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Trivia
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* [[NamesTheSame Names Not The Same]]: James was called 'Henry' for John Amos's appearences on ''{{Maude}}''.
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* McLeaned: James' death followed actor John Amos' dismissal from the show over negative comments he made in ''Ebony'' magazine concerning its direction.
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* TheDanza / HeyItsThatGuy: Two episodes featured [[DiffrentStrokes Gary Coleman]] as Penny's classmate Gary.
* DawsonCasting: Thelma and J.J. were supposed to be 15 and 16, respectively, when the series began. [=BernNadette=] Stanis was actually 21, and Jimmie Walker was 26.
* DawsonCasting: Thelma and J.J. were supposed to be 15 and 16, respectively, when the series began. [=BernNadette=] Stanis was actually 21, and Jimmie Walker was 26.
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misspelled name
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* JoinOrDie: This is why Micheal joins a gang. Quote paraphrased.
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* JoinOrDie: This is why Micheal Michael joins a gang. Quote paraphrased.
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* ChristmasCake : Discussed in the Season 1 episode "Florida, the Matchmaker." Willona points out that an unmarried man over 30 is a carefree bachelor, while a woman over 30 who is unmarried (or, in Willona's case, divorced) is considered over the hill. Willona remains happily unmarried throughout the series.
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*** Also, although FairForItsDay , James' heavy-handed disciplining of his kids. He uses his belt on them, which is unheard of today.
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* TheGhost : J.J.'s elusive girlfriend Henrietta. Also a more literal example after [[spoiler: James passes away in season 4]].
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YMMV
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* HollywoodPudgy : Comments are sometimes made about Florida's weight. While she's thicker than Willona or Thelma, she's about a size 16 and looks like a middle-aged mom.
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* [[NamesTheSame Names Not The Same]]: James was called 'Henry' for John Amos's appearences on ''{{Maude}}''.
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*** It's possible James/ Henry told her to lie about his occupation to get a better maid position.
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Most episodes featured the efforts of the Evans to get by in the ghetto and make a better life for themselves. Despite the fact that those efforts usually [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption ended in bitter disappointment]], the show remained surprisingly positive and uplifting. And like most Lear shows of the time, ''GoodTimes'' wasn't afraid to [[{{Anvilicious}} moralize]] or [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped bring up controversial topics]].
to:
Most episodes featured the efforts of the Evans to get by in the ghetto and make a better life for themselves. Despite the fact that those efforts usually [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption ended in bitter disappointment]], the show remained surprisingly positive and uplifting. And like most Lear shows of the time,
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* HeyItsThatGuy: Janet Jackson, obviously. Vernee Watson (pre Sweat-Hogs and the Big Bang Theory) as a friend of Thelma's in the episode "Thelma's African Romance."
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Killed Off For Real clean-up. It\'s a Death Trope for works where resurrection is possible.
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* KilledOffForReal: James.
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* HollywoodPudgy : Comments are sometimes made about Florida's weight. While she's thicker than Willona or Thelma, she's about a size 16 and looks like a middle-aged mom.
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My Name Is Not Durwood has been split. Bad examples and those not fitting other tropes are being removed.
* AccidentalMisnaming: Willona to Alderman Fred Davis.
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* MyNameIsNotDurwood: Willona to Alderman Fred Davis.
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--> Making a wave when you can!
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--> Making a wave when you can!can't!
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* TheDanza / HeyItsThatGuy: Two episodes featured [[DiffrentStrokes Gary Coleman]] as Penny's classmate Gary.
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Unperson
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* {{Unperson}}: Carl Dixon, who became a semi-regular character late in the series' fourth season (1976-1977), and marries Florida in the season finale (to explain the soon-to-be-departing Esther Rolle). Rolle agreed to return to the show, but only if -- among other reasons -- there was no mention made of Carl; Rolle objected to the idea of a devout Christian (Florida) marrying a hardcore atheist (Carl). That's exactly what happened ... no mention was ever made of Carl when Florida returned to the show, or that she ever married him.
