Black Entertainment : "Good Times" as Minstrel Show

Television stations are putting our old shows on the air. I get to watch them for the first time. I don't get how they once had community support.

See this episode:







Black Loan Sharks, Black Crime, Black Sexual Aggressiveness, Black Child Activist, Black Tomfoolery through and through.

How did this get community support?

I don't mean to offend you when I say this....But, perhaps your AGE is why you don't understand why this got "community support."

You have to put this in its proper historical context, understanding the ERA this show is placed in and came out of.

In the 1970s, shows like SANDFORD & SON, THAT'S MY MAMA, GOOD TIMES, the JEFFERSONS , FLIP WILSON, WHAT'S HAPPENING and even the JACKSONS VARIETY SHOW were the ONLY shows where Black people got to see BLACK PEOPLE ON TV.
...BLACK PEOPLE WITH THEIR OWN SHOWS!

Yes, it was a time of PRIDE!

And, actually, the show GOOD TIMES was CREATED by two BLACK MEN: Eric Monte and Mike Evans. (RIP)

Yes, it was PRODUCED by a white man, Norman Lear.

But, these two BROTHERS created it.

The CHARACTER named "Michael Evans" (Ralph Carter) in Good Times is given that name for Mike Evans, the co-creator.

Mike Evans was also the ORIGINAL actor who played LIONEL, the son of the JEFFERSONS.....He started off on "ALL IN THE FAMILY" before the JEFFERSONS got their own show.

GOOD TIMES was also a spin-off of the show, "MAUDE." ---Florida Evans used to be the MAID.

Eric Monte, from Chicago, based GOOD TIMES on the CABRINI-GREEN projects there.

Eric Monte also created the show WHAT'S HAPPENING which was loosely based on the film, COOLEY HIGH.

And, yes, there was some tension between the CREATORS of the show and the WHITE WRITERS about the nature and integrity of the episodes.

So, NO, GOOD TIMES was not ALL some "minstrel show," some Black tomfoolery and shuckin' & jivin....like J.J. and his, "DY-NO-MITE!"---The WHITE WRITERS wanted to concentrate on J.J. and have that character epitomize Black STEREOTYPES.

But, in spite of all that, this show also addressed some of the issues relevant to and IN the Black inner city.

Now, I watched EVERY episode of GOOD TIMES back then, and yes, towards the END of the show's run, it did get disappointing; but that is because of James Evans dying off (contract disputes) and the WHITE WRITERS who ran it down.

Eric Monte and Mike Evans had long lost any "CREATIVE CONTROL" over the show.

But, then, aint that what white folks always do?....As soon as a Black man get something they see they can make some money off of, they TAKE IT FROM THEM.

But, I STILL love me some GOOD TIMES! ---particularly the OLDER episodes like from its early days.

It's not age. Minstrel Shows, which plainly pandered to White racism, like "Good Times" does, had a large Black audience. Sometimes so much so that theatre owners would relax on segregation.

It's well known that Minstrels projected greatly romanticized and exaggerated images of Black life on plantations and all that shucking and jiving as you will. But Black folk still attended.

These were the only Blacks in theatre, where Black minstrels were seen as celebrities and well-paid types. The parallel isn't removed.

Maybe Black folk created it and maybe Black folk didn't make minstrel shows (I'm not sure) but beyond that the difference isn't clear.

The parallel is usually drawn for Hip Hop as being "Minstrelish" but watching "Good Times" or most other Black television shows I don't see the difference.

I'm just wondering why we keep doing the same thing.

Look beyond the entertainment factor and dig a little deeper to get to the social messages. Yes, there was a need to have entertainment in the show as it was a "sitcom"... situational comedy, but they touched on a number of issues. Minstrel is not one of the adjectives I would apply to Good Times.