Part one of "The Evans Get Involved" originally aired as a 60-minute "special" episode, which has since been re-edited into two separate half-hours for syndication purposes.
Making herself at home in the Evans apartment, Penny arouses the family's suspicions with her highly fanciful - and obviously self-protective - stories of her own home life. Evans (Jimmie Walker) finds that he has been followed home by 10-year-old Penny Gordon (Janet Jackson).
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Season five of Good Times opened with a multipart story, introducing new series regular Janet Jackson. Later, they discover a horrifying secret - that Penny is viciously abused by her mother. Meanwhile, Florida is honeymooning in Arizona.Ī new neighbor girl, 10-year-old Penny Gordon, becomes friends with Willona and the Evans family. to his home, she tells the story of a happy home life which couldn't be further from the truth. Written by Austin and Irma Kalish, the episode, which was directed by Gerren Keith, premiered on CBS-TV, originally airing on September 21, 1977. The Evans Get Involved: Part 1 is the first episode of Season 5 of Good Times, and the eighty-sixth overall it is part of a season opening four-episode story arc. “To meet her is to know instantly that talent is in the room.” – Norman Lear on Janet Jackson in ‘Good Times’ from her new documentary.Ĭheck out Comedy Hype’s video on why Esther Rolle quit Good times and came back."The Evans Get Involved: Part 1 (a.k.a. She would be played by Michael Jackson‘s baby sister, Janet Jackson. This brought us to Penny Gordon, on season 5 of the series. She would check in on JJ, Michael, and Thelma, but the writers knew the parental element that was on the program was still missing. She was a favorite of the television audience and it only made continuity sense. She portrayed the neighbor, Wilona Woods, in all the seasons. With the parental figures for the Evans children gone, the writers decided to step up the motherly role with Janet Dubois. Being on Good Times was the first time I was around a group of people that wasnt my family.
You can’t teach what the Jacksons had/have that’s a gift Rolle would eventually leave the show at the end of the season. She also believed that Moses Gunn’s character of Carl Dixon did not match up with Florida. However, Rolle disliked the direction of her character moving on from James Evans so quickly. She asked the question before production began, “Am I going to have some say about this show? Remember I’ve been black the longest.”Ī post shared by Gary Cooper ROLLE DEPARTUREĪs season 4 had Florida Evans without a husband, a new love interest was made.
Not only that, but because the show was based around the Florida Evans character that Esther Rolle would portray. The show’s producer Norman Lear was pretty adamant about not having a father in the sitcom.
I wanted the characters to portray a family as mine did”.Įsther Rolle put her job on the line as back then that type of tenacity was risky. In an interview with Ebony Magazine in 1978 she stated, “I had a good father. The actress grew up in a home with a strong father figure and wanted that presented on television. Red and yellow dress worn by Janet Jackson as the character Millicent Penny Gordon Woods on the television show Good Times. The show’s original plan by the producers was to have only a mother on the program, but Esther Rolle was determined to have a father for her children.
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So, television watchers were seeing a full family unit under ‘Good Times’. A post shared by Get Off My Lawn TELEVISION’S FIRST BLACK FAMILY SITCOMĪlthough viewers witnessed a father figure on “Sanford & Son,” Fred Sanford did not have a wife or children under the age of 18.
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