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----
to:
----
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--> Any time you need a payment!
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--> Any time you need meet a payment!
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--> Making a way when you can!
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--> Making a way wave when you can!
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* BigBrotherInstinct: JJ to Thelma and Michael. For all his goofiness and constant teasing of them, he makes it abundantly clear that the best way to set off his BerserkButton is to harm either of them.
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* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Carl Dixon. Florida got married to Carl at the end of the 1976-1977 season and planned to move to Arizona to tend to Carl's chronic health issues; the storyline was planned to explain Esther Rolle's coming departure from the show. At the beginning of the 1978-1979 season, Florida had returned ... without Carl and not offering an explanation. The idea of that was Rolle agreed to return to the show, but only if changes were made, one of them being that there would be no record of Carl ever existing. (Rolle thought it was implausable for Florida, presented as a strong Christian to marry someone who was an avowed atheist.)
to:
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Carl Dixon. Florida got married to Carl at the end of the 1976-1977 season and planned to move to Arizona to tend to Carl's chronic health issues; the storyline was planned to explain Esther Rolle's coming departure from the show. At the beginning of the 1978-1979 season, Florida had returned ... without Carl and not offering an explanation. The idea of that was Rolle agreed to return to the show, but only if changes were made, one of them being that there would be no record of Carl ever existing. (Rolle thought it was implausable for Florida, presented as a strong Christian to marry someone who was an avowed atheist.) atheist and also felt that Florida moved on much too quickly after James' death)
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** Although sometimes only in comparison to others who might take over the turf if he wasn't there.
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** And that actually happens off-screen, we just see the iron about to be used and the bandaged wound afterwards.
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* BaldBlackLeaderGuy: Altherman Davis.
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* BaldBlackLeaderGuy: Altherman Alderman Davis.
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* DaddysGirl: Thelma to James
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* DaddysGirl: Thelma to JamesJames.
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* DrowningMySorrows: Keith, bordering on TheAlcoholic
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* DrowningMySorrows: Keith, bordering on TheAlcoholicTheAlcoholic.
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* AbusiveParents: Penny's mom. One of the show's most infamous scenes is of her burning Penny with a HOT IRON.
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* AbusiveParents: Penny's mom. One of the show's most infamous scenes is of her burning Penny with a HOT IRON.''hot iron''.
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* AluminumChristmasTrees: That song Michael sings at Thelma and Keith's wedding? It's a Stevie Wonder song, "You And I (We Can Conquer The World)" from the album ''Talking Book''
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* AluminumChristmasTrees: That song Michael sings at Thelma and Keith's wedding? It's a Stevie Wonder song, "You And I (We Can Conquer The World)" from the album ''Talking Book''Book''.
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* BaldBlackLeaderGuy: [[Altherman Davis:Corruptpolitician]]
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* BaldBlackLeaderGuy: [[Altherman Davis:Corruptpolitician]]Altherman Davis.
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* BackToSchool: Bookman, Florida, and James.
to:
* BackToSchool: Bookman, Florida, and James. James.
* BaldBlackLeaderGuy: [[Altherman Davis:Corruptpolitician]]
* BaldBlackLeaderGuy: [[Altherman Davis:Corruptpolitician]]
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I Got Better sinkhole removed.
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* UncleTomfoolery: JJ fell increasingly into this in later seasons. [[IGotBetter However, he did improve by the show's final season.]]
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* UncleTomfoolery: JJ fell increasingly into this in later seasons. [[IGotBetter However, he did improve by the show's final season.]]
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recognized a cameo
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* HeyItsThatGuy: Janet Jackson, obviously.
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* HeyItsThatGuy: Janet Jackson, obviously. Vernee Watson (pre Sweat-Hogs and the Big Bang Theory) as a friend of Thelma's in the episode "Thelma's African Romance."
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/goodtimes_7053.jpg]]
--> [[TitleDrop GOOD TIMES!]]
--> Any time you need a payment!
--> GOOD TIMES!
--> Any time you need a friend!
--> GOOD TIMES!
--> Any time you're out from under!
