50 free Good Times trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Good Times ran on CBS from 1974 to 1979 and was television's first sitcom about a Black two-parent family. This Good Times trivia quiz has 50 free questions with answers covering the whole run: the Evans family's Chicago apartment, Florida and James, J.J. and his catchphrase, Thelma, Michael, Willona, Bookman, Penny, and the neighborhood regulars from Sweet Daddy Williams to Ned the Wino. It also digs into what happened off camera: why John Amos was written out, why Esther Rolle left and came back, who painted J.J.'s artwork, who almost played Michael, where the theme song came from and how the series ended. Some questions are easy for anyone who watched the reruns; the later ones are for people who know the episode titles. Every answer was checked against the show's Wikipedia entries and its episode guide, and each question links to the page that establishes it.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Good Times was a spin-off of which sitcom, on which Florida Evans had been the housekeeper?
Maude
Maude was itself a spin-off of All in the Family, making Good Times a spin-off of a spin-off; Florida had worked for Maude Findlay in Tuckahoe, New York.
Q 02On which network did Good Times air its entire six-season run?
CBS
It premiered on February 8, 1974 and ended on August 1, 1979, all on CBS.
Q 03Good Times was created by Eric Monte and which actor, best known as Lionel Jefferson?
Mike Evans
The youngest Evans child is named Michael after him; Monte went on to create What's Happening!!, based on his film Cooley High.
Q 04Which producer developed Good Times and served as its first executive producer?
Norman Lear
It was the last sitcom Bud Yorkin produced before ending his partnership with Lear and Tandem Productions.
Q 05In which city do the Evans family live?
Chicago
The projects are never named on the show; on Maude the family had lived in New York.
Q 06What is the Evans family's apartment number?
17C
The address is 963 North Gilbert Avenue, in a public housing high-rise.
Q 07Which real housing project is shown in the opening and closing credits?
Cabrini-Green
The show never names the project on screen; the exterior shots were of Cabrini-Green, later demolished.
Q 08What had James Evans's first name been when the character appeared on Maude?
Henry
On Maude he was a New York City firefighter and the family was middle class; the new show made him a man with a sixth-grade education working odd jobs.
Q 09What was Henry Evans's job on Maude, before the character was reworked for Good Times?
New York City firefighter
The move to the Midwest and to poverty was made because the new series was already deep in development when producers decided to feature Florida.
Q 10How far did James Evans get in school, which is why he works manual jobs?
Sixth grade
He often works two jobs, dishwasher or construction, and will not accept charity, though he sometimes hustles pool money over Florida's objections.
Q 11Who played James Evans?
John Amos
Amos was only seven and a half years older than Jimmie Walker, who played his 17-year-old son.
Q 12How old was Jimmie Walker when he began playing 17-year-old J.J.?
26
He was just seven and a half years younger than the actor playing his father.
Q 13What nickname does James give his youngest son Michael, because of his political activism?
The militant midget
Michael, played by Ralph Carter, aspired to be a Supreme Court justice; the actor playing James later complained the show wasted him in favor of J.J.'s antics.
Q 21Which comedian used a famously hard-to-hear line of the theme song as a quiz question in his sketch show?
Dave Chappelle
The "I Know Black People" sketch on Chappelle's Show tested contestants on it; the Bergmans have since confirmed what the line really is.
Q 22Which future star filled in as Michael in early rehearsals while Ralph Carter's contract was settled?
Laurence Fishburne
Carter was under contract to a Broadway musical, so early episodes carry a credit that he appears courtesy of that show.
Q 23Ralph Carter had to be bought out of which Broadway musical to play Michael?
Raisin
Q 14What is the name of the Evans family's neighbor and Florida's best friend, played by Ja'Net DuBois?
Willona Woods
Willona is a divorcee who works at a boutique; by the finale she has been made its head buyer.
Q 15What is the surname of the building superintendent, nicknamed "Buffalo Butt"?
Bookman
Nathan Bookman, played by Johnny Brown, first appears in season two and joins the opening credits in season five; the crueler nickname was "Booger".
Q 16Which director is credited with J.J.'s catchphrase "Dy-no-mite!" and insisted he say it every episode?
John Rich
Walker first delivered it at the end of the second episode, "Black Jesus"; Walker and the executive producer were both skeptical of the idea.
Q 17In the season one episode "Black Jesus", who does J.J. use as the model for his portrait of Jesus?
Ned the Wino
The painting becomes the family's good-luck charm; Ned, played by Raymond Allen, is the neighborhood drunk Michael later tries to sober up.
Q 18Which artist actually painted most of the works credited to J.J. on the show, including The Sugar Shack?
Ernie Barnes
The Sugar Shack, painted in 1971, joined the credits in season four and was later used on Marvin Gaye's album I Want You; Barnes even played one of Sweet Daddy's bodyguards.
Q 19What was the fictional J.J. Evans supposed to be, that made the paintings plausible?
An aspiring painter
J.J.'s art career is a running thread, from a bank mural to a portrait of a numbers runner's girlfriend, and in the finale a syndicated comic-book job.
Q 20Who composed the gospel-styled Good Times theme music?
Dave Grusin
Alan and Marilyn Bergman wrote the words, and Jim Gilstrap and Motown singer Blinky Williams sang it with a gospel choir.
Haywood Nelson, later of What's Happening!!, had actually been hired first but was replaced because Carter had more live-audience experience.
Q 24Chip Fields was a finalist for the role of Thelma; which character did she later play instead?
Penny's abusive mother, Lynnetta
Bern Nadette Stanis won the part of Thelma; Fields returned in season five as the mother who burns Penny with an iron.
Q 25Which magazine ran Esther Rolle's 1975 interview attacking the J.J. character?
Ebony
Rolle said the writers had made J.J. "more stupid" and enlarged the role; she and the actor playing James both wanted the show to deal with serious issues.
Q 26The actor who played James was let go from the show after how many seasons?
Three
He was told his contract option was not being renewed, which he called the same thing as being fired.
Q 27How was James Evans written out of the show?
Killed in a car accident in Mississippi
He had been setting up an auto repair shop that would have moved the family out of the projects; the producers chose not to recast the role.
Q 28What is the title of the two-part season four premiere in which James dies?
The Big Move
The episode ends with Florida smashing a punch bowl and shouting "Damn, damn, DAMN!", and the closing credits ran in silence instead of applause.
Q 29Which household object does Florida smash when her grief finally breaks through after James's funeral?
A punch bowl
Until that moment she had seemed cheerful at the post-funeral gathering, which outraged Thelma and Michael.
Q 30Florida leaves after season four, engaged to which shop owner played by Moses Gunn?
Carl Dixon
They marry off screen; Rolle disliked the storyline partly because Carl was an atheist and Florida a devout Christian.