The Fosters (TV Series) God's Business Is Good Business (1976) User Reviews

God's Business Is Good Business

[Prismark10 · 7/10 · 19 November 2022]

The Fosters take aim at greedy evangelists. Their television is on the blink, there is no sound and the kids want a colour television.

However they are excited to catch a black man on television. It is Reverend Steve 'Smiling' Smith (Val Pringle) who is in Britain to spread the gospel.

Samuel recalls him as an old friend from Guyana. To Pearl, Reverend Steve 'Smiling' Smith is a fraud, more interested in fleecing the congregation.

When Reverend Steve calls to visit the Fosters at their flat. He makes an offer to Samuel an offer that is difficult to refuse. £50 a day, 7 days a week while he tours Britain.

Reverend Steve is concerned that the money is being stolen by the lower orders. He wants Honest Samuel to make sure nothing is stolen. Pearl is dead against Samuel for taking the job.

It was a good balance of how the family were whipped up by Reverend Steve's revivalist feeling. Yet the man was a fraud as he claimed to heal the sick and the disabled.

I remember when our family got a colour television about the same time when our old black and white television went on the blink.

Honest Foster gets a proposition from Smiling Steve

[Jackmichaelmassey · 9/10 · 26 July 2010]

A fine episode from the first episode of 'The Fosters'

The Foster household are thrilled to a black man on the telly, it is Reverand Steve 'Smiling' Smith spreading the word. Samuel remembers this fellow as they were friends when they lived in Guyana. Pearl also remembers him as being a terrible man and can't believe he is a man of the cloth. To the Foster's surprise, Smiling Steve turns up on their door step. First he impresses neighbour Vilma, taking her out on a date. He then offers Samuel a job, as he remembered Samuel from Guyana and was so impressed with his honesty, he called him 'Honest Foster'. The Reverand offers Sam £50 a day to work for him. It is a lot of money, yet with the Reverand being such a rogue, it can hardly be through legitimate means. Will Honest Foster go through with it...

This is a very funny episode where after an okay opening two episodes, you really see the show taking shape here. This whole episode was repeated in 1992 as part of ITV's great 'TV Heaven' series to represent 1976, a good choice and it is still a very good episode twenty-four years on in my opinion.

The Foster's fascination at seeing a black man on the television shows the lack of representation black people must have had on television in the 1970's. It is satisfying to know that in some ways, 'The Fosters' was changing this.