--> Not gettin' hassled, not getting hustled!
--> Keeping your head above water!
--> Making a way when you can!
--> Temporary lay-offs!
--> GOOD TIMES!
--> Easy Credit rip-offs!
--> GOOD TIMES!
--> Scratchin' and Survivin'
--> GOOD TIMES!
--> Hangin' in a chow line!
--> GOOD TIMES!
--> Ain't we lucky we got 'em?
--> '''''GOOD TIMES!!!'''''
---> The show's theme song.
''GoodTimes'' was a Norman Lear-produced SitCom that ran on CBS from 1974-1979. The show was a SpinOff of Lear's earlier comedy ''{{Maude}}'' (Itself a spinoff of ''AllInTheFamily'').The show followed the lives of the Evans family, a poor black family living in the high-rise projects of Chicago:
* Florida Evans (Esther Rolle): Matriarch, occasional MamaBear
* James Evans (John Amos): Patriarch, ChewToy
* James "JJ" Evans, Jr. (Jimmie Walker): CatchPhrase machine, [[SitcomCharacterArchetypes The Wisecracker]], KavorkaMan (cleaned up in later seasons)
* Thelma Anderson, nee Evans (Bern Nadette Stanis): TheChick
* Michael Evans (Ralph Carter): "[[AngryBlackMan The Militant Midget]]", male SoapBoxSadie, TheSmartGuy
* And their neighbor, Willona Woods (Ja'net Du Bois): SassyBlackWoman, DropInCharacter
Most episodes featured the efforts of the Evans to get by in the ghetto and make a better life for themselves. Despite the fact that those efforts usually [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption ended in bitter disappointment]], the show remained surprisingly positive and uplifting. And like most Lear shows of the time, ''GoodTimes'' wasn't afraid to [[{{Anvilicious}} moralize]] or [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped bring up controversial topics]].
The show's [[JumpTheShark most controversial move]] was [[DroppedABridgeOnHim killing off patriarch James]] at the beginning of the fourth season. Esther Rolle hoped this would bring a shift in JJ's character from the clownish KavorkaMan he had been, to a more responsible Man Of The House. The writers didn't see it that way, seemingly ramping up JJ's [[UncleTomfoolery foolishness]] (though it's worth noting that Jimmie Walker, who played JJ, was a stand-up comedian and not much of an actor). This led to Rolle quitting the show for the entire fifth season, her character having [[PutOnABus relocated to Arizona]] to be with her second husband. She was brought back in the sixth and final season with promises to clean up JJ's act (and [[BrotherChuck never reference her second marriage]], which Rolle thought went against Florida's character in multiple ways).
The series finale aired on August 1, 1979, with a [[HappilyEverAfter Mega-Happy Ending]]. Reruns can be seen daily on TV One and occasionally on Nick at Nite's TV Land. All six seasons are available on DVD.
----
!!This show provides examples of:
* AbusiveParents: Penny's mom. One of the show's most infamous scenes is of her burning Penny with a HOT IRON.
* TheAlcoholic: Ned The Wino. Fishbone.
* AluminumChristmasTrees: That song Michael sings at Thelma and Keith's wedding? It's a Stevie Wonder song, "You And I (We Can Conquer The World)" from the album ''Talking Book''
* AngryBlackMan: James and Michael. [[ExecutiveMeddling For the latter this pretty much vanished in later seasons, however.]]
* AttemptedRape: Willona's husband Ray makes advances to Thelma, eventually groping her (and he would likely have taken it further had Willona and Florida not walked in). Later, Penny is similarly assaulted offscreen.
* BackToSchool: Bookman, Florida, and James.
* BadJobWorseUniform: J.J.'s uniform while working at a fried chicken restaurant.
* BreakTheCutie: Poor Penny qualifies for this in spades.
* BusCrash: James's off-screen death.
* ButtMonkey: Bookman. Or maybe just call him Buffalo Butt Monkey.
* CatchPhrase: DYN-O-MITE!
* ChewToy: James could never catch a break.
