The hypocrisy

I find it funny that there wasn't much fuss over Florida Evans' stubborn self-righteousness often keeping the Evans' family in the ghetto being (in its own way) a negative representation of black people. Or shortly after the death of her husband, her leaving her kids off to fend for themselves (meaning that Willona had to become the de facto parent for the Evans kids) for a year in said ghetto to tend to her new atheist boyfriend, Carl in Arizona:
http://www.lipstickalley.com/showthread.php/448897-Did-Florida-Evans-really-want-to-leave-the-ghetto/page2

http://www.lipstickalley.com/showthread.php/1015309-Can-we-talk-about-Florida-Evans-(Good-times)-and-your-thoughts-on-unwanted-babies/page4

http://www.lipstickalley.com/showthread.php/692078-Good-Times-Where-s-the-list-of-Florida-Evans-ruining-everything/page5

http://www.lipstickalley.com/showthread.php/521710-Esther-Rolle-(Florida-Evans)-Tea/page2

You are correct, but only partially. Even if all of the white characters on TV were buffoons it would not have mattered because whites are the majority in society and there has not been propaganda put out for hundreds of years to justify their ill treatment. According to IMDB, the Fonzie character was blown up and made cartoonish in order to compete with Good Times which was beating them in the ratings. Did Italians become outraged over Fonzie? Did Italians become outraged that a Jewish man was playing an Italian? No.

"Dynomite" came about somewhat by accident: there was an episode where J.J. said the "dynomite" line and the writers and producers liked it, so they wrote the line in the next one. Walker, in that ep, said the word simply as "dynamite" and the producers were disappointed and wanted him to say it the way he said it the previous week. Thus, a catchphrase (albeit an annoying one) was born.



Annoying the world since 1960!

I actually remember someone saying by the time the Michael character became a teenaged, The Black Panther movement had lost like 90 percent of its steam as more and more people stopped being Activists(Activism was much more of a 60s thing anyway, Malcolm X anyone?) Plus, there was the whole "Michael being an 11 year old Activist is cute, but 16 year old Michael being an Activist is kind of annoying, so they settled on him aspiring to right wrongs the legal way by being an Aspiring Lawyer/Judge. Plus, Michael stopped thinking of the White Race as the Enemy and even tried to move in with a White girl in the final Season. He decided not to because her kooky parents implied that they would be coming over constantly to check on their daughted. Many people would have been like"No thanks," if they had to see those kooks on a constant basis!

Drake is repetitive. He just raps the same thing over and over as if he is in an insane asylum!LOL:D

What I was trying to say was that in those days, whites were allowed to play both comedy and drama. Blacks were relegated to just comedy relief. That was why the black groups were upset about J.J. and other silly black characters from that era (like Rerun). Also there weren't really too many black dramas that were successful then. I, too, don't have problems with funny black characters, I'm just tired of the ones that are a step away from being from a minstrel show.



Annoying the world since 1960!

I'm white, and while I might not call Fonzie's 'Aaaaay' phrase buffoonish, I will call it annoying and say I didn't like it and thought it was stupid. Not one "white person dead or alive" ... wrong on that one.   — • —

Fonzie saying Aaaaay was the beginning of HD going from a good comedy to a standard 70's sitcom.

If you consider numerous definitions of someone who acts buffoonish which state: 'someone who amuses others by ridiculous or odd behavior, jokes ... someone who tries to amuse others by ridiculous behavior,' then, technically yes. Because Fonzie did do some odd and ridiculous things over the years.   — • —

I'm happy to help! Actually, some Italians were NOT pleased with the Fonz character (or most Tony Danza roles, or the Sporanos) as most Italians characters were usually either dumb or violent.

Yeah, it’s not like JJ was a pimp, burglar, hustler or drug dealer. Those were the truly negative stereotypes prevalent on tv and in the movies at the time. He was the comic relief that took the edge off of a lot storylines that were pretty heavy. He was also the break-out star of the show that helped it build an audience. Even though his famous catchphrase was overdone to the point of becoming a bit cringeworthy, I think the character JJ and Jimmie Walker, the actor who portrayed him, should be celebrated.