ABC’s lengthily titled ABC’s Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear’s All In The Family And The Jeffersons was a ratings hit and won three Emmys after it aired in May. So unsurprisingly, ABC announces plans to return to that particular well, and will pull off another live version of All In The Family, along with an episode of Good Times on December 18. Given the timing, co-host Jimmy Kimmel states in the ABC press release: “Being a part of Norman Lear’s world was a career highlight; and working with great actors on these great shows was so much fun, we couldn’t resist tackling a holiday episode of All in the Family and one of my favorites, Good Times.”
If you’ll remember, Good Times was the rare TV spinoff of a spinoff: The show focused on Florida Evans raising her family in the housing projects of Chicago. Florida had been the maid of Maude, a spinoff of All In The Family based on Edith’s outspoken cousin. So we are not likely to see any semblance of a crossover episode, as we did when Jamie Foxx’s George Jefferson appeared in the live All In The Family episode last time around.
ABC also announces that the previous team of executive producers Norman Lear, Jimmy Kimmel, Brent Miller, Will Ferrell, and Justin Theroux will be back on board, joined by Kerry Washington, who played The Jeffersons’ Helen Willis in the original special. No word yet on the December casting, but we can only hope that ABC will reunite the perfect Bunker family of Woody Harrelson (Archie), Marisa Tomei (Edith), Ellie Kemper (Gloria), and Ike Barinholtz (Meathead).