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"My Son, the Father"
Season 4, Episode 21
Number (#82) in series (133 episodes)
Tape date February 10, 1977
Air date: March 2, 1977
Network/Country: CBS-TV
Written by: Sid Dorfman
Directed by: Gerren Keith
Production code: 421
IMDb logo IMDB My Son, the Father
Cast Information
Starring: Esther Rolle
Jimmie Walker
Ja'net Dubois
Bern Nadette Stanis
Ralph Carter
Guest starring: Moses Gunn
William Sims
Episode guide
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My Son, the Father is the twenty-first episode of Season 4 of Good Times, and also the 82nd series episode overall. Written by Sid Dorfman, the episode, which was directed by Gerren Keith, premiered on CBS-TV, originally airing on March 2, 1977.

Synopsis[]

As a surprise for Michael, J.J. plans on taking him to a father-son dinner at his school but he is left heartbroken after he learns that Michael has asked Carl to accompany him.

Storyline[]

Michael's school is hosting a father/son dinner and with James being deceased, J.J. steps up as a father figure for his younger brother and wants to accompany him to the luncheon. But J.J. is left devastated after Carl shows up and announces that Michael asked him to take him to the father/son dinner (not knowing that J.J. had planned on taking him).

Plot summary[]

Eager (and perhaps going overboard) to fill James' shoes, J.J. (Jimmie Walker) steps up as a surrogate father to Michael (Ralph Carter) and wants to accompany his younger brother to an annual father-son dinner at his school, given that James had accompanied J.J. to these events when he was Michael's age and now wants to do the same for Michael as a father figure with James' passing, which impresses Florida (Esther Rolle) and Thelma (Bern Nadette Stanis).

But when Carl (Moses Gunn) arrives and announces that Michael has asked him to accompany him to the father-son luncheon instead, J.J. goes ballistic and angrily walks out on his whole family. A few days later, Florida worries about J.J. as she tells Carl that he is still upset about the father-son luncheon and that he hasn't been home since then, believing that the family doesn't need him anymore (and that they're trying to replace him with Carl) and that he is trying to fill his father's shoes too fast, Florida then asks Carl to find J.J. and talk to him (and deflate his ever-expanding ego) and convince him to come home to his family...

Guest starring[]

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