You're Right! The show was video taped in front of a live audience. 'Good Times' was a ratings smash right away, the 17th most popular show of the 1973-74 season. The concept was daring - relevant, controversial topics tackled with humor, but from an African-American perspective. (Forget that all of the first season writers were white and Jewish - close enough.