Good Times is an American television sitcom that aired for six seasons on CBS, from February 8, 1974, to August 1, 1979. Created by Eric Monte and Mike Evans and developed by executive producer Norman Lear, it was television's first African-American two-parent family sitcom. It is a spin-off of Maude, which itself spun off from All in the Family.

This was the last sitcom Bud Yorkin produced before he ended his partnership with Norman Lear and Tandem Productions; two years later he formed TOY Productions with Saul Turteltaub and Bernie Orenstein.

Good Times tackled challenging and complex issues, such as gang warfare, racism, widowhood, poverty, education, child abuse, unemployment, evictions, financial struggles, bigamy, paraplegia, dating, stealing, suicide, mugging, engagements, affairs, drug addiction, and rent parties.

Florida and James (renamed from Henry) Evans and their three children live at 963 North Gilbert Avenue, apartment 17C, in a public housing project in a poor, black inner-city Chicago neighborhood. The project is unnamed on the show but is implicitly the infamous Cabrini–Green Homes, shown in the opening and closing credits. Florida and James have three children: James Jr., also known as "J.J.", a budding artist and illustrator who thinks of himself as a Casanova and achieves both success and rejection on his path to monetize his talent into a career; Thelma, a bright girl who takes education very seriously as a way to help her family and is shown attending high school and community college; and Michael, whose passionate activism and support for the Black community and Black issues causes his father to call him "the militant midget".

When the series begins, J.J. is 17 (portrayed by 26-year-old Jimmie Walker, who was just eight years younger than co-star John Amos), Thelma 16, and Michael 11. Their exuberant neighbor and Florida's best friend is Willona Woods, a divorcée who works at a boutique. Their building superintendent is Nathan Bookman (seasons 2–6), whom James, Willona, and later J.J. call "Buffalo Butt" or, even more derisively, "Booger".

The characters originated on the sitcom Maude as Florida and Henry Evans, with Florida employed as Maude Findlay's housekeeper in Tuckahoe, New York, and Henry employed as a New York City firefighter. When producers decided to feature Florida on her own show, they changed the characters' history to fit a new series that was well into development rather than start from scratch to create a consistent starring vehicle, even though it meant changing their Black middle-class family into a poverty-stricken lower-class family. Henry's name became James, and he worked various odd jobs due to having only a sixth-grade education. There is no mention of Maude, but in the episode "The Checkup", Florida mentions having formerly worked as a maid. Additionally, the couple's location was now Chicago.

Good Times deals with the characters' attempts to overcome poverty, living in high-rise public housing in Chicago. James Evans often works at least two jobs, mostly manual labor such as dishwasher or construction worker. Though he is often unemployed, he is a proud man who will not accept charity. He sometimes hustles money playing pool, although Florida disapproves of this.

Good Times was created by Eric Monte and actor Mike Evans. The series also features a character named "Michael Evans" after Evans, who portrayed Lionel Jefferson on the Lear-produced series All in the Family and The Jeffersons. Monte also created another successful black sitcom What's Happening!! (without Norman Lear, but with Saul Turteltaub, Bernie Orenstein and Bud Yorkin, all of whom worked for Lear), for ABC, which was based on the film Cooley High.