Many viewers are angered over the stereotypes and characters that are not reflective of Black life.

There have been calls for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or the NAACP, and other organizations to boycott the project. In addition, an online petition for signatures is active.

 

Scheduled to stream on April 12, the “Good Times” cartoon may remind viewers of previous Black animations such as the movie “BeBe’s Kids” and “The PJs.” Similar to those productions, “Good Times” has an all-star cast of voices featuring Wanda Sykes, J.B. Smoove, Jay Pharoah and Marsai Martin.

“Laughing at caricatures of Black people is one of the oldest, and most poisonous, forms of entertainment in American history,” said Walter Gleason, professor of history at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. “It is no coincidence that this form of minstrelsy has re-emerged in animation when white nationalists have gained new platforms since 2015.”

In a surprise to many, two-time NBA Most Valuable Player and four-time world champion Stephen Curry serves as an executive producer along with comedic actor and animator Seth McFarlane, as well as the late Norman Lear, who is credited with creating the original “Good Times.”

“I was offended, surprised, and extremely disappointed,” said Patty Jackson, longtime radio personality at WDAS-FM in Philadelphia. “Especially knowing such great actors as J.B., Yvette and Jay.”

Jackson said she was initially excited about the project, but then was taken aback.

“It was a poor presentation and it’s something that should have been done a whole lot better,” said Jackson, who also hosts an online entertainment segment titled “What’s the 411?”

 
 

The 1970s sitcom “Good Times” was created as a spin-off from another sitcom called “Maude.” In that show, Maude’s maid was the character of Florida Evans, played by actress Esther Rolle. Lear became the king of the spinoffs as other shows like the “The Jeffersons,” starring Philadelphia native Sherman Hemsley, originated from the controversial hit “All in the Family.” Another show, “Sanford and Son,” starring Redd Foxx, which debuted in 1972, was Lear’s first show that featured an all-Black cast.

In the mid-1970s, there were few Black sitcoms on television, and Lear set out to change that. However, Lear’s good intentions were also received with heavy criticism from the Black community. For one, the show’s concept was also developed by Black producers Eric Monte and Michael Evans, who allegedly were not compensated by Lear, resulting in a lawsuit. Evans also played Hemsley’s son Lionel on “The Jeffersons.”

“Good Times” along with “Sanford” both portrayed either poor or struggling Black families, particularly the Evans family of five who lived in the Chicago projects trying to overcome the daily dilemmas of poverty and unemployment. In response, “The Jeffersons,” featuring an upper-middle-class Black family in New York City, was created.

The new variation of “Good Times,” however, appears to rehash the undertones of its predecessor on a deeper level.

“The downside of modern reboots is that Hollywood seems more interested in catering to viewers’ nostalgia rather than adding substance to the television legacy of cultural classics like “Good Times,” said pop culture journalist Njera Perkins.

The original show’s actors, John Amos, who played James Evans, and Rolle, paid their dues for years in order to get leading roles in the industry. Even when they got the job, the storylines were problematic given the absence of Black writers.

“By investing interest in those old stories, it tells them that we are not concerned with uplifting new, authentic tales that reflect our experiences today,” Perkins said. “Taking a ‘70s-set sitcom and repeating its dated humor 50 years later with stereotypical characters and cheap satire tells us that the entertainment industry doesn’t truly care to speak to current issues nor move the needle for Black storytelling in a compelling way.”

Perkins later explained that during a time when Black television shows already have a short shelf-life and Black creators and writers struggle to get their foot in the door, they can’t afford to endanger their limited opportunities with a new-age “sequel” that can’t read the room.

“There are ways to tell humanizing stories about modern Black families living in poverty, but it’s dangerous to think we can’t do that independently of a reboot that wants to restore that old feeling decades later,” she said. “We have to ask ourselves, at what cost are we willing to compromise the integrity of our stories for the sake of entertainment? It makes you wonder who this reboot is really for.”

This article originally appeared in the Philadelphia Tribune