Editing Good Times (section)

==Synopsis==
[[File:Good times john amos esther rolle 1974.JPG|thumb|150px|left|{{center|[[John Amos]] and [[Esther Rolle]], 1974}}]]
Florida and James (renamed from Henry) Evans and their three children live at 963 North Gilbert Avenue, apartment 17C, in a [[public housing project]] in a poor, black neighborhood in inner-city Chicago. The project is unnamed on the show but is implicitly the infamous [[Cabrini–Green Homes]], shown in the opening and closing credits.<ref>{{cite web|title=Cabrini-Green Set For Demolition|url=http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2010/12/09/cabrini-green-set-for-demolition/|publisher=cbslocal.com|date=December 9, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Simms">{{cite magazine|last=Simms|first=Gregory|title=Ja'Net DuBois Tells Diet And 'Good Times' Secrets During Swing Through Chi.|magazine=Jet|date=September 8, 1977|volume=52|issue=25|pages=62–63|publisher=Johnson Publishing Company|issn=0021-5996}}</ref> 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 exuberant neighbor and Florida's best friend is Willona Woods, a recent divorcée who works at a boutique. 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".

[[File:Good times 1974.JPG|thumb|left|150px|{{center|[[Jimmie Walker]] and [[Esther Rolle]], 1974}}]]
The characters originated on the sitcom ''[[Maude (TV series)|Maude]]'' as Florida and Henry Evans, with Florida employed as [[Maude Findlay (character)|Maude Findlay]]'s housekeeper in [[Tuckahoe, Westchester County, New York|Tuckahoe, New York]], and Henry employed as a New York City firefighter. When producers decided to feature the Florida character in her own show, they [[Retroactive continuity|changed]] the characters' history to fit a new series that was well into development rather than start from scratch to create a consistent starring vehicle, even though to do so meant changing their Black middle-class family into a poverty-stricken lower class family. Henry's name became James, and he worked various odd jobs due to only being able to attain a sixth-grade education. 
There was no mention of Maude. In the episode called "The Checkup",  there was mention of Florida having previously worked as a maid. Additionally, the couple's location was now Chicago.<ref name=brooks>{{cite book|last1=Brooks|first1=Tim |last2=Marsh|first2=Earle F.|title=The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present |publisher=Ballantine Books|date=October 17, 2007|edition=9|pages=869|isbn=978-0-345-49773-4}}</ref>

Episodes of ''Good Times'' deal with the characters' attempts to overcome poverty, living in [[Chicago Housing Authority|high-rise public housing]] in [[Chicago]]. James Evans often works at least two jobs, mostly manual labor such as dishwasher, construction laborer, etc. Though he is often unemployed, he is a proud man who will not accept charity. He sometimes hustles money playing pool, although Florida disapproves of this.