"Keeping your head above water, making a wave when you can." - Good Times theme
Good Times: The Complete First Season DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
During the second season of the smash hit All in the Family, the character of Maude Findlay (Beatrice Arthur), Edith Bunker's liberal cousin, was introduced. She was the polar opposite of Archie, but just as much of a blowhard, and the producers soon came to realize that the character was expansive enough for a spin-off. The final All in the Family episode of the season served as a pilot for the spin-off, and in the 1972-73 season, Maude joined the CBS schedule. The show became an immediate top five hit, and the producers decided to try their luck again, this time creating a spin-off centered on the character of Florida Evans (Esther Rolle), Maude's wry maid.
The resulting show, Good Times, keeps the character of Florida but totally changes her backstory. No longer a maid in Tuckahoe, NY, she now lives with her husband and three kids on the 17th floor of a Chicago public housing project. The family struggles to survive, but even with patriarch James (John Amos) working at numerous odd jobs, they barely scrape by. Oldest son J.J. (Jimmie Walker) is a painter with the heart of a con artist. Middle child Thelma (BernNadette Stanis) takes her mind off boys, make-up and fashion only long enough to argue with her big brother. Youngest child Michael (Ralph Carter) is a grade school political activist. Divorcee Willona (Ja'net DuBois) lives across the hall and is Florida's best friend.
The show premiered on Friday, February 1, 1974, taking the place of the just-cancelled Planet of the Apes. It tied for 17th place during its first half season, and entered the top ten the following season. But while the series was a ratings success almost from the beginning, this DVD set shows that it got off of a slightly rocky start creatively. Details small and large about the Evans family shift from episode to episode. James' education level changes several times, for example, and other similarly trivial yet noticeable variations contribute to the feeling that the characters and their lives have not been totally thought out. To show Florida's strong faith in God, she often looks skyward and talks to the heavens, on some occasions several times per show. This sort of lazy indicating of character rather than writing three dimensional characters is typical of early episodes.
Indeed, the first few episodes tend to primarily coast on the considerable talents of the show's stars. Esther Rolle and John Amos infuse their characters with a believability and strength that the writers could not. They consistently rise above the sometimes inferior material. Walker, Stanis, and Carter possess raw talent that would be honed in subsequent seasons. And Ja'net DuBois lights up the screen each time she enters the apartment. The writing improved as the season progressed, but the performances help to keep the weak first half afloat.
As a midseason replacement, there were only 13 episodes in the first season of Good Times. These 13 episodes are divided onto two DVDs. The DVDs are housed in a colorful cardboard "digipak" which fits into a cardboard slipcover. The digipak is decorated with the cover photo of the entire cast, a picture of Walker and Amos, a giant close-up of Walker with his "Dyn-o-mite!" catchphrase, and the words to the theme song. Included in a folder panel of the digipak are an episode guide (episode name, synopsis, and episode credits) and a booklet touting other Columbia/Tristar TV DVD releases.
The fun menu design features cutouts of each of the characters' heads on a striped pastel background. As the menu loads, Jimmie Walker lets loose his "Dyn-o-mite!" catchphrase which, incidentally, was used sparingly in season one. On the main menu, viewers can access a play all feature, the subtitles menu, a listing of individual episodes, and a commercial for other Columbia/Tristar TV DVDs. The episodes are not divided into chapters.
