Streaming platform Netflix released the trailer for the animated reboot of ‘Good Times,’ much to the dismay of its viewers. The show first premiered in 1974 on CBS and has been hailed as one of the most revered Black sitcoms in American history but to say that the trailer was not very well received is an understatement.
Even famed producer Carl Jones, who was involved with the series during its initial stages, took to his X account to distance himself from the project, revealing he had walked away from the project due to “creative differences.”
For the record I was involved with the Good Times animated series in the very VERY beginning but due to creative differences, I had to walk away. So I haven’t even seen one episode or script of this version of the show…
— Carl Jones???? (@iamcarljones) March 28, 2024
According to Netflix, the reboot is; “An animated reboot of the Norman Lear series finds the latest generation of the Evans family, cab driver Reggie and his wife, the ever-aspirational Beverly, scratching and surviving in one of the last remaining housing projects in Chicago along with their teenage artist son, Junior, activist daughter Grey, and drug dealing infant son, Dalvin.”
The cast features JB Smoove, Yvette Nicole Brown, Jay Pharoah and Marsai Martin.
It’s clearly a reboot with an edge but perhaps lacking in introspection.
The new reboot has been accused of portraying harmful Black stereotypes and several organizations and groups, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), are calling for it to be pulled from the platform and buried somewhere far, far away from public consumption.
In this clip, Karen Hunter, Roderick Morrow and Amber Cabral discuss Yvette Nicole Brown’s social media address to the naysayers of the upcoming animated series, but is it too little too late?
