John Amos, who acted as the father in the popular 1970s TV Show "Good Times", furthered his career after being killed off in the show.
During the last season of the show, Alex Haley wrote a partly autobiographical book titled "Roots". Instantly, it became a huge success; it spent 46 weeks on the New York Times Bestselling List with half of those weeks being in the top spot. Many people around the world praised Haley for his work.
As a result of the immediate and quick success of the book, it was turned into a mini series for TV. It aired over 8 consecutive nights on ABC. The story is about Kunta Kinte, an African American, who is captured as a teenager and sold into slavery; it continues to tell the stories of all of Kinte's ancestors and it ultimately leads back to the author, Haley. Just after John was fired from "Good Times" because he was a "disruptive factor", he was cast as the older version of the main character, Kunta Kinte. He was satisfied with this role unlike the unfulfilling role he had on "Good Times" and eventually won an Emmy for his role.
Like any television show, there is always drama.
Alex Haley was sued by another author of a similar book, Harold Courlander, because he believed that Haley copied parts of his book and used them in his story. Courlander's book was published 9 years before in 1967. Despite Haley's admittance to plagarizing parts of his book, many researchers believe that he successfully traced his ancestors back through slavery. The book and the television mini-series sparked interest around the world regarding genealogy and ancestry and caused many people around the world to be interesting in their background as well. Altogether, John Amos made the right decision to leave "Good Times", yo. Sources:
http://www.rootsthebook.com/praise.html
http://www.tvparty.com/70good2.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roots:_The_Saga_of_an_American_Family
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0025309/bio
Pictures:
http://chexydecimal.blogspot.com/2010/02/lapd-and-da-eff-it-up-again.html
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2007/06/roots_anniversary_edition_plag.html
http://929thelake.com/page/8/
Tess, you did a wonderful job with this blog post! It is very well-written and incredibly informative. I did not know that John Amos was fired from "Good Times." I assumed his comedy and chemistry with the rest of the cast would have kept him on the popular sitcom. Your documentation of his involvement with "Roots," which includes a comprehensive history regarding the origin of "Roots" including its success on the bestseller charts as a book, is very insightful as well. Your conclusion that Amos "made a good decision" to leave "Good Times" is certainly supported by your wealth of evidence regarding the success of "Roots." Great work!
ReplyDeleteTess wonderful job on the post. I found it interesting how his book turned into a mini series! This guy was obviously very talented and knew what he was doing. Very insightful article.
ReplyDeleteTess, though we lightly touched on this subject in class, you did a great job of getting further details on John Amos. It was interesting to read how the end of his Good Times career coincided with his appearance in Roots. This article served two purposes: to discuss Amos' role on Good Times and to discuss Harold Courlander's book career. Great job!
ReplyDeleteTess, it was such an awesome post! I thought about doing this, since we did such little on it in class. John Amos was such a good actor with an amazing career in his life. I didn't realize when Mr. Lewis was talking in class on Roots it was a Novel first. I appreciate how even just in the 70's black culture were finding ways to stand up for black rights and slavery. Great job again!
ReplyDeleteGood post as usual, Tess, and you've elicited some fine comments. Except for small points (Kunta Kinte was "African", not "African-American"), this is super. Good topic choice and well done!
ReplyDeleteGood blog, Tess. I like how John Amos showed the the "Good Times" cast what he was made of by winning an Emmy when he was kicked off the show.I only watched one episode of "Good Times" and I can already tell after that episode that he was a good actor.
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