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50 years after its original run, the Norman Lear-produced sitcom "Good Times" is more than just "Dy-no-mite!" It's a spinoff within a spinoff and a classic Black family sitcom that inspired controversy as well as laughter. Like many beloved shows from the '70s, "Good Times" made headlines for behind-the-scenes drama and cast disagreements, but it also captivated audiences.

Originally formulated as a spinoff of "Maude" (which was itself a spinoff of unlikely hit "All in the Family"), "Good Times" retconned its central characters and setting in favor of a new premise. Henry (John Amos) became James, the family got poorer, and the setting switched from New York to Chicago, where it took inspiration from the Cabrini-Green housing projects. Audiences still dug the new show, though by the time it signed off five years later, it had changed entirely: Amos and original star Esther Rolle had left, and the show's most one-dimensional character,...

“Good Times,” which celebrates its 50th anniversary on Feb. 8, suffered from an identity crisis during its six-season run on CBS. So much so, the lead actors — Esther Rolle and John Amos — would leave the popular second spinoff of ‘All in the Family”(Rolle would eventually return) because the sitcom changed focus.

Norman Lear ruled the airwaves in the 1970s. He blew up the conception of a family sitcom in 1971 with the CBS sitcom “All in the Family” which focused on a working class family from Queen lead by the bigoted patriarch Archie Bunker (Carroll O’Connor). During the first season, Bea Arthur guest starred as Maude, Edith Bunker’s (Jean Stapleton) favorite cousin who was the antithesis of Archie-outspoken, much married, ultra-liberal.

And after a second appearance on “All in the Family,” Arthur got her own series “Maude” in the fall of 1972. The breakout performer on that series was Esther...

Tipping their Stetsons to a passel of 1960s Spaghetti Westerns — everything from “A Fistful of Dollars” to “They Call Me Trinity” — and the sort of 1970s Blaxploitation oaters that once provided steady employment for Fred Williamson, director-star Michael Jai White and co-star (and co-writer) Byron Keith Minns have cobbled together “Outlaw Johnny Black,” a fitfully funny but uncomfortably overlong entertainment best appreciated by movie buffs who share the pair’s affection for the genre tropes and stereotypes they seriocomically recycle.

Not nearly as free-wheeling and fleet-footed as “Black Dynamite,” the 2009 satirical comedy that cast White as a Shaft-like action hero, the new film nonetheless provides more than a few good laughs, even when it seems to be taking horse opera clichés a tad too respectfully, and showcases a fine cast of actors dedicated to both the silliness and the seriousness of the enterprise.

White plays the title character, a notorious...

Sunday’s SAG Awards ceremony will be a streaming event for the first time on the Netflix YouTube channel. One of the highlights each year is the special In Memoriam segment. It’s been a particularly rough year with over 100 deaths of prominent actors and actresses who were likely members of SAG/AFTRA. Show producers typically are able to include approximately 40-50 people in a tribute.

Among that group will certainly be Oscar winners Louise Fletcher, William Hurt and Irene Cara, plus nominees Angela Lansbury (a SAG life achievement recipient) and Melinda Dillon. Emmy champs Mary Alice, Kirstie Alley, Leslie Jordan, Ray Liotta, Stuart Margolin, Robert Morse and Barbara Walters.

SEECelebrity Deaths 2023: In Memoriam Gallery

Here is our expansive list of over 100 people who died since last year’s ceremony, several of whom will be honored on Sunday’s event:

Ralph Ahn

J. Grant Albrecht

Mary Alice

Rae Allen...

Exclusive: Tony Award-winning director Anna D.Shapiro (August: Osage County), Oscar-nominated producer Leelai Demoz (On Tip-Toe), Tony-nominated actor/writer Ian Barford (Linda Vista) and entrepreneur Brad Keywell have teamed up to create multimedia venture Highwire Media, an artist-first production company that is developing and producing projects across film, theater, and television.

Highwire Media’s debut slate includes projects with Emmy Award-winning actors and producers Brendan Hunt (Ted Lasso) and Jane Lynch (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), writer Matthew-Lee Erlbach (Masters of Sex), Tony Award-winning producer Greg Nobile (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder) and companies Hyde Park Entertainment and West Madison Entertainment, as part of an initial plan to put 5 projects into production annually.

Highwire’s founders have formalized an innovative development process, honed from years of working across the entertainment landscape.

In a joint statement, the founders explain, “Highwire Media is committed to an artist-centric model...

Throughout her life, Queen Elizabeth II was a constant presence on screen.

