Good Times: Black Again

Production and release

In September 2020, an animated revival of Good Times was announced for Netflix, with Carl Jones as showrunner and producer, and Norman Lear, Seth MacFarlane, and Stephen Curry as executive producers. Animation was handled by 6 Point Harness and Studio Moshi. In December 2023, Ranada Shepard replaced Jones as showrunner, describing the series as about family coming together and surviving. The series was released on April 12, 2024.

Reception

Good Times: Black Again was panned by critics and audiences, who criticized its animation style, crass presentation, offensive humor, and lack of connection to the original series aside from occasional mentions of James Evans. Bubbleblabber called it the #1 American adult animated comedy of 2024 after it leaned into more dramedy, despite referring to its jokes as stereotypical. Upon the trailer's release, CEMOTAP condemned it as a racist cartoon comparable to The Birth of a Nation.

The NAACP and the December 12th Movement also condemned the show's representation of Black families and children, citing obscene, sexualized, violent, and stereotypical portrayals. On May 13, 2024, CEMOTAP co-chairs Dr. James McIntosh and Betty Dopson sent an open letter to Ted Sarandos expressing outrage over the show's depiction of Black people as unintelligent, violent, simian, and hypersexual, and its use of obscenity, pedophilia, slurs, drug-dealing, and weaponry.

They claimed it had only a superficial and negative relationship to the original series and criticized its disrespectful references to Rosa Parks, the Christian God, Jesus Christ, and the Egyptian God Anubis, drawing parallels with Seth MacFarlane's previous depictions of Harriet Tubman. CEMOTAP urged a public boycott of Netflix until the show was removed. On June 5, 2024, CEMOTAP led a demonstration at Netflix's Broadway office in Manhattan, and in December they passed out leaflets outside the New York office, asking the public to call NBA commissioner Adam Silver regarding a double standard for punishing Kyrie Irving while saying nothing to Stephen Curry as executive producer.