Iconic sitcom "Good Times" is headed back to Hollywood...and the 1960s. Get deets on how "Good Times" is being revisioned and how C.J. and T'yanna Wallace plan to bring the ghost Biggie Smalls back to life inside...
Sony Pictures and producer Rick Rubin have announced plans to turn one of TV's most memorable sitcoms into a major motion picture. But by the time the script makes in through Hollywood...it's going to look a little different from reruns.
While the landmark series was set on Chicago's Southside in the 1970s, according to movie insiders, Sony and Rick have hired writer Phil Johnston to set the movie version of "Good Times" in the 1960s.
So far, the film is in its early stage and doesn't have any big names attached to it....but that could be a good thing. So much fuss has been made about castings in Black films lately, with people up in arms about Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone and Lenny Kravtiz as Marvin Gaye (before he was replaced by Jesse L. Martin), we think the producers should take their time. PLEASE don't mess this ish up. You DO NOT want to go wrong with this casting!
Its going to take a special lady to re-create Florida Evans. And someone truly funny has to play the role of J.J. Evans. So....good luck with that.
And in new tv shows....
The offspring of slain rapper The Notorious B.I.G. have announced plans to bring Biggie back as an inspirational ghost in a new animated series, "House of Wallace."
In the cartoon, Biggie's two kids, C.J. and T'yanna Wallace, will voice themselves as two teens who are guided by the voice of their late father to save his recording studio, House of Wallace, from corporate takeover. It's the age old plot of the little guy versus the big guy. From the press release....
Facing a hostile corporate takeover, C.J. and T’yanna are guided to invent a novel approach to creating alternative revenue streams – re-imagining their Dad’s studio as a ‘jingle house by day’, where some of the world’s greatest talents lend their voices and abilities to some of the world’s best-known brand names. By night they return to the studio to work on their own musical projects, all while being inspired by the association with Biggie’s studio sound. “Come to cut a multi-platinum new album, stay to record a hit commercial!” is the phrase they like to employ as a means of enticing these artists to participate in their fledgling jingle ‘side business’.
So that's the plot of the cartoon? We're going to watch the ghost of Biggie give his kids advice about how to hustle brands and product sponsorship? Alrighty then.
Wally Eltawashy, President of Ossian Media, said:
"..It is Ossian’s distinct honor and privilege to be entrusted with furthering the legacy of one of the world’s greatest modern musical talents. The show’s creative format will allow for advertising integration in the truest, purest sense of the term - this could well be the very first animated program to incorporate creative shops (and their brand partners) directly into the narrative.”
And it goes on to say the show will feature "..a bevy of musical artists will also appear on the show, alongside a hilarious and endearingly-affable staff of studio employees. Music will constitute a central component of the show, including original songs from guest stars and re-imagined renditions of classics from the Wallace catalog."
It sounds like a big long animated commercial, set to the Biggie Smalls catalogue, and for sale to the highest bidder. But since Biggie's legacy owes a lot to hustling, it makes sense that the cartoon would have a "hustle" of its own. You feelin' this?
