S2.E19

The Dinner Party

Name: The Dinner Party
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1975-02-11
Duration: 25 min
Rating: 8.1
Cast: Esther Rolle, John Amos, Ja'net DuBois

Episode aired Feb 11, 1975
TV-PG
25m

IMDb RATING

8.1/10

136

YOUR RATING

John Amos, Ralph Carter, Ja'net DuBois, Frances Foster, Esther Rolle, BernNadette Stanis, and Jimmie 'JJ' Walker in Good Times (1974)

Comedy

The Evans family fears that neighbor Gertie's secret meatloaf ingredient may be canned dog food.The Evans family fears that neighbor Gertie's secret meatloaf ingredient may be canned dog food.The Evans family fears that neighbor Gertie's secret meatloaf ingredient may be canned dog food.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.1/10

136

YOUR RATING

2User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos

Top cast7

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Esther Rolle

Florida Evans

John Amos

James Evans, Sr.

Ja'net DuBois

Willona Woods
(as Ja'net Du Bois)

Ralph Carter

Michael Evans

Jimmie 'JJ' Walker

James 'J.J.' Evans, Jr.
(as Jimmie Walker)

BernNadette Stanis

Thelma Evans
(as Bernnadette Stanis)

Frances Foster

Ms. Gertrude Vinson

User reviews2

8.1136

Featured reviews

8kevinolzak

Shouldn't happen to a dog

"The Dinner Party" finds the Evans family getting ahead financially, the children's part time jobs leaving them an extra $35 at month's end. Florida decides that Thelma can take singing lessons with neighbor Gertie Vinson (Frances Foster), only for Gertie to announce her unexpected retirement. Willona delivers the news that Gertie has been forced to give up teaching to avoid cuts in her social security check. Michael learns something even worse while taking out her garbage, that Gertie has been reduced to eating cans of dog food. The family invites Gertie to dinner with them but she has other ideas, bringing her famous meat loaf with her. Assuming that it's made from dog food everyone scrupulously avoids the meat loaf, JJ saying the grace: "the Lord is my German shepherd!"

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Trivia
While the plot of this episode's undeniably funny, this (and an episode of the The Attractive Nuisance (1978), were actually inspired by a national scandal (instigated by a report on 60 Minutes (1968)) which said that due to the effects of the high inflation rates (especially on the retirement incomes of the elderly), many weren't able to afford decent food and some were resorting to eating pet food. Congress ended up mandating automatic yearly increases in Social Security (and other Federal programs) to help alleviate this problem.

Goofs
Florida removes the hot pan from the oven with oven mitts, but seconds later is touching the pan with her bare hands while basting the chicken.

Quotes
Ms. Gertrude Vinson: Florida, your cake reminds me of my late husband. Sweet, black and satisfying!

Crazy credits
Ralph Carter courtesy of the Broadway musical "Raisin". (Closing credits. This original Broadway production ran from October 1973 to December 1975.)