A cast member from the original Good Times series is calling out Netflix’s “progressive” animated reboot of the beloved family show.
BernNadette Stanis, who played Thelma Evans on the 1970s family sitcom, is speaking out on Netflix’s new Good Times reboot that sees cartoon versions of the beloved original cast still living in the projects while making light of the daily adversity they face. With a baby who sells drugs, Stanis says the new animated series is nothing like what she and other original cast members previously pitched to Netflix.
She recalls actor Jimmie Walker, who played JJ Evans in the original, contacting Norman Lear’s office–the original show’s executive producer– to pitch a Good Times cartoon that would include everyone minus the late Esther Rolle.
“A few months later, I think six months later, they came up, and somebody said they had a cartoon coming,” Stanis told TMZ.
“My manager called up Norman’s office to see if we were included. I mean, if you’re gonna do that, let us know. They said, ‘Oh no, it’s going to be generations later and it’s going to be like progressive,’ or whatever,” she shared. “But [Netflix producer] Brent Miller loves us very much–loves me and Jimmie–I know that. He said, ‘I can give you a small role in there.'”
Described as an “edgy, irreverent reimagining of the TV classic,” the Netflix reboot sees a fourth generation of the Evans family living in a housing project while surviving “the system on the South Side of Chicago,” showrunner and executive producer Ranada Shepard says of the show.
“It’s about a Black family that comes together, laughs together, and survives the system on the South Side of Chicago,” Shepard said. “What you’ll get from that is a lot of social commentary, a lot of pushing the boundaries, a lot of feel-good television, but also a lot of things that may be in the vein of The Simpsons and South Park and Family Guy. When you’re looking back 10 years later, you’ll be like, ‘They said that on Good Times?’ Oh my gosh.’ ”
Also executive-produced by Stephen Curry, Seth MacFarlane, and Lear, the animated reimagining includes the voices of Yvette Nicole Brown, J.B. Smoove, Marsai Martin, and Jay Pharoah. But after seeing
the trailer, Stanis called out Netflix for alluding to a more “progressive” version of the show but leaving out the fact the family still lived in the projects with a drug-dealing toddler.“When you see something that actually is not progressive, it kind of brings you back into the projects two generations later,” Stanis said.
“Thelma had a baby, what happened to that baby? I wanted to be a surgeon, I guess I was. JJ was a famous artist. So you have positive images generations before that and then all of a sudden you see this?”
Stanis remains hopeful that after watching the new show, she might change her mind.
“Maybe they’ll bring it back to a more positive situation. But, when you have the name Good Times
on top of that, our audience of 50 years has been really in our corner,” she said. “They’ve always supported us. So, they were disappointed that they didn’t have it more progressive as the way I was told it would be.”Netflix’s animated reboot of Good Times premieres on Netflix on Friday, April 12.
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