Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Live In Front Of A Studio Audience’ On ABC Returns With A ‘Good Times’ Episode And An ‘All In The Family’ Holiday Classic

The first time Norman Lear and Jimmy Kimmel presented two classic Lear show episodes in a live format back in May, Live In Front Of A Studio Audience drew a huge (for the late 2010s) audience. So it was inevitable that the two would do this again. This time, All In The Family was joined by an episode of Good Times. So, how did everyone do?

LIVE IN FRONT OF A STUDIO AUDIENCE: ALL IN THE FAMILY AND GOOD TIMES: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: The opening shot of this second go at Live In Front Of A Studio Audience is pretty straightforward: Hosts Norman Lear and Jimmy Kimmel sitting in their box in the studio audience. This being live, Kimmel mentions the impeachment vote going on in Washington as this special starts.

The Gist: Like the first edition of this experiment in May, two episodes of Lear’s classic series from the ’70s are presented, but live instead of live-to-tape. First Good Times, whose theme song was performed by Anthony Anderson and the legendary Patti LaBelle, still in fine voice in her mid-70s.

The episode is “The Politicians,” the original version of which aired in November 1975. It finds the Evans household in different political camps in the local alderman’s election. James (Andre Braugher) is volunteering to get the vote out for 20-year incumbent Fred Davis (GT alum John Amos), but the only person in the house who seems to be on his side is J.J. (Jay Pharoah). Florida (Viola Davis, with a makeup gap added to her smile to mimic Esther Rolle’s real gap), Thelma (Corinne Foxx), Michael (Asante Blackk) and their neighbor Willona (Tiffany Haddish) are in favor of new blood, 26-year-old Jimmy Pierson (Jharrel Jerome). A discussion of old vs. new and how career politicians like Davis say a lot but do very little ensues. Both candidates come over to the Evans’ apartment to do campaign work, and when Florida, Willona, Thelma and Michael confront Davis on the issues, he tries to divert by starting a round of the dozens, which Pierson refuses to take part in.

From there, we got a funny interlude where Martin Short, for some reason, sings the theme to The Facts Of Life, and goes hysterical when Kimmel pulls him off the stage. Then it’s time for All In The Family, with the same main cast as the first airing. It’s the classic episode “The Draft Dodger,” which first aired on Christmas Day in 1976. Edith (Marisa Tomei) is busy preparing Christmas Eve dinner, and Archie (Woody Harrelson) has plans of his own; he’s invited his buddy Pinky Peterson (Kevin Bacon) to dinner to cheer his spirits, and he tries to demonstrate the gag gift he got his buddy. But the squirting Santa head keeps squirting Archie, sending him up to the “terlet.”

While he’s there, David Brewster (Jesse Eisenberg), an old friend of Michael’s (Ike Barinholtz) shows up unexpectedly; he’s been living in Canada and has decided to come back home at great risk to his freedom. Gloria (Ellie Kemper) knows why David lives in Canada, but they both decide to keep it on the down low in order to not inflame Archie. The stakes rise when Archie mentions that Pinky’s son was killed in Vietnam. During dinner, inevitable conflict happens when Archie probes why David lives in Canada. David, to his credit, comes right out and admits he’s a draft dodger. Archie wants him to leave, but defers to Pinky, and gets an unexpected response.

Our Take: Now that this experiment is on its second go-around, you know that Kimmel, Lear, and new EP Kerry Washington ironed out the kinks that plagued the first edition. And, in fact, we saw that in the AITF half of the special. The main cast were more comfortable in their roles, not trying to do impressions of the original actors. Harrelson’s Archie showed the biggest improvement, as it seemed he decided to cross Carroll O’Connor with Truman Capote to make an Archie that wasn’t just a bigot, but an affected bigot. Eisenberg and Bacon were great in their guest roles, as was Justina Machado as Theresa, the nurse who lived with the Bunkers for a handful of episodes after the Stivics moved into the Jeffersons’ old house.

Tomei, as before, was the standout as Edith, making every time she ran in and out of the kitchen a clinic in physical comedy. Overall, the episode ran very smoothly, with very few noticeable mistakes, which also shows just how comfortable everyone was with the notion of doing a live sitcom in front of an audience. We can’t say the same for Good Times, but there may have been a few reasons for that, not the least of which was the fact that ABC’s cutaways to the impeachment vote interrupted the show’s flow.

First of all, unlike the famous episode of AITF that was presented, the episode of GT was less significant to the show’s history and suffered from a lot of what the original run of the show suffered from: too much shtick, not enough story. There was relevance in the story of the new blood challenging the old corrupt guard in city government, but a significant part of the episode was devoted to those rounds of the dozens, because at a certain point the plot ran out and time needed to be filled. If it weren’t for things like that and J.J.’s extended shenanigans, the episode itself might have had seven minutes’ worth of story.

Speaking of which, Pharoah was too into doing a Jimmie Walker (who was in the audience with Ja’net DuBois and BernNadette Stanis) impression, which made his version of J.J. come off like Pharoah was back on SNL doing a Good Times parody sketch. Braugher, oh so good on Brooklyn Nine-Nine and a stage veteran, was a bit off, as well. The rest of the cast, especially Davis and Haddish, were spot on, giving their own takes on Florida and Willona, respectively. And while we expect Haddish to have expert comic timing in front of an audience, it was a bit surprising to see how comfortable Davis was. She doesn’t have 3/4 of an EGOT for nothing.

Amos, bless his heart, struggled to remember his lines. But, given he turns 80 next week — and the fact that he may have been a last-minute substitute for fellow GT alum Ralph Carter — he was game in such a pressure-packed atmosphere. But the episode was far clumsier than the AITF one, and while it’s understandable that the first-timers on GT would have a rougher time than the “veterans” on AITF, the script wasn’t doing them any favors.

By the way, kudos have to be given to ABC’s promo department (really!) for making promos for current shows look like old ’70s promos, complete with 4:3 aspect ratio and a decent imitation of late announcer Ernie Anderson (he’s the guy who would promote the network’s Saturday hit “The Looooove Boat”).

Sex and Skin: It’s mid-’70s TV. Take a guess how much of either would be.

Parting Shot: Everyone gathers on the AITF set to say goodbye. When Kimmel mentions that Jaime Foxx will be on his show later (guest host: Brie Larson!), Corinne Foxx jokingly says “Who’s that?” (She’s Jamie’s daughter, if you didn’t realize that.)

Sleeper Star: Let’s give this to Norman Lear. Ninety-seven and it seems that the only concession to age you see is his use of a cane. His mind seems as sharp as ever.

Most Pilot-y Line: When Archie talks about how he thinks starched shorts are an invention by some ethnic group “to torture white people”, the derogatory term — you can guess what it is — that O’Connor was able to freely say in 1976 was bleeped today. We get it; it’s a different time. But just like when the n-word was bleeped from The Jeffersons in May, it feels like doing so takes away from the story (in the Jeffersons case) and character (in the case of Archie). Archie’s a bigot, and he calls different ethnicities by the derogatory names a bigot would use. Bleeping it takes the impact away. And the bleeping was inconsistent: Why bleep that word, but allow the word “Polack” to go through?

Our Call: STREAM IT. What the second edition of Live In Front Of A Studio Audience proves is that, just like any sitcom, the more chances a cast has to gel, the better a show will be. We bet if Good Times gets a second chance, it’ll be leagues better than the first attempt.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company.com, RollingStone.com, Billboard and elsewhere.

Stream Live In Front Of A Studio Audience On ABC.com