* TheChick: Thelma
* ChristmasEpisode: There was one where Penny stole a gift for Willona. The other one was a MusicalEpisode.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Carl Dixon. Florida got married to Carl at the end of the 1976-1977 season and planned to move to Arizona to tend to Carl's chronic health issues; the storyline was planned to explain Esther Rolle's coming departure from the show. At the beginning of the 1978-1979 season, Florida had returned ... without Carl and not offering an explanation. The idea of that was Rolle agreed to return to the show, but only if changes were made, one of them being that there would be no record of Carl ever existing. (Rolle thought it was implausable for Florida, presented as a strong Christian to marry someone who was an avowed atheist.)
* CousinOliver: Penny - though much better received by the audience than most, the result was the same.
* DaddysGirl: Thelma to James
* DawsonCasting: Thelma and J.J. were supposed to be 15 and 16, respectively, when the series began. [=BernNadette=] Stanis was actually 21, and Jimmie Walker was 26.
* DiabolusExMachina: Thelma gets married to a potential NFL star, only for him to blow out his knee ''at their wedding''.
* TheDiseaseThatShallNotBeNamed: Semi-averted, first ever mention of a VD on American TV, but no mention of ''which'' or how it was transferred.
** FairForItsDay: In those days, VD was used much the same way as "STD" is today: As a catch-all term (and then, there was a smaller range of diseases to refer to.)
* DogFoodDiet: The episode "Social Security"
* DontMakeMeTakeMyBeltOff: James, James, James.
* DropInCharacter: Willona, one of the first.
* DrowningMySorrows: Keith, bordering on TheAlcoholic
* EarnYourHappyEnding: A great example of this.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption
* HappilyEverAfter: About the only character who didn't hit it big in the finale is Bookman.
* HappilyMarried: James and Florida.
* HeyItsThatGuy: Janet Jackson, obviously.
* HollywoodAtheist: Carl Dixon, which was one of Esther Rolle's biggest problems with Florida marrying Carl.
* HopeSpot: A number of episodes revolved around the characters trying to improve their situation and absolutely failing by the time the credits rolled. The most [[TearJerker heartwrenching]] example though has to be in the third season premiere where James has gotten a promising new job in Mississippi and the family plans on moving to join him soon leaving the ghetto behind forever! [[spoiler: Then James dies in a car wreck and they're stuck.]]
* InsatiableNewlyweds: Thelma and Keith
* JoinOrDie: This is why Micheal joins a gang. Quote paraphrased.
-->They asked Johnny to join and he didn't, so they broke his arm. They asked Willy to join and he didn't, so they broke his leg. Then they asked me to join, and they were looking at my neck.
* KavorkaMan: JJ.
* KilledOffForReal: James.
* {{Landlord}}: Bookman... well, technically a building superintendent, but close enough, as he did collect the rent every month and gleefully served the Evanses their many eviction notices when they were late, pissed him off, pissed off Alderman Davis, etc.
* LimitedWardrobe: James seemed to wear the same brown shirt and off-white corduroys every single episode. Lampshaded in one episode when he ponders whether to wear "my brown shirt, my brown shirt or my brown shirt?"
* MamaBear: Florida
* McLeaned: James' death followed actor John Amos' dismissal from the show over negative comments he made in ''Ebony'' magazine concerning its direction.
* MusicalEpisode: One doubled as a ChristmasEpisode while the plot of the other was a talent show to raise money for a daycare center in their building.
* MyGirlIsNotASlut: Played with in the episode, "Sex and the Evans Family".
* MyNameIsNotDurwood: Willona to Alderman Fred Davis.
* [[NeighbourhoodFriendlyGangsters Neighborhood Friendly Gangster]]: "Sweet Daddy" Williams was generally portrayed as one of these, despite being a racketeer, [[AllDevouringBlackHoleLoanSharks loan shark]], and [[PimpDuds pimp]].
* PlayingGertrude: John Amos was only 34 when the show began, making him just 8 years older than his "son" Jimmie Walker, and 19 years ''younger'' than his "wife" Esther Rolle. He pulled it off by being [[YoungerThanTheyLook Younger Than He Looks]].
