Live in Front of a Studio Audience: 'All in the Family' and 'Good Times'

This concept is suffering its sophomore slump. Last year we had the fun of Jamie Foxx screwing up, catching himself and bailing himself out, which made his scene funnier than it was intended to be. Marla Gibbs' reprisal of Florence at the end was a very touching, poignant, heartwarming moment. I wish I could see that again.

Everyone in "Good Times" was either miscast, or not sure of themselves. Their performances were so tentative and shy, it threw their timing so badly off. Andre Braugher and Viola Davis were certainly not accustomed to doing comedy

Woody Harrelson really blew his big moment in this All in the Family remake. I was thrilled when I heard which episode it was because it's one of their best. Carroll O'Connor had a fantastic speech about war, etc., and it was highly emotional, and I really looked forward to seeing if Harrelson could do the speech with the same level of passion. He failed on all counts. He didn't make Archie sound like a simpleton stammering fumbling for words like O'Connor always had, he sounded drunk half the time. Ike Barinholtz (sic) was okay as Mike as was Jesse Eisenberg as the draft dodger, but the only shining moments in this piece were Marisa Tomei's flawless Edith and Kevin Bacon's spot-on portrayal of Pinky Peterson. Ellie Kemper was just "meh" as Gloria. She just filled space.

I grew up on Good Times and All in the Family. Still watch the reruns today. I dont ever remember J.J. acting like he was portrayed in this remake. Jay Pharaoh about made ne turn it off. Way over the top. The whole episode he had his hands in that position when J.J. would holla "Dynomite"! I don't think Jay ever watched an episode of Good Times cause if he had he wouldn't have portrayed J.J. the way he did. TRYING WAY TOO HARD!!!

While I didn't get to see the live airing, I was able to catch the replay on the 28th. I loved it! Having grown up watching these shows, I was excited to see them redo them. Without a doubt my favorites were Viola Davis as Florida Evans, Woody Harrelson as Archie, but Marissa Tomei was brilliant! I hope there are more live remakes like this.

I know the show word for word. I'll just speak on what I thought of the performances.

Viola Davis did a good job as Florida. Her portrayal was a little harder than the original but it worked.

James is my favorite character and NOBODY can do James so I won't speak on it.

I thought Tiffany Haddish struggled as Willona...

Michael...

Corinne Fox only came across as Thelma here and there but she wasn't bad.

I can't say the J.J. was awful, but the casting seemed wrong to me. Jay Pharoah did hit on the character a few times so there is that.

Jharrel Jones stole the show as Jimmy Pierson. He embodied the original actor so well. Bravo!

I grew up watching these Lear shows and remember them well so I was excited to watch this.

Good Times- I felt as if some of the actors do not know their lines as most kept making an "uh" with a brief pause then deliver their lines. I don't have the original ep to watch to see if that's how they did it, but I recall the series particularly well and I'm pretty sure that was not the case. I really like Anthony Anderson, but a singer he is not. Even though I didn't like this remake as much as the original, it was still worth seeing.

AitF - I actually saw the original not too long ago so I can compare the two. This was a better job of remaking and staying close to the original. In the original for this ep I didn't like Mike's acting particularly as it felt forced. In the remake I don't like the replacement actors but I feel like they generally delivered.

So all in all, for those of us old enough to have watched the originals this was a nice treat although it was a little light on the sugar.