One, Two, Meet Me Outside: Co-Stars Who Got Into It Behind The Scenes
John Amos and Esther Rolle On Good Times
Both Amos and Rolle were increasingly frustrated and disappointed in the direction of “Good Times.” The focus was on J.J’s buffoonish and illiterate character, instead of zeroing in on more serious topics as promised. Both actors were vocal, expressing their disdain for the J.J. character. Amos says, ” The writers would prefer to put a chicken hat on J.J. and have him prance around saying “DY-NO-MITE”, and that way they could waste a few minutes and not have to write meaningful dialogue.” Rolle says, “He’s 18 and he doesn’t work. He can’t read or write. He doesn’t think. The show didn’t start out to be that…Little by little—with the help of the artist, I suppose, because they couldn’t do that to me—they have made J.J. more stupid and enlarged the role. Negative images have been slipped in on us through the character of the oldest child.” Amos was fired, and his character was killed off. Rolle wound up leaving at the end of season four.