Live in Front of a Studio Audience: 'All in the Family' and 'Good Times'

While I didn't get to see the live airing, I was able to catch the replay on the 28th. I loved it! Having grown up watching these shows, I was excited to see them redo them. Without a doubt my favorites were Viola Davis as Florida Evans, Woody Harrelson as Archie, but Marissa Tomei was brilliant! I hope there are more live remakes like this.

I grew up on Good Times and All in the Family. Still watch the reruns today. I dont ever remember J.J. acting like he was portrayed in this remake. Jay Pharaoh about made ne turn it off. Way over the top. The whole episode he had his hands in that position when J.J. would holla "Dynomite"! I don't think Jay ever watched an episode of Good Times cause if he had he wouldn't have portrayed J.J. the way he did. TRYING WAY TOO HARD!!!

I grew up watching these Lear shows and remember them well so I was excited to watch this.

Good Times- I felt as if some of the actors do not know their lines as most kept making an "uh" with a brief pause then deliver their lines. I don't have the original ep to watch to see if that's how they did it, but I recall the series particularly well and I'm pretty sure that was not the case. I really like Anthony Anderson, but a singer he is not. Even though I didn't like this remake as much as the original, it was still worth seeing.

AitF - I actually saw the original not too long ago so I can compare the two. This was a better job of remaking and staying close to the original. In the original for this ep I didn't like Mike's acting particularly as it felt forced. In the remake I don't like the replacement actors but I feel like they generally delivered.

So all in all, for those of us old enough to have watched the originals this was a nice treat although it was a little light on the sugar.

I had the misfortune of watching the rerun of this travesty last night. It was just awful!! The Good Times episode was worse than the All In The Family but that's not saying much. The actor who portrayed JJ was WAY overacting, everyone else stumbled over their lines and looked like they wished they were anywhere but where they were at that time! Woody Harrelson as Archie Bunker was okay at first but then he just sounded like a drunk & bumbling fool during what was a very important speech. I've always pictured Carrol O'Conner as my grandfather because they looked alike, sounded alike and had the same mannerisms. Woody ruined that for me! Awful. Just awful. DO NOT WATCH THIS SHOW!!!

In a remarkable coincidence, this special aired at the same time articles of impeachment for President Donald J. Trump were being held so during commercials, we saw both of those articles being voted in and Jimmy Kimmel commenting on it. The "Good Times" segment had the real treat of having original James Evans-John Amos-this time portraying the alderman Fred Davis-who is treated friendly by James and J.J. but indifferently by the women and Michael. After that, Jimmy then introed the other surviving "GT" cast members who showed up: BernNadette Stanis, Ja'net DuBois, and Jimmie Walker, none of whom had time enough to say anything. "All in the Family" takes place on Christmas Eve with among the guests, a friend of Michael's who returns from Canada which he went to avoid the draft and a friend of Archie's whose son died in Vietnam. While I still think Woody Harrelson doesn't do Archie justice, he's a little better this time especially when trying to talk about what he goes through near the end. In the middle of this, Martin Short sings "The Facts of Life" theme before Jimmy tells him they're not doing that show! Verdict: I thought this was a little better than the previous take on Norman Lear shows done last May.