First,I'll give my rating for the series overall; ******* 7 out of ten stars. I've taken away three for the downhill slide this series suffered after John Amos departed. Don't get me wrong there were hard hitting episodes later but only after Esther Rolle left for a season and returned.<br /><br />In February of 1974,a really great sit-com (with dramatic overtones)premiered on CBS. It was a TV first,a show about an African-American family living in the Chicago Projects in the 1970s. Created by Norman Lear as a spin-off of "Maude",he once again struck the right chord with viewers. <br /><br />Not since this show have I seen a situation comedy directly talk about the struggles of inner-city families. (Well,there was Fox's "South Central" in '94 but was not renewed.) <br /><br />John Amos as James Evans Sr. was the ultimate father figure for this family and acted as any father should to keep his family together and his kids from going down the wrong paths in life.<br /><br />Esther Rolle was a wonderful no non-sense mother figure who was on the same page as her husband when it came to their kids upbringing. <br /><br />Ralph Carter as Michael a young but very bright young man for his age but stuck in a school system that doesn't meet his academic needs. His character's name is the same as the show's founder Mike Evans who was Lionel Jefferson on "The Jeffersons". (Mike Evans passed away Dec. 2006).<br /><br />Thelma is a young girl of 16 or 17 and has to deal with the dangers of being a young woman in the streets of the ghetto. Jimmie Walker as J.J. Evans Jr. is the typical young wise-cracking,jiving kind of young man who does not take life seriously enough.<br /><br />Simply put,all my favorite episodes are with John Amos,with the exception of the Penny Gordon/Janet Jackson story lines.<br /><br />After the demise of the James Evans character,the show lost it's stability and viewers departed. Esther Rolle left for an entire year,not wanting to play second fiddle to JJ's smart-aleck "Dyno-mite's"! <br /><br />She returned the next season,after securing a guarantee that the writer's would even things out. Florida's neighbor Wilona Woods was a divorced woman who ended up adopting an abused little girl Penny Gordon (played by a then 10 year old Janet Jackson). Penny's abusive mother was played by Totie Fields,Kim Fields' Mother.<br /><br />In August of 1979 the show came to an end,with all leaving the projects for a better life. JJ the artist had sold an idea to a comic-book company,Michael went off to live on campus at college. <br /><br />Wilona & Penny,Thelma & football player husband Keith + Florida all moved into the same building in uptown Chicago. Not the most realistic ending but by that time it didn't matter.