Ja'Net DuBois admitted that John Amos' departure from Good Times ''left such a big hole''
Character departures in TV shows can be the downfall of a series. Some may dismiss it as mere television, but it can deeply affect viewership when a character you've grown attached to is written off the series due to being fired or pursuing new projects.
John Amos' departure from Good Times was a significant event. His character, James Evans, was written off the show through a death. Various rumors surrounded Amos' departure, from being fired to having conflicts with the producers. Some even speculated that he was envious of Jimmie Walker's prominence on the show.
We'll probably never know which is true, but we know that Good Times was never the same once Amos departed. James was the backbone of the Evans family, along with his wife Florida, played by Esther Rolle. When the character died, one question filled everyone's mind: Who would fill that void?
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Janet DuBois played Willona Woods, the Evans family's close friend and Florida's partner in crime.
She and James Evans would bicker often, but viewers could feel the love through the screen even then. DuBois knew that Good Times needed to do something quickly once the character was gone.
"Well, first of all, it affected us really badly because it left such a big hole. We felt that without the father, the public would not relate to the show," she told The Sacramento Bee in 1977.
She then revealed that the writers had the bright idea of bringing Moses Gunn (his character, Carl Dixon) to marry recently-widowed Florida.
"But what happened is they replaced him with Moses Gunn, also a great actor...the writers plan to have him (Gunn) marry Florida and then get cancer."
That's exactly what happened. However, the response was different from what the writers hoped it would be. Viewers couldn't understand why Florida had to go through potentially losing another husband.
Gunn appeared in a few episodes, but his character did not go far. It turns out that Rolle didn't want her character to get married again, and although she liked working with Gunn, supposedly one of her requirements to return to Good Times was that Florida be alone.
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