Norman Lear Welcomes John Amos To ‘Good Times’ Remake 40 Years After Killing Off His Character James Evans

Good Times fans saw an unexpected face on ABC’s Live in front of a Studio Audience: All in the Family and Good Times. Original series star John Amos was a surprise guest on the star-studded cast of the live TV remake. Amos’ cameo was especially surprising because he was fired from the original CBS sitcom more than 40 years ago.

Amos did not reprise his role as patriarch James Evans in the live remake. Instead, the 79-year-old actor played politician Fred Davis in a remake of the 1975 Good Times episode “The Politicians.” The original episode aired shortly before Amos was fired, reportedly due to ongoing disputes with show creator Norman Lear about the way the Evans family was portrayed on the show.

In 1976, Amos told Jet that he was let go from Good Times after having multiple disagreements with Lear.

“Norman Lear called me a month ago and told me my option [with Good Times] was not being picked up,” Amos said, per Entertainment Weekly. “That’s the same as being fired.”

Amos especially took issue with Jimmie Walker’s popular character J.J. Evans and his “Dy-no-mite” catchphrase, which he felt took time away from “meaningful dialogue” on the show.

Lear addressed the situation in his 2014 memoir Even This I Get to Experience, as excerpted by The Hollywood Reporter. Lear wrote that as Good Times gained popularity, Amos and co-star Esther Rolle — who played his wife Florida Evans on the show — began to feel “a personal responsibility for every aspect of TV’s first black family’s behavior.”

“By the end of the third season, John Amos was so glum and dispirited that it seemed impossible to go on, and we decided to write him out of the show,” Lear wrote. “I was sure he felt that the work he was doing was beneath him. …The fourth season opened with the Evanses preparing to move to Mississippi, where James has gotten a good job, but before that can happen, they receive the tragic news that he’s been killed in a car crash.”

Good Times went on for three more seasons without Amos, ending its six-season run in 1979.

It is unclear when the dust settled between Amos and Lear, but fans were happy to have the veteran actor back for some new Good Times via ABC’s remake of the classic episode.

In the comments section of Amos’ Instagram post about the taping, fans wrote that they were happy to see the original Evans patriarch “honored” on the live TV remake. Others said they almost “cried” when they saw him on the stage for the surprise cameo, with some calling him a “legend.”

“YOU WERE FANTASTIC!!!!!!” one fan wrote to Amos. ” There’s only one James Evans though!!!!!”

“So great seeing you on your old show,” another wrote. “Glad to see you decided to do this one-time appearance though you left the show.”

Amos was the only original Good Times cast member with a role in Live in Front of a Studio audience, but he was later joined by fellow original cast members Walker, Bern Nadette Stanis, and Ja’Net DuBois, who all made cameos at the end of ABC’s live Good Times broadcast.

For the remake, Andre Braugher and Viola Davis played James and Florida Evans, while Jay Pharoah, Asante Blackk, and Corinne Foxx played the Evans kids, J.J., Michael, and Thelma. Tiffany Haddish co-starred as the Evans family’s neighbor, Willona Woods.