The British monarch was portrayed, evoked, parodied and mimicked in everything from wacky comedies (The Naked Gun)to psychological dramas (Spencer).

But she was not the only royal to have graced the world of Hollywood.

Since its inception, the film industry has revelled in tales of royal exploits, whether that’s in period dramas or more contemporary biopics.

While foreign monarchs have also provided ample inspiration for Hollywood scriptwriters – think Marie Antoinette or Coming to America – the most lucrative source material has always seemed to be the British monarchy.

Here’s a rundown of eight of the best royal films.

The Favourite

Directed by the idiosyncratic Killing of a Sacred Deer filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos, The Favourite is a riotous, blackly comic exploration of a love triangle involving Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) in the early 18th century. Colman is...

Producers of this Monday’s Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony have some difficult decisions to make about who to honor during the emotional In Memoriam segment. John Legend will perform “Pieces,” a new song he has written for the tribute. Kenan Thompson will host the 2022 Emmys for NBC at 8 p.m. Et; 5 p.m. Pt.

Our list below includes almost 100 people who made a strong contribution to television and have died since mid-September of 2021 following the previous Emmys ceremony. Only about 40-45 of these people will probably be in the video segment. Certain to be featured will be TV Academy Hall of Fame members actress Betty White and director Jay Sandrich.Other prominent names almost certainly chosen are: Mary Alice (acting winner), Louie Anderson (acting winner), James Caan (acting nominee), Anne Heche (acting winner), Howard Hesseman (acting nominee), William Hurt (acting nominee), Gregory Itzin (acting nominee), Ray Liotta (acting winner), Burt Metcalfe...

Ethan Hawke will star in and executive produce a limited series currently in development at Showtime, Variety has confirmed.

The series is titled “The Whites” and is based on the novel of the same name by Richard Price. It begins with the idea that every detective is haunted by their White Whale, the perpetrator who got away because the justice system failed. Billy Graves (Hawke), once a rising star in his department and former member of a group of well-respected cops called the “Wild Geese,” walks away from NYPD Homicide and joins the Nightwatch division, where his cases end when he clocks out— but his past comes calling when a seemingly straightforward murder case involving a White Whale unfolds, threatening his career, enduring friendships, and family.

Jez Butterworth, a Tony Award-winner whose past screenwriting credits include “Ford v. Ferrari” and “Spectre,” will write and executive produce. Hawke executive produces under...

Johnny Brown, the actor, comedian and singer best known for his role as superintendent Nathan Bookman on the popular 70s sitcom “Good Times,” died Wednesday. He was 84 years old.

Brown’s death was confirmed by his daughter, Broadway actress Sharon Catherine Brown, through a post shared on her Instagram. No further details on Brown’s death are available at this time.

“He was literally snatched out of our lives. It’s not real for us yet,” Sharon Catherine Brown wrote. “So there will be more to say but not now. Dad was the absolute best. We love him so very much.”

Prior to his sitcom stardom, Brown was a seasoned entertainment veteran, regularly performing in nightclub acts with his future wife, June Russell. Early in his career he dabbled in recording music, releasing the single “Walkin’, Talkin’, Kissin’ Doll” for Columbia Records in 1961 and “You’re Too Much in Love...

Good Times star Johnny Brown, who played housing project superintendent Nathan Bookman on the hit ’70s series, has died. He was 84.

The actor’s death was confirmed by his family on Instagram. “Our family is devastated,” his daughter Sharon Catherine wrote. “We respectfully ask for privacy at this time because we need a minute to process the unthinkable. To articulate the depths of profound sadness… It’s too terrible. It will never not be. It’s a shock. He was literally snatched out of our lives. It’s not real for us yet… Dad was the absolute best. We love him so very much.

Johnny Brown, the comedian and actor who broke out on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” in the early 1970s and then played apartment-building superintendent Nathan Bookman on the sitcom “Good Times,” died Wednesday at age 84.

Brown’s daughter Sharon Catherine Brown shared the news Friday via Instagram. “Our family is devastated. Devastated. Devastated. Beyond heartbroken. Barely able to breathe. We respectfully ask for privacy at this time because we need a minute to process the unthinkable,” she wrote. No further details about his death were available.

Brown got his start as a singer in the late 1950s, touring with saxophonist Sam “The Man” Taylor and releasing singles such as “Walkin’ Talkin’, Kissin’ Doll” in 1961 through Columbia Records.

