For 50 years, 'Good Times' has given America an unvarnished look at a Chicago family's struggles

In 1972, twin brothers Maurice and Marvin Edwards moved to the Cabrini-Green public housing development on Chicago’s Near North Side with their mother and three younger siblings. The twins were 4 years old. Life was tough.

“At times I didn’t think I would make it to be 16 years old. Growing up without a father was extremely difficult. My mother was a single parent. It was hard because there were a lot of things we couldn’t afford,” Maurice Edwards said.

But the family found familiar solace once a week. They had a little help from another family who “lived” in Cabrini-Green: the Evans family.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the groundbreaking “Good Times” sitcom on CBS, which ran until 1979. Mike Evans, who played Lionel Jefferson on “The Jeffersons,” and Chicago native Eric Monte created the show, which the legendary producer Norman Lear developed.

The opening credits showed an aerial view of the red towers with Chicago’s skyline in the background as its iconic gospel-tinged theme song played. “Good Times” was an honest depiction of a loving Black family trapped in poverty. The show never shied away from racism — whether taking on crooked Chicago politicians, critiquing the lack of jobs in African American communities or being unapologetic about racial pride. And the youngest son, endearingly dubbed the “militant midget,” aspired to be on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Chicago Sun-Times collection/Chicago History Museum

White American sitcoms often depicted a sanitized version of real life, a la “Father Knows Best,” “The Donna Reed Show” and “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.” By contrast, “Good Times” did not.

Marvin Edwards said the show was spot on.

“It was accurate what we were going through trying to survive,” he said.

The show ran for six seasons and starred the late Esther Rolle as Florida Evans, John Amos as James Evans, the late Ja’Net DuBois as Willona Woods, Ralph Carter as Michael Evans, BernNadette Stanis as Thelma Evans and Jimmie Walker as J.J. New generations watched the show in syndication.

Angela Nelson loves “Good Times” so much she’s writing a book about it.

“I do hold the show in high esteem. For me, it’s both personal and professional. I was 10 years old when the show came out,” said Nelson, an associate professor of popular culture and director of the School of Cultural Critical Studies at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. “The show was always playing. It’s one of the things I could do in the country in South Carolina is watch TV and stay out of trouble.”

Nelson studied the scripts from Season 1.

“‘Good Times’ was showing this Black family who loved each other. They didn’t have the economical type of financial grounding that the white families and these other sitcoms had. But they were a loving family. And they were a resilient family. And they were protective of each other. And they were doing their best to make it,” Nelson said.

One reason so many people love “Good Times” is because many have their favorite character or episode.

“My dad would laugh as if he had never seen the episode ever. He loved J.J.,” said Felicia D. Henderson, an associate professor at Northwestern University in the department of radio, television and film. “Thelma was so beautiful. There were all these reasons to watch it. And then of course, the parents were such amazing representations of mother and father and a strong Black family.”

While the show has been lauded, it also has taken criticism over the way the family was depicted in a never-ending cycle of keeping their heads above water. Walker’s character, J.J., became the breakout character, but some saw his portrayal as playing to a negative stereotype with his signature “dynomite!” line. Amos has said he was fired because he spoke out against some of the stereotypical elements of the show.

Sony Pictures Television

“It is complicated. When I look at that particular family at that particular time on television, it’s not perfect,” said Henderson, a longtime Hollywood writer and producer who created the “Soul Food” television series. “For me, as a critic, I see the dignity of those characters. Is it perfect? No. Does J.J. have sort of buffoonlike moments? Yes. But is he mostly just the family clown like we all have one in our family? I have that brother.”

Nelson has heard negative reactions to the show as well but chooses to see the positives.

“We’ve got a Black family on television, but to some people it was negative because they’re in public housing and they’re struggling,” Nelson said. “We’re coming out of the post-Civil Rights Movement. There have been riots — Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago. We have Nixon and Watergate. We have all these issues going on, and we have this show that’s trying to be politically relevant, show a positive image of a Black family, and it did the best it could do at that time.”

Today the Cabrini-Green high-rises are gone. The row houses are left, but the community drastically changed over the last two decades with a controversial mixed-income housing plan.

Maurice Edwards is still connected to the place he grew up. He is president of the local tenant council and is helping the National Public Housing Museum collect favorite episodes of residents for an exhibit on “Good Times” slated for this summer.

His favorite episode is when James Evans dies, and his wife Florida tries to keep it together for the family. Her wailing of “damn, damn, damn” is enshrined in Black popular culture.

“I was always wondering, how are they going to make it now? When I see that episode, that really makes me cry. How the wife tried to be strong and hold herself up. Before everybody went home, the kids were in the room wondering why mom wasn’t crying,” Maurice Edwards said. “When everybody went home, that’s when she broke down. That episode really throws me into a … wow!”