you have shown us throughout these forty most wonderful years that we have known each other.
