This concept is suffering its sophomore slump. Last year we had the fun of Jamie Foxx screwing up, catching himself and bailing himself out, which made his scene funnier than it was intended to be. Marla Gibbs' reprisal of Florence at the end was a very touching, poignant, heartwarming moment. I wish I could see that again.
Everyone in "Good Times" was either miscast, or not sure of themselves. Their performances were so tentative and shy, it threw their timing so badly off. Andre Braugher and Viola Davis were certainly not accustomed to doing comedy
Woody Harrelson really blew his big moment in this All in the Family remake. I was thrilled when I heard which episode it was because it's one of their best. Carroll O'Connor had a fantastic speech about war, etc., and it was highly emotional, and I really looked forward to seeing if Harrelson could do the speech with the same level of passion. He failed on all counts. He didn't make Archie sound like a simpleton stammering fumbling for words like O'Connor always had, he sounded drunk half the time. Ike Barinholtz (sic) was okay as Mike as was Jesse Eisenberg as the draft dodger, but the only shining moments in this piece were Marisa Tomei's flawless Edith and Kevin Bacon's spot-on portrayal of Pinky Peterson. Ellie Kemper was just "meh" as Gloria. She just filled space.