* PromotionToParent: JJ in season 5.
* PutOnABus: Florida, season 5.
** TheBusCameBack, season 6.
* TheRashomon: The episode "Where's There's Smoke"; the couch catches fire and burns a hole in one of the pillows. JJ, Thelma, and Michael each tells Willona their version of what happened. [[spoiler: Penny's]] version of the story is the truth.
* SassyBlackWoman: Willona, the TropeCodifier.
* ScaryBlackMan: James was this when he got mad.
* SoapBoxSadie: Michael "The Militant Midget".
* {{Spinoff}}: Second generation Spinoff: From ''AllInTheFamily'' to ''{{Maude}}'' to this show.
** Oddly, this wasn't originally planned as one and Florida was added into the mix later in preproduction. This explains some of the odd and unexplained lapses in continuity between ''Good Times'' and ''Maude'' including Florida and her family appearing to have lived in Chicago for quite some time, her having said her husband was a fireman on ''Maude'' and a lack of references to Florida having ever cleaned houses.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: JJ's "Kool-Aid Sour".
* UncleTomfoolery: JJ fell increasingly into this in later seasons. [[IGotBetter However, he did improve by the show's final season.]]
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece
* VerySpecialEpisode: The VD Episode, complete with disclaimer before the start of the show.
** Subverted with the child abuse storyline that introduced CousinOliver Penny. The Very Special Problem was resolved in no fewer than 6 episodes and Penny remained on the show until its end.
** A classic example was the topic of sex education. The show handled it pretty well, and avoided {{Anvilicious}} commentary.
* WeSellEverything: Lenny. He would give the residents a rhyme about his merchandise and then open up his fur coat to display his (usually ill-gotten) wares.
* WrittenInAbsence: Florida, Season 5. The kids would "talk to her" on the phone once every other episode.
----
--> [[TitleDrop GOOD TIMES!]]
--> Any time you need a payment!
--> GOOD TIMES!
--> Any time you need a friend!
--> GOOD TIMES!
--> Any time you're out from under!
--> Not gettin' hassled, not getting hustled!
--> Keeping your head above water!
--> Making a way when you can!
--> Temporary lay-offs!
--> GOOD TIMES!
--> Easy Credit rip-offs!
--> GOOD TIMES!
--> Scratchin' and Survivin'
--> GOOD TIMES!
--> Hangin' in a chow line!
--> GOOD TIMES!
--> Ain't we lucky we got 'em?
--> '''''GOOD TIMES!!!'''''
---> The show's theme song.
''GoodTimes'' was a Norman Lear-produced SitCom that ran on CBS from 1974-1979. The show was a SpinOff of Lear's earlier comedy ''{{Maude}}'' (Itself a spinoff of ''AllInTheFamily'').The show followed the lives of the Evans family, a poor black family living in the high-rise projects of Chicago:
* Florida Evans (Esther Rolle): Matriarch, occasional MamaBear
* James Evans (John Amos): Patriarch, ChewToy
* James "JJ" Evans, Jr. (Jimmie Walker): CatchPhrase machine, [[SitcomCharacterArchetypes The Wisecracker]], KavorkaMan (cleaned up in later seasons)
* Thelma Anderson, nee Evans (Bern Nadette Stanis): TheChick
* Michael Evans (Ralph Carter): "[[AngryBlackMan The Militant Midget]]", male SoapBoxSadie, TheSmartGuy
* And their neighbor, Willona Woods (Ja'net Du Bois): SassyBlackWoman, DropInCharacter
Most episodes featured the efforts of the Evans to get by in the ghetto and make a better life for themselves. Despite the fact that those efforts usually [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption ended in bitter disappointment]], the show remained surprisingly positive and uplifting. And like most Lear shows of the time, ''GoodTimes'' wasn't afraid to [[{{Anvilicious}} moralize]] or [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped bring up controversial topics]].
