Created by Eric Monte and Mike Evans and developed by executive producer Norman Lear, it was television's first African American two-parent family sitcom.

Florida and James (renamed from Henry) Evans and their three children live at 721 North Gilbert Avenue, apartment 17C, in a public housing project in a poor, black neighborhood in inner-city Chicago.

[1][2] Florida and James have three children: James Jr., also known as "J.J.", a budding artist and illustrator who thinks of himself as a "Casanova" type and achieves both success and rejection on his path to monetize his talent into a career; Thelma, a very bright girl who takes education very seriously as she sees it as a way to help her family and is shown attending high school and community college over the course of the series; and Michael, whose passionate activism and support for the Black community and Black issues causes his father to call him "the militant midget".

When the series begins, J.J. is 17 (portrayed by 26-year-old Jimmie Walker, who was just eight years younger than co-star John Amos), Thelma 16 and Michael 11.

Their building superintendent is Nathan Bookman (seasons 2–6), who James, Willona and later J.J. refer to as "Buffalo Butt" or, even more derisively, "Booger".

[3] Episodes of Good Times deal with the characters' attempts to overcome poverty, living in high-rise public housing in Chicago.

It was sung by Jim Gilstrap and Motown singer Blinky Williams with a gospel choir providing background vocals.

[6] Closed captioning on streaming services, and the insert for the Season One DVD box set, have the lyric as "hangin' in a chow line".

Haywood Nelson screen tested and was hired for the role of the youngest Evans child, Michael, but was replaced by Ralph Carter who, at the time, had more experience in front of a live audience.

[7] While Carter's contract was being negotiated, another young actor, Larry Fishburne (later Laurence) filled the role of Michael during initial rehearsals for Good Times.

Because of a contractual obligation, early episodes of Good Times contain a notice in the credits: "Ralph Carter appears courtesy of the Broadway musical Raisin.

Walker and executive producer Norman Lear were skeptical of the idea, but the phrase and the J.J. Evans character caught on with the audience.

Throughout seasons two and three, Rolle and Amos grew increasingly disillusioned with the direction of the show and especially with J.J.'s tomfoolery and stereotypically buffoonish behavior.

[11]Despite doing so less publicly than Rolle, Amos also was outspoken about his dissatisfaction with the J.J. character, stating: The writers would prefer to put a chicken hat on J.J. and have him prance around saying "DY-NO-MITE", and that way they could waste a few minutes and not have to write meaningful dialogue.

Amos' departure was initially attributed to his desire to focus on a film career, but he admitted in a 1976 interview that Lear called him and told him that his contract option with the show was not being renewed.

"[15] The producers decided not to recast the character of James Evans, instead opting to kill off the character in the two-part season four premiere, "The Big Move", with Florida finding out that James died in an automobile accident while in Mississippi setting up a new business opportunity at an auto repair shop, which would have allowed the family to move from the ghetto.

[2][19] In season five, Janet Jackson joined the cast, playing Penny Gordon, an abused girl, abandoned by her mother, and eventually adopted by Willona.

J.J. gets his big break as a nationally syndicated artist for a comic book company with his newly created character, DynoWoman, which is based on Thelma (much to her surprise and delight) and is moving into an apartment with some lady friends.

Keith's bad knee heals due to his exercise and own physical therapy, leading to the Chicago Bears offering him a contract to play football.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the entire series on DVD in Region 1 between February 2003 and August 2006, with a complete box set following the separate seasons on October 28, 2008.

On August 27, 2013, it was announced that Mill Creek Entertainment had acquired the rights to various television series from the Sony Pictures library, including Good Times.

During its first full season on the air, the show was the seventh-highest-rated program in the Nielsen ratings, with more than 25% of all American households tuning into an episode each week.

Three of the top ten highest-rated programs on American TV that season centered on the lives of African-Americans: Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons and Good Times.

[32] It centers on the current generation of the Evans family, and stars Jay Pharoah, Marsai Martin, Yvette Nicole Brown, Slink Johnson, and J.