Good Times reboot showrunner hits back at criticism over ‘lazy’ Black stereotypes

The showrunner of Netflix’s animated reboot of the classic sitcom Good Times has defended the series after it was mauled by critics, saying: “I know you’re used to the sweet sitcom, but this is not only a reimagination, it’s in a different genre that requires it to be loud and offensive.”

The new series has been widely panned. It currently has a score of 12% from critics and 28% from audiences on reviews aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.

In a joint article for HuffPost, Erin E Evans, Candice Frederick and Taryn Finley accused the series of perpetuating tired stereotypes.

“The Good Times reboot is another example of Hollywood executives’ laziness and sheer lack of innovation when it comes to creating art for and by Black folks,” argued Evans. “That this series was greenlighted and attached to the legacy of the original series is a damn, damn, damn shame.”

Frederick added: “It’s a series that relies on stereotypical Black images and text because it has no merit or awareness of authentic Black humanity. Its weaknesses are immediate and frequently exhibited.”

Meanwhile, Change.org petition, which has gathered some 5,000 signatures, calls on viewers to boycott the new series, saying it “promotes violence, culture destruction of the Black community and alcohol abuse”.

The backlash began as soon as the first trailer was released, and speaking to The Hollywood Reporter showrunner Ranada Shepard attributed the poor initial reception to the fact that cast members such as JB Smoove, Yvette Nicole Brown and Jay Pharoah had not given interviews to promote or explain the new show.

”You haven’t seen JB and Yvette and Marsai and Jay Pharoah and Slink Johnson on couches all across America, which typically happens when you’re rolling out a show,” she said.

“There was no framing that the audience had, it was just: Watch this and form an opinion. And they watched and they formed an opinion.

“I was always rooted in [the fact that] I understand if this is jolting. Because what you needed was someone to tell everyone, ‘I know you’re used to the sweet sitcom, but this is not only a reimagination, it’s in a different genre that requires it to be loud and offensive and have hard jokes and inappropriate. So your mind is doing a lot of different things.’”

The original Good Times was a live-action sitcom, which aired for six seasons between 1974 and 1979. It made history as the first sitcom on American television to depict an African-American two-parent family.

The series, which was a spin-off of Maude, itself a spin-off of All In The Family, was created by Eric Monte and Mike Evans and developed by the late sitcom legend Norman Lear.

Netflix’s reboot of the show, which counts Lear, Family Guy’s Seth MacFarlane and NBA star Steph Curry as executive producers, was first announced in 2020 and was released on the streaming service on 12 April.