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Better Progressive Show? Good Times or The Cosby Show?

posted 5 years ago by AlfredTheGreat (471)
26 replies | jump to latest

How about it? Let's set Bill Cosby's legal issues aside and just judge the content of The Cosby Show. To me Good Times is more progressive as it shows a family facing very significant economic problems with grace and character. The father makes the best use of his abilities in his surroundings and the kids avoid severe moral pitfalls. While Cliff and Clare become white color professionals that is not an avenue open to most people regardless of background even in 2020. There might be better progressive shows out there I just find anything made in the last 20 years sorely lacking in the reality department. Everybody is either super rich and/or good looking without a satisfactory explanation. Give me flawed characters that reflect a lot of Americans even today such as Dan and Roseanne Connor.

[–] BuckSwope (3511) 5 years ago

I was a big "Good Times" fan but when John Amos left it went down hill.

[–] AlfredTheGreat (471) 5 years ago

True enough and when somebody polls for Top 5 TV dads I feel James Evans Sr should always be on that list.

[–] BuckSwope (3511) 5 years ago

Yep. He was a man's man with a heart of gold.

[–] Mrmojo4700 (21602) 5 years ago

I remember it like it was yesterday. He went out of town to work someplace where the workers were striking and hit stabbed. 😳

[–] BuckSwope (3511) 5 years ago

James died in an auto accident.

[–] Mrmojo4700 (21602) 5 years ago

Are you sure? What was this? A dream? James senior right?

[–] BuckSwope (3511) 5 years ago

Yes the father. Remember when Florida received the telegram when they were having that party? She read it out loud.

https://youtu.be/T8erZ4z70eU

[–] Mrmojo4700 (21602) 5 years ago

I’m glad your correcting me. I have to figure this out!

[–] BuckSwope (3511) 5 years ago

I'm a big Good Times fan, lol. I have the series on DVD.

[–] AlfredTheGreat (471) 5 years ago

I take it you are into Boogie Nights?

[–] BuckSwope (3511) 5 years ago

Indeed. It was the first P.T. Anderson film I saw. Great film.

[–] AlfredTheGreat (471) 5 years ago

Yes, he was offered a job by extended family in Mississippi and was killed in a car accident while driving down to get everything set up.

[–] BuckSwope (3511) 5 years ago

John Amos had a war of wills with Norman Lear and Lear won, lol.

[–] mikethemartian (6903) 5 years ago

I agree.

[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

The Cosby Show wasn't very progressive, so Good Times wins by default.

[–] AlfredTheGreat (471) 5 years ago

I think that it was but just not as much as GT. African Americans at that time were not becoming doctors and lawyers on any kind of frequent rate. Most African American kids were not free from social problems including those brought on by peer pressure.

[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

True. It was the first show that portrayed African Americans as successful middle class professionals. I was thinking about Dr. Huxtable's parenting.

[–] AlfredTheGreat (471) 5 years ago

Example?

[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

There was always an underlying edge I felt was cloaked by a veneer of affability that put me off, although I did watch it. Now I know it's because Cosby is controlling to the extreme, and that was what I was sensing. The only example I can think of offhand was the line "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out of it." A joke, sure, but with an underlying edge.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Was never a fan of Rohypnol Bill, even before we found out what a creep he was under the oh-so-wholesome facade.

Good Times made me laugh more.

I didn't think of either of them as progressive at the time though, they were just another sitcom to me. Perhaps that's why they were important, for the children such as myself at the time to see beyond colour and laugh at the situations.

It's interesting that you mention Roseanne, as I would be much more likely to compare that show to Good Times than Cosby. Other than the skin colour of the actors, Roseanne and Good Times share much more in common.

[–] AlfredTheGreat (471) 5 years ago

Roseanne was closer but does not overly compare. Roseanne was not stuck in the ghetto and her skin color did not close doors to opportunity unlike the Evans family. Roseanne was and is relevant as I don't think that it is possible to turn every last person into a white collar professional. Some people lack the intellect or discipline to do so. Further, it is not every last person's drive to move away from what the coastal elites would call flyover country. Some of my best memories as a kid was being snowed in and everybody playing a board game while waiting on some type of comfort food such as chili.

[–] BuckSwope (3511) 5 years ago

In the original story for "Good Times" Esther Rolle was going to be a single mom. She told Norman Lear that she would not do the show if she didn't have a husband. Fun little fact.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

And then they went and killed him off!

Dy-No-Mite!!

[–] BuckSwope (3511) 5 years ago

Well, Norman Lear killed him off.

[–] Stratego (30822) 5 years ago

I don't care whether it's progressive or not. The Cosby Show I did like for the first few years. I could never get into Good Times. Perhaps it's because I'm a child of the 80s.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Ain't we lucky we got um, GOOD TIMES