The Evans Get Involved: Part 1

"The Evans Get Involved" kicked off the fifth season in four parts (the first two in a one hour broadcast), with no James and now Florida missing as well, spending time away from family with new husband Carl Dixon out West (acknowledged only by long distance phone calls). Suddenly Ja'net DuBois found herself top billed, and Johnny Brown's landlord Nathan Bookman (present for only ten previous episodes) now a prominent fixture in the opening credits. Apart from the shocking tale of child abuse, another reason this is remembered today is the casting of the youngest Jackson, 11 year old Janet, as the victimized Penny Gordon, first seen trailing behind JJ because she has a crush on him: "he's tall and skinny and beautiful!" Penny claims not to have a mother, and lives with her aunt and a father suffering from leprosy. Bookman reports a new tenant with a lost child, Linella Gordon (Chip Fields, previously seen in "J.J.'s New Career"), not the girl's aunt but her unmarried mother. Once alone with her daughter, we learn how the girl's bruises came about...watching Mrs. Gordon approach the frightened child with a burning hot iron. Janet Jackson displayed a genuine talent for acting, and her impression of Mae West and other celebrities: "it's not the men in my life but the life in my men!"

Who could have known, at the time, who that little girl would grow up to be? Here, Janet plays a young victim of child abuse. The "Penny" character is introduced as a child who lies and makes up stories, as an attempt to avoid going home. We soon learn about the abuse Penny is suffering, at the hands of her mother. Chip Fields is very good as Penny's abusive mother. The Evans family and Willona become involved.