Good Times is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from February 8, 1974, to August 1, 1979. It was created by Eric Monte and Mike Evans, and developed by Norman Lear, the series primary executive producer. Good Times was a spin-off of Maude, which was itself a spin-off of All in the Family.

Florida and James Evans and their three children live at 921 N. Gilbert Ave., apartment 17C, in a housing project in a poor, black neighborhood in inner-city Chicago. The project is unnamed on the show, but is implicitly the infamous Cabrini–Green projects, shown in the opening and closing credits.[1] [2] Florida and James have three children: James Jr., also known as J.J.; Thelma; and Michael, called the militant midget by his father due to his passionate activism. When the series begins, J.J. is seventeen years old, Thelma is sixteen, and Michael is eleven. Their exuberant neighbor, and Floridas best friend, is Willona Woods, a recent divorcée who works at a boutique. Their building superintendent is Nathan Bookman (seasons 2–6), who James, Willona and later J.J. refer to as Buffalo Butt, or, even more derisively, Booger.

The characters originated on the sitcom Maude as Florida and Henry Evans, with Florida employed as Maude Findlays housekeeper in Tuckahoe, New York, and Henry employed as a firefighter. When producers decided to feature the Florida character in her own show, they changed the characters history: Henrys name became James, there was no mention of Maude, and the couple lived in Chicago.[3]

Episodes of Good Times deal with the characters attempts to overcome poverty living in a high rise project building in Chicago. James Evans often works at least two jobs, mostly manual labor such as dishwasher, construction laborer, etc. Often he is unemployed, but he is a proud man who will not accept charity. When he has to, he hustles money playing pool, although Florida disapproves of this.

Good Times was intended to be a good show for Esther Rolle and John Amos. Both expected the show to deal with