In the 1960s, he appeared in two Broadway shows — “Golden Boy” and “Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights” — and picked up guest spots on TV shows such as “The Leslie Uggams Show,” “Julia” and...

Johnny Brown, best known for his role as the housing project superintendent Nathan Bookman on the TV show Good Times and a Laugh-In regular, has died at 84. No cause of death was given by his family, who announced his March 2 death on Instagram.

Daughter and actress Sharon Catherine Brown wrote on Instagram. “Our family is devastated. Devastated. Devastated. Beyond heartbroken. Barely able to breathe.”

Brown had a multi-facted career. He recorded songs and played in a band, appeared on Broadway, and was a television regular, including three seasons as part of the ensemble on the hit show Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In. That appearance was a double-edged sword, as his contractual commitments to the show prevented him from taking the role of Red Foxx’s son on Sanford and Son.

Former Laugh-In writer-turned-producer Allan Manings brought Brown to Good Times in 1975, midway through its second season.

Born on June 11, 1937, in St.

C’est officiel: Nicky Doll has been selected to host World of Wonder’s upcoming Drag Race France.

“I’m honored and thrilled to be the mistress of ceremonies of this emblematic show, which is going to revolutionize French drag and give prominence to incredible queer artists! So, start your engines, and may the best drag queen…win!” Nicky said in a statement.

More from TVLineRuPaul's Drag Race Recap: Which Queen's Future Is Looking Grey?The Equalizer's Liza Lapira Previews Anti-Asian Hate Episode: 'I Was Able to Give Voice to Real People'Good Times' Johnny Brown Dead at 84

The first French...

Sidney Poitier, the trailblazing and iconic Black actor, director, civil rights activist and humanitarian, has died, the Bahamian Minister of Foreign Affairs announced Friday.

Details of his death were not immediately available.

The first Black actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor — for 1964’s Lilies of the Field — Poitier was towering figure in Hollywood and beyond, starring in such classics as A Raisin in the Sun, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, In the Heat of the Night and To Sir With Love, to name a select few, while taking on a global profile for his unceasing calls for civil rights, racial equality and human dignity.

Offscreen, Poitier’s work and support for civil rights in the 1960s put him at the forefront of the movement and made him one of its most prominent public faces. He attended, along with his lifelong friend Harry Belafonte, the 1963 March on Washington,...

In 1887, a 24-year-old Indian man named Abdul Karim traveled from his home country to England, to be a servant for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. Karim made such an impression on the monarch that she handpicked him to become her tutor in the ways of his home country, and even teach her Urdu. The two developed a close friendship that scandalized the Royal Household and would go on until the time of the Queen’s death in 1901. Karim’s story remained mostly unknown until the release of a book by Shrabani Basu which recounted his years in the Queen’s court. Basu’s book was used as the inspiration for Victoria & Abdul, a film by Stephen Frears. Speaking from the Toronto Film Festival, Frears expressed he wanted to tell the story because of its provocative elements and to show the Queen was “more interesting than those statues of her.” “She...

When Debbie Reynolds died on Wednesday at the age of 84, she had been famous for more than 65 years. A multi-talented star who fixed her place in the Hollywood firmaments when she was just 19 years old (the same age that her daughter, the late Carrie Fisher, was introduced to the world as Princess Leia), Reynolds’ life was the stuff of Tinseltown legend, and she never seemed to grow tired of the spotlight. On the contrary, she was a force of nature until the bitter end, brightening almost every corner of showbiz at one point or another during her decades on stage and screen.

Read More: Debbie Reynolds’ Co-Stars and More Celebrities Mourn Her Passing on Twitter

A hit recording artist, an Oscar (and Tony)-nominated leading lady, a Las Vegas lounge sensation, and a dedicated collector of movie memorabilia (some of her most heroic efforts were dedicated to the preservation of...

The original cast of Norman Lear’s groundbreaking 1970s sitcom Good Times has taken to Kickstarter to fund an original movie the includes the same characters. The Original Good Times Cast Movie brings together all the original stars. The project, which Jimmie “Dyn-o-mite” Walker calls a docu-drama-comedy, is being done to give fans closure on what happened to Lear’s fictional Chicago family. The cast is doing this together outside of rights owner Sony, saying that they are not infringing on the copyright or trademark.

“In the case of Good Times there is going to be a comparison, but it’s not an infringement of copyright,” said Shaun Weiss, who is the attorney for both BernNadette Stanis (who played Thelma in the TV show) and the project. Kevin Fontana is her manager. “What we are doing is bringing a new era into the cast.

