get these nets
Veteran
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John Amos on 'Good Times' & bad
When the cast of "Good Times" reunites this weekend at the Tom Joyner Family Reunion in Kissimmee, the actors will be making a point dear to them.
"We've done a number of gatherings together as a complete family over the past year or so," said John Amos, who played father James Evans Sr. "We've all come to a meeting of minds. We'd like to present that family unit to the public again."
"Good Times" ran from 1974 to 1979 on CBS. The show was a spinoff of "Maude" built around Florida Evans (Esther Rolle), who had been the maid to Maude Findlay (Bea Arthur). Rolle had ideas about Florida's family.
"Esther was a consummate professional," said Amos, 75. "She was strong on-screen as well as off camera. It's only because of her insistence that I was hired as her husband. They perceived the show as a matriarchal situation. She wanted a husband. I read for her. It was her show. I read for Miss Rolle and [executive producer] Noman Lear. She turned to Norman Lear and said, 'He'll do just fine.'"
Fans loved the show for the chemistry of Rolle and Amos and for how they played the strong, loving parents of James "J.J" Jr. (Jimmie Walker), Thelma (Bern Nadette Stanis) and Michael (Ralph Carter).
But the show was never the same after the writers decided to kill Amos' character.
"How could any family be the same if the father passes away, if he's been doing his job as a father, husband, life partner?" Amos said. "What precipitated it was my total dissatisfaction. Looking back, I'd like to think I'm more mature. My dissatisfaction was not expressed diplomatically."
Amos was unhappy that writers were focusing too much on J.J.
"I had two other children," Amos said. "Michael 'the militant midget' we called him because of his political positions. He wanted to be a Supreme Court judge. Thelma wanted to be a surgeon. There was mileage and humor to be had out of the exploration of those two characters. I wasn't able to convey that to the writers. They chose to go their way. I wasn't part of the equation."
So the writers killed his character. "To this day, I don't know how I died," Amos said. Rumors had James Sr. dying in a car crash or while working on a pipeline.
But since then, Amos has been able to talk to Lear about what happened. (Rolle died in 1998.) Amos linked his unhappiness to personal pressure.
"I was carrying a lot of weight, most of it self-imposed," he said. "I felt as head of the first complete family of African-American descent, I felt pressure to refute all the negative stereotypes perpetuated by TV itself in regard to black fathers — that they were not responsible, they didn't love their children."
He drew on his own father in playing James Sr. He cherishes the image of family and what it can mean to the culture.
"You look at the demise of the family unit and the repercussions every day — violence, the dropout rate from high school is phenomenal," Amos said. "One reason being is there are no substantial role models for our children to emulate. They grow up rudderless without a sense of direction."
Amos said someone has to be there for young people. "Our society has to take responsibility for children," he said. "If you bring a child into the world, your responsibility is to direct that child. I say that as a father and a grandfather. I've never changed. I've found a way to do it through entertainment."
He speaks proudly of his Halley's Comet Foundation. Its mission: "By exposing an at-risk child to sailing, we make a positive and long-lasting change in their outlook."
Amos said of the foundation: "I'd say that's the major calling in my life. Show business has taken a second place."
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