The show's [[JumpTheShark most controversial move]] was [[DroppedABridgeOnHim killing off patriarch James]] at the beginning of the fourth season. Esther Rolle hoped this would bring a shift in JJ's character from the clownish KavorkaMan he had been, to a more responsible Man Of The House. The writers didn't see it that way, seemingly ramping up JJ's [[UncleTomfoolery foolishness]] (though it's worth noting that Jimmie Walker, who played JJ, was a stand-up comedian and not much of an actor). This led to Rolle quitting the show for the entire fifth season, her character having [[PutOnABus relocated to Arizona]] to be with her second husband. She was brought back in the sixth and final season with promises to clean up JJ's act (and [[BrotherChuck never reference her second marriage]], which Rolle thought went against Florida's character in multiple ways).
The series finale aired on August 1, 1979, with a [[HappilyEverAfter Mega-Happy Ending]]. Reruns can be seen daily on TV One and occasionally on Nick at Nite's TV Land. All six seasons are available on DVD.
----
!!This show provides examples of:
* AbusiveParents: Penny's mom. One of the show's most infamous scenes is of her burning Penny with a HOT IRON.
* TheAlcoholic: Ned The Wino. Fishbone.
* AluminumChristmasTrees: That song Michael sings at Thelma and Keith's wedding? It's a Stevie Wonder song, "You And I (We Can Conquer The World)" from the album ''Talking Book''
* AngryBlackMan: James and Michael. [[ExecutiveMeddling For the latter this pretty much vanished in later seasons, however.]]
* AttemptedRape: Willona's husband Ray makes advances to Thelma, eventually groping her (and he would likely have taken it further had Willona and Florida not walked in). Later, Penny is similarly assaulted offscreen.
* BackToSchool: Bookman, Florida, and James.
* BadJobWorseUniform: J.J.'s uniform while working at a fried chicken restaurant.
* BreakTheCutie: Poor Penny qualifies for this in spades.
* BusCrash: James's off-screen death.
* ButtMonkey: Bookman. Or maybe just call him Buffalo Butt Monkey.
* CatchPhrase: DYN-O-MITE!
* ChewToy: James could never catch a break.
* TheChick: Thelma
* ChristmasEpisode: There was one where Penny stole a gift for Willona. The other one was a MusicalEpisode.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Carl Dixon. Florida got married to Carl at the end of the 1976-1977 season and planned to move to Arizona to tend to Carl's chronic health issues; the storyline was planned to explain Esther Rolle's coming departure from the show. At the beginning of the 1978-1979 season, Florida had returned ... without Carl and not offering an explanation. The idea of that was Rolle agreed to return to the show, but only if changes were made, one of them being that there would be no record of Carl ever existing. (Rolle thought it was implausable for Florida, presented as a strong Christian to marry someone who was an avowed atheist.)
* CousinOliver: Penny - though much better received by the audience than most, the result was the same.
* DaddysGirl: Thelma to James
* DawsonCasting: Thelma and J.J. were supposed to be 15 and 16, respectively, when the series began. [=BernNadette=] Stanis was actually 21, and Jimmie Walker was 26.
* DiabolusExMachina: Thelma gets married to a potential NFL star, only for him to blow out his knee ''at their wedding''.
* TheDiseaseThatShallNotBeNamed: Semi-averted, first ever mention of a VD on American TV, but no mention of ''which'' or how it was transferred.
** FairForItsDay: In those days, VD was used much the same way as "STD" is today: As a catch-all term (and then, there was a smaller range of diseases to refer to.)
* DogFoodDiet: The episode "Social Security"
* DontMakeMeTakeMyBeltOff: James, James, James.
* DropInCharacter: Willona, one of the first.
* DrowningMySorrows: Keith, bordering on TheAlcoholic
* EarnYourHappyEnding: A great example of this.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption
* HappilyEverAfter: About the only character who didn't hit it big in the finale is Bookman.
* HappilyMarried: James and Florida.
* HeyItsThatGuy: Janet Jackson, obviously.
* HollywoodAtheist: Carl Dixon, which was one of Esther Rolle's biggest problems with Florida marrying Carl.