June 10: Singer Shirley Alston Reeves of The Shirelles is 71. Actor Andrew Stevens is 57. Bassist Kim Deal of The Pixies and The Breeders is 51. Singer Maxi Priest is 51. Actress Gina Gershon is 50. Actress Jeanne Tripplehorn is 49. Drummer Jimmy Chamberlin (Smashing Pumpkins, Zwan) is 48. Actress Kate Flannery ("The Office") is 48. Model-actress Elizabeth Hurley is 47. Guitarist Joey Santiago of The Pixies is 47. Guitarist Emma Anderson (Lush) is 45. Country guitarist Brian Hofeldt of The Derailers is 45. Singer Mike Doughty (Soul Coughing) is 42. Singer JoJo of K-Ci and JoJo is 41. Singer Faith Evans is 39. Singer Lemisha Grinstead of 702 is 34. Actor DJ Qualls ("Hustle & Flow") is 34. Actor Shane West ("ER," "Now and Again") is 34. Singer Hoku is 31. Actress Leelee Sobieski is 30.

June 11: Actor Gene Wilder is 79. Actor Chad Everett is 75. Comedian Johnny Brown ("Laugh-In") is 75. Singer Joey Dee is 72. Actress Adrienne Barbeau ("Maude") is 67. Drummer Frank Beard of Zz Top is 63. Singer Donnie Van...

"I'd hate to die young and never have made Grapes of Wrath. Life goes by so fast...I just don't want to miss out on anything." Jon-Erik Hexum Jon-Erik Hexum (he was advised to drop the 'C' in favour of a 'K' as it looked much stronger,) and used to go by the name of Jack; was born November 5 1957 in Englewood, New Jersey. He was 6' 1", and of Norweigan/Icelandic descent. His parents Gretha and Thorleif Hexum separated when he was 5. He had an older brother, Gunnar. The two were raised by their mother, who held down two jobs. Though they couldn't afford to, his mother also bought him a piano. As a child, Jon-Erik took violin, singing and dancing lessons, also playing the baritone horn and was very eager to play Flight of the Bumble Bee after only one lesson on the piano. His interests included writing, cinema, football,...

One of the contestants on My Kitchen Rules has admitted to having gastric band surgery. 42-year-old butcher Artie Vella, who is currently taking part in the Australian reality cooking series with friend Johnny Brown, said that he used to weight 135kg before doing some "research" about lap-bands. Vella told New Idea magazine: "I had tried all the different diets you could but with my job it was hard. I shouldn't use time as an excuse but when you're working long hours, (more)...

Jack Sydow, a Tony Award-nominated director, actor, playwright and professor at the University of Washington, died May 28 in Los Angeles. He was 88.

Sydow directed the 1966 revival of the musical "Annie Get Your Gun" on Broadway that starred Ethel Merman and featured new music by Irving Berlin. He was nominated for a Tony for best director in a field that included Gower Champion, Mike Nichols and eventual winner Harold Prince.

A native of Rockford, Ill., Sydow in 1943 collaborated with other servicemen to create "Hump Happy," a satirical musical review that featured him as one of three cross-dressing Andrews Sisters. The show toured military bases in India and the Middle East during World War II.

In 1958, Sydow and Boris Tumarin shared an Obie Award for the theatrical adaptation of "The Brothers Karamazov." That year, he began work on the pre-Broadway production of "Once Upon a Mattress" in Tamiment, Pa., where Sydow also...

Josh Brolin is hoping to bring America's greatest speeches to the big screen with the help of stars like Matt Damon, Sean Penn and Pink.

The W star admits he has always been fascinated with the speeches of great Americans, from presidents to civil rights leaders, like Martin Luther King, Jr. - and now he's hoping to turn the star-studded readings into a motion picture event.

The People Speak is based on an idea from activists Anthony Arnove and Howard Zinn.

He explains, "Anthony and Howard created live performances of some of the speeches that have been taken out of people's history in the United States; some anonymous and some are famous from John Brown, which is the speech I perform, to Martin Luther King.

"We created something at the Majestic Theater in Boston and had Viggo Mortensen, Danny Glover, David Strathairn, Marisa Tomei and had 19 cameras film that. We did another one at the Malibu Performing Arts Center. I got Sean (Penn) to do that, Eddie Vedder, Taj Mahal, Pink, Benjamin Bratt, and Don Cheadle.

"I'm very proud of this. We have 96 hours of film that we're cutting together and I met with nine cable networks in New York and everybody is very excited about it."...