An animated reboot of Good Times of legend Norman Lear that made history in the ’70s as television’s first Black two-parent family sitcom. The raunchy R-rated trailer offers a sneak peek at the Evans family’s new look, which promises to drop the laugh track and tackle modern-day problems while retaining the feeling of the original Good Times.
J.B. Smoove (Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Yvette Nicole Brown (Community) voice the roles of Reggie and Beverly Evans, respectively. Other voice cast includes Jay Pharoah (Saturday Night Live, The Blackening) as Junior, Marsai Martin (Black-ish, Little) as Grey, Slink Johnson (Black Jesus) as Dalvin and Rashida Olayiwola (Jury Duty), also a writer on the show, voices the role of Beverly’s enterprising best friend, Lashes by Lisa.
As per Netflix’s logline, the animated Good Times series finds the latest generation of the Evans family, cab driver Reggie (Smoove) and his wife, the ever-aspirational Beverly (Brown), scratching and surviving in one of the last remaining housing projects in Chicago along with their teenage artist son, Junior (Pharoah), activist daughter Grey (Martin), and drug dealing infant son, Dalvin (Johnson). It turns out the more things change the more they stay the same and keeping your head above water in a system with its knee on your neck is as challenging as ever. The only thing tougher than life is love, but in this family, there’s more than enough to go around.
The late Lear remains credited as an executive producer on the animated take through his Act III Productions banner. Also produced in partnership with Sony Pictures Television Studios, with Ranada Shepard serving as executive producer and showrunner. Executive Producers include Lear, Brent Miller (Act III Productions), Curry, Erick Peyton & Jeron Smith (Unanimous Media), and MacFarlane & Erica Huggins (Fuzzy Door).
Showrunner Shepard said, “Like the original series, the new Good Times grapples with important topics through the perspective of a Black family living in Chicago. “Each episode actually has a theme to it that can apply to everyone. “She continued, “Expect to see frank and funny conversations about elections, first periods, poverty, women’s empowerment, coded bias, and technology. As Shepard said, the show is “a universal conversation that we’re able to have with this beautiful family [who] come into your homes. And while we’re having it, we make you laugh and we make you smile.”
The 10-episode first season will debut April 12 on Netflix.
Watch the Official Trailer Good Times: