When ABC aired remakes of the ’70s sitcoms “All in the Family” and “The Jeffersons” back in May, it created a lot of talk both on and off line.
Not to mention it received three Emmy nominations, won the award for outstanding variety special and scored an average of 14.29 million total viewers, according to Deadline.
Now the network is doing a repeat performance, and once again Kerry Washington will be a major part of it.
The actress played the part of Helen Willis in “The Jeffersons” remake, and she’ll be an executive producer for a reboot of “Good Times,” the iconic sitcom about a black family living in Chicago’s Cabrini–Green Homes. And a reboot of “All in the Family” will air again too.
“Good Times” ran for six seasons on CBS and was co-created by Mike Evans, who played Lionel Jefferson on “The Jeffersons” and on “All in the Family.”
And just like those two sitcoms, “Good Times” was developed by Norman Lear, who infused a lot of the political talk of the day into the script.
The show starred Jimmie Walker, Esther Rolle, John Amos, Bern Nadette Stanis, Ralph Carter and Ja’net Dubois, and it’s where many saw Janet Jackson act for the first time as the character Penny.
The live remake will air on Dec. 18, and the cast hasn’t been announced yet. And it’s unclear if Washington will play any of the roles herself.
“The holiday season is the perfect time for families to come together and enjoy another ‘Live in Front of a Studio Audience’ special on ABC,” said the president of ABC Entertainment Karey Burke in a statement. “This will surely be another can’t-miss television event.”
Future projects for Washington include the Hulu miniseries “Little Fires Everywhere,” based on the 2017 novel of the same name. And she’ll also be in the Netflix movie “The Prom,” based on the Tony-nominated Broadway musical.
Both of those projects are slated to be released in 2020.
