Norman Lear himself discusses John Amos’ “Good Times” exit in his memoir “Even This I Get to Experience,” a lengthy excerpt of which The Hollywood Reporter published. “By the end of the third season, John Amos was so glum and dispirited that it seemed impossible to go on, and we decided to write him out of the show,” Lear wrote in his own account of the time the two of them stopped seeing eye-to-eye creatively.
Meanwhile, in his VladTV interview, Amos recounted how the unfortunate nature of his “Good Times” departure did not, in fact, ruin his working relationship with Lear. “He realized after a fashion that I was right about some things — I wasn’t the most diplomatic guy in terms of expressing my grievances — but he allowed that. And he and I established a relationship,” Amos said.
Seemingly as a sort of mutual olive branch, Amos returned to work with Lear on the second edition of “Live in Front of a Studio Audience,” which recreates classic episodes of “Good Times” and what is arguably Lear’s number one TV show “All in the Family.” Amos, in fact, is the only original cast member to appear in this reprisal, albeit portraying a character other than James Evans. So, even if Amos may not have left “Good Times” on altogether good terms, he and Lear maintained respect for one another and even continued to collaborate.
