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Netflix’s ‘Good Times’ Reboot Is Dated, Humorless and Baffling: TV Review
What should be a reboot paying homage to the original "Good Times" and the Black experience is a baffling, stereotype-riddled, outdated display.
Set in Chicago’s Cabrini Green projects in the same apartment from the 1970s dramedy, the series follows Reggie ( J.B. Smoove), his wife Beverly ( Yvette Nicole Brown) and their children, Junior ( Jay Pharoah), Grey (Marsai Martin) and Dalvin (Slink Johnson). Yet, amid the recent shuttering of numerous Black-led shows, including “Rap Sh!t,” “South Side,”and “The Wonder Years,” just to name a few, it’s pathetic Hollywood is championing depictions that reduce Black people, racism and systemic issues into one-dimensional minstrels lacking present-day relevance. For one, the series fails to infuse humor and wit into everyday hardships– which has been done masterfully in shows including “The Boondocks,” “The PJs,” or even the 1970s “Good Times.” Moreover, the reboot has an antiquated feel, as if someone wrote the scripts decades ago and unearthed them in the present, barely adding tweaks or updates.
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