Duane Martin Foster

Goodbye Netflix!!!

I struggled with bringing my laptop home from work today. I kept saying to myself that I needed to do some extra brainstorming on an idea I had and I would regret not bringing my “work”home with me. But as I sit here typing this letter, I know NOW, that bringing my laptop home was serving a greater and, in this case, unfortunate purpose. 

I have been a subscriber to Netflix, I believe, since 2006 or 07. For $4.99/month, I received these delightful red packages of DVD’s in the mail. I thought it was so cool to show up to work with DVD’s of some of my most favorite musicals to show to my middle school theatre students. It seemed as if Netflix had everything I desired. 

Eventually, after moving into the streaming field and, of course raising its prices, 7.99, 8.99, 11.99  and higher….you know what….I actually can’t tell you how much I’m paying per month, today!!!! That’s how much of a loyal customer I have been for at least 18 years. 

This evening, I settled in my recliner to watch something else my sister mentioned when I saw the display of Good Times. Now, I had heard that there were some controversy around the making of this cartoon. Bern Nadette Stanis, who played Thelma in the original sitcom was not pleased with how the reboot turned out…and there were a few notable Black actors attached to it…namely, Jay Pharoah, Marsai Martin, Cree Summer, Wanda Sykes and Tisha Campbell, to name a few.  But that’s all I had heard.

Basketball sensation, Steph Curry, joined by Seth Macfarland…and even the titan, himself, the late Norman Lear are all executive producers on this project. 

So many people who I had great respect and admiration for were responsible for assuring that the WORLD would see this cartoon. 

I clicked on the display of Good Times…clicked again to start episode 1…

In true Seth MacFarland style, the first shot is of a couch in what appears to be a living room…and, like Family Guy, everything is going to lead back to the couch, but with the whole family sitting on it for the last shot. After the initial shot, you see an L train moving above the city (like the original) and then you hear:




Head above water

I’m making a way

It’s the first of the month 

And the bills ain’t paid

I’m sayin’, Man, this feeling like Good Times




And then, flashing on the screen in big colorful bold print,  “Good Times” …subtitled, “Black Again.”




We then see the individual members of the Evans family doing their “THING!” Dad, driving a cab looking a big butt woman, losing control of his car…(that has a BOOT on it…)…the woman he sees is carrying a bag of groceries. He swings by and swoops her in the car, gives her a kiss and out of the bag pops a rotten apple that he takes a bite out of. This ends up being Mrs. Evans, his wife. Shot changes to a guy spray painting the side of a building..and its some image of someone made to look like a clown with the word “+ Jenius Kriminal” written across the forehead and chin. (Mind you, if this is supposed to pick up where JJ left off, or even a future version of a JJ, he wasn’t a TAGGER…he actually painted at HOME with an easel and OIL paints)…but let me get back on topic….it is eventually revealed that he had spray painted the name of some gang leader on the clowns face…so the gang leader and his minions appear and begin chasing the artist….who hops in dads car…the TRUNK….shot changes to the daughter holding a sign, Defund Everything! Yeah Chicken Too! (Which seems like a dig to the Defund the Police Movement) She’s protesting outside Henry’s Fried Chicken…with a sign in the window that says, “Chicken So Good It Will Make You Wanna Twerk!!” Folks in the line seem unbothered by her and are anxiously looking forward to the chicken. She is eventually swooped into the car. And THEN…

In the obvious spirit of STEWIE from Family Guy, we see a little Sisqo looking child..who is a baby…in the middle of a game of craps, flashing money…he is swept up into the car and then we see a video camera lens being adjusted for the family photo on the couch. 

ALRIGHT…that’s just the opening!




And then there is the first shot of a silhouette of the father in the shower who is singing a part of the original song from Good Times…(Scratchin’and Survivin”, Good Times) but instead of a Gospel choir-like background of a chorus, it is a COCKROACH giving the response in this Call and Response exchange. And dad is singing to the cockroach as if it is a daily routine: Reminiscent of a duet between Brian (the Dog) and Peter from Family Guy.  Mom comes in the bathroom to check her lashes and brag about her Spam and Onion dinner that dad obviously enjoyed…she then goes into the living room and yells at the oldest child because he has had yet another wet dream…she is standing in front of a Black Jesus on the wall (homage to the original)…and yeah…that’s enough! Oh, yeah…I can’t leave out the mother’s lactating breast serving as GPS when looking for her thug, drug dealing, coke head baby. If the left breast leaked milk…THAT MEANT TO TURN LEFT…(I am not exaggerating)!!!




I got through the 3 episode and woke up hours later and episode 7 was about to begin…I looked down at my cell phone and see that my sister had sent a text. It said, “Is the Good Times cartoon a prank?




My response: I just woke up from watching the first 3 episodes. I’m writing a letter to Netflix and I’m dropping my subscription after 18 years.




At some point in the first episode, it’s revealed that the father in the original series of Good Times, James Evans is the great grandfather of the spray painting son…which makes the dad the son of either JJ, Michael or Thelma….




In the series finale of the original, JJ, is a big Ad Executive, Michael, is in college and Thelma’s husband is getting a walk on with the Chicago Bears…you mean to tell me that one of their kids ended up back in the ghetto in the same exact apartment in which they grew up? Not saying that it’s NOT possible. Life happens…but, yeah…back on topic.




Today…this time…in this country….in which the term, concept and practice of Diversity Equity and Inclusion are all being eradicated…ERASED….obliterated….during this time, when there is obviously a conflict of skin color in the Middle East….during this time….when this country is presenting a convicted criminal and racist as a presidential candidate…..in this time when the establishment is sitting back watching Black people tear each other down with ALL of the music industry, entertainment industry FLUFF, rumor, sexual explorations, etc….IN THIS TIME…Netflix releases a cartoon with some of the most denigrating images of Black people I’ve ever seen on television. 




I’m certain there were issues in the original…and I’m not going to get into that. It was a different time and there hadn’t been a Black family depicted on television…so at some point it needed to happen…and it did. But then we had the Jeffersons, The Cosby Show, 227, Family Matters…and even The PJ’s. 




Netflix, this is hurtful and damaging to so many people in so many ways. And as an elementary administrator with very few Black and Brown kids at my school, this cartoon scares me. What is being fed to all of our children….this is still a cartoon…is this cartoon is validating, celebrating, poking fun at and normalizing Black struggle?  My answer is YES…this cartoon does all of that and then some!!!!




For these reasons, I am cancelling my subscription and will be urging others to do the same.

Diary of a Mad Black Teacher