BernNadette Stanis Says ‘Good Times’ Animation Was Supposed To Be “Progressive”
BernNadette Stanis, star of the original Good Times series has shared her opinion on the animated reboot. Speaking with TMZ, the 70-year-old explained to the tabloid why she believed that the cartoon revival would be “progressive.”
“Jimmie Walker did contact Norman’s [Lear] office in 2020 and he pitched a Good Times cartoon which would include all of us except for Esther Rolle, and we didn’t hear anything back from them,” explained the actress. “At least six months later they came up, and somebody said they had a cartoon coming.”
She continued to detail, “My manager called up Norman’s office to see if we were included… They said no, it’s going to be generations later and it’s going to be like progressive, or whatever. But Brent Miller loves us very much, loves me and Jimmie, I know that. He said I can give you a small role.”
Since the trailer was revealed for the new Good Times, audiences have criticized the characters and premise of the series. Initially, Stanis detailed that she had a small role in the cartoon, however, had not watched the preview nor seen the full series. Now that she has viewed the clip, she opened up about how she expected something different.
“When you see something that actually is not progressive, it kind of brings you back into the projects two generations later. Thelma had a baby, what happened to that baby? I wanted to be a surgeon, I guess I was. JJ was a famous artist. So you have positive images generations before that and then all of a sudden you see this,” she elaborated.
“I’m not knocking it because I don’t know what the whole show will be. Maybe they’ll bring it back to a more positive situation. But, when you have the name Good Times on top of that, our audience of 50 years has been really in our corner. They’ve always supported us. So, they were disappointed that they didn’t have it more progressive as the way I was told it would be.”
She continued to clarify that she has not been contacted since Good Times was released on Netflix earlier this month. Stanis also shared her opinion that Lear, pioneer of the original series and executive producer of the cartoon, may not have been aware of the show’s specifics.
“I wanna say something about my friend Norman Lear. I was at his 100th birthday, and I did mention, I said, ‘Norman how do you think about the cartoon?’… He kind of smiled and looked at me as if he didn’t really understand. Maybe it was a senior moment… He was 100. But, I love Norman and I do believe that he maybe was told the same thing I was told I don’t know…. because he only produced quality work. I gotta say on his behalf, I don’t know if he really understood what it was going to be about or he just knew it was going to be a cartoon called Good Times because like everyone else. You have the title on there, you automatically think of us.”
Actress Yvette Nicole Brown, who voices the character Beverly in the reboot, spoke out in defense of the series after the backlash garnered from the trailer, describing it as “edgier and more irreverent than the Good Times of our childhood.”
She later added, “Now get out there & write your screeds about a show you’ve seen just a two-minute trailer for. Go off as if you know the fullness of the journey or the message we’re trying to share about the systemic barriers WE still face no matter our station in life.”
Good Times is set to debut on Netflix this Friday. Watch the trailer below.
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