* HopeSpot: A number of episodes revolved around the characters trying to improve their situation and absolutely failing by the time the credits rolled. The most [[TearJerker heartwrenching]] example though has to be in the third season premiere where James has gotten a promising new job in Mississippi and the family plans on moving to join him soon leaving the ghetto behind forever! [[spoiler: Then James dies in a car wreck and they're stuck.]]
* InsatiableNewlyweds: Thelma and Keith
* JoinOrDie: This is why Micheal joins a gang. Quote paraphrased.
-->They asked Johnny to join and he didn't, so they broke his arm. They asked Willy to join and he didn't, so they broke his leg. Then they asked me to join, and they were looking at my neck.
* KavorkaMan: JJ.
* KilledOffForReal: James.
* {{Landlord}}: Bookman... well, technically a building superintendent, but close enough, as he did collect the rent every month and gleefully served the Evanses their many eviction notices when they were late, pissed him off, pissed off Alderman Davis, etc.
* LimitedWardrobe: James seemed to wear the same brown shirt and off-white corduroys every single episode. Lampshaded in one episode when he ponders whether to wear "my brown shirt, my brown shirt or my brown shirt?"
* MamaBear: Florida
* McLeaned: James' death followed actor John Amos' dismissal from the show over negative comments he made in ''Ebony'' magazine concerning its direction.
* MusicalEpisode: One doubled as a ChristmasEpisode while the plot of the other was a talent show to raise money for a daycare center in their building.
* MyGirlIsNotASlut: Played with in the episode, "Sex and the Evans Family".
* MyNameIsNotDurwood: Willona to Alderman Fred Davis.
* [[NeighbourhoodFriendlyGangsters Neighborhood Friendly Gangster]]: "Sweet Daddy" Williams was generally portrayed as one of these, despite being a racketeer, [[AllDevouringBlackHoleLoanSharks loan shark]], and [[PimpDuds pimp]].
* PlayingGertrude: John Amos was only 34 when the show began, making him just 8 years older than his "son" Jimmie Walker, and 19 years ''younger'' than his "wife" Esther Rolle. He pulled it off by being [[YoungerThanTheyLook Younger Than He Looks]].
* PromotionToParent: JJ in season 5.
* PutOnABus: Florida, season 5.
** TheBusCameBack, season 6.
* TheRashomon: The episode "Where's There's Smoke"; the couch catches fire and burns a hole in one of the pillows. JJ, Thelma, and Michael each tells Willona their version of what happened. [[spoiler: Penny's]] version of the story is the truth.
* SassyBlackWoman: Willona, the TropeCodifier.
* ScaryBlackMan: James was this when he got mad.
* SoapBoxSadie: Michael "The Militant Midget".
* {{Spinoff}}: Second generation Spinoff: From ''AllInTheFamily'' to ''{{Maude}}'' to this show.
** Oddly, this wasn't originally planned as one and Florida was added into the mix later in preproduction. This explains some of the odd and unexplained lapses in continuity between ''Good Times'' and ''Maude'' including Florida and her family appearing to have lived in Chicago for quite some time, her having said her husband was a fireman on ''Maude'' and a lack of references to Florida having ever cleaned houses.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: JJ's "Kool-Aid Sour".
* UncleTomfoolery: JJ fell increasingly into this in later seasons. [[IGotBetter However, he did improve by the show's final season.]]
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece
* VerySpecialEpisode: The VD Episode, complete with disclaimer before the start of the show.
** Subverted with the child abuse storyline that introduced CousinOliver Penny. The Very Special Problem was resolved in no fewer than 6 episodes and Penny remained on the show until its end.
** A classic example was the topic of sex education. The show handled it pretty well, and avoided {{Anvilicious}} commentary.
* WeSellEverything: Lenny. He would give the residents a rhyme about his merchandise and then open up his fur coat to display his (usually ill-gotten) wares.
* WrittenInAbsence: Florida, Season 5. The kids would "talk to her" on the phone once every other episode.
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