A great concept gone completely bad. One of Norman Lear's many spin offs, from a spin off, of another spin off of All In The Family... and even though this, like all of Lear's other shows, had a blatant political agenda, this show had a great potential. But it failed to deliver it. When it first aired it seemed promising... despite the reverse discrimination and broad sweeping hatred of all whites by the youngest son Michael, who they called the militant midget.
But as time passed, it became a mockery of itself. The crown jewel of catch phrase based comedies. The first step down was killing off John Amos. The second step down was when Esther Rolle left because she felt the show negatively reflected on black youth by how it portrayed JJ Evans as a womanizing self absorbed goof. Then the final blow, after the 2 stabilizing figures left the show, was the addition of the character Penny, horribly played by the young Janet Jackson and the sudden focus on family friend and relentless insult comic, Willona.
Even before then, the script writers had degraded to a formula: write an entire script around JJ's many catch phrases. Without fail, there was always the expected phone call for him to answer and say "Chello!" A compliment for him to respond to with "What can I say?!" or "I Knooooow". Always followed by an extended laugh track.
To add a large anvil to the sinking ship was the addition of Bookman. Someone thought it would be funny to add a fat man to the show for Willona and the rest of the cast to insult. If you watch the pulse of the show, it became a series of insults every few seconds, met by a overwhelming laugh from the "audience". Worst yet, this fat man would do really poor imitations of real celebrities. Particularly, John Wayne. Also met by an abundance of canned laughter.
It's no wonder Esther Rolle left and wanted to have nothing to do with the show. The main character had become a douche that had to get a laugh every few seconds with a worn out catch phrase. The replacement character Willona was basically an insult comic, peppering lame insults between JJ's catch phrases. And Penny was the final nail in the coffin with some of the worst acting to ever disgrace the tube. Hell, years later, we know she can dance and sing with the help of an auto-tuner, but acting, not so much.
But as time passed, it became a mockery of itself. The crown jewel of catch phrase based comedies. The first step down was killing off John Amos. The second step down was when Esther Rolle left because she felt the show negatively reflected on black youth by how it portrayed JJ Evans as a womanizing self absorbed goof. Then the final blow, after the 2 stabilizing figures left the show, was the addition of the character Penny, horribly played by the young Janet Jackson and the sudden focus on family friend and relentless insult comic, Willona.
Even before then, the script writers had degraded to a formula: write an entire script around JJ's many catch phrases. Without fail, there was always the expected phone call for him to answer and say "Chello!" A compliment for him to respond to with "What can I say?!" or "I Knooooow". Always followed by an extended laugh track.
To add a large anvil to the sinking ship was the addition of Bookman. Someone thought it would be funny to add a fat man to the show for Willona and the rest of the cast to insult. If you watch the pulse of the show, it became a series of insults every few seconds, met by a overwhelming laugh from the "audience". Worst yet, this fat man would do really poor imitations of real celebrities. Particularly, John Wayne. Also met by an abundance of canned laughter.
It's no wonder Esther Rolle left and wanted to have nothing to do with the show. The main character had become a douche that had to get a laugh every few seconds with a worn out catch phrase. The replacement character Willona was basically an insult comic, peppering lame insults between JJ's catch phrases. And Penny was the final nail in the coffin with some of the worst acting to ever disgrace the tube. Hell, years later, we know she can dance and sing with the help of an auto-tuner, but acting, not so much.