Sep 18, 2017
It was the late 1970s and Norman Lear and Tandem Productions were on a winning streak. Host Cynthia Bemis Abrams draws the family tree of hits All in the Family, Maude and Good Times. Good Times, which aired 1974 to 1980 broke ground in many ways and Cynthia ties its development to a 1965 Federal Report: “The Negro Family: The Case for National Action." Before Good Times hit production, there was controversy over the Evans' family structure: single mother or nuclear family
Listen in to hear how and why Esther Rolle & John Amos stood firm to the family being led by two parents and how they endured six difficult seasons. Cynthia also pays tribute to Esther Rolle's lifetime record of civil rights activism.
Key resource: Christine Acham's Revolution Televised: Prime Time and the Struggle for Black Power, (University of Minnesota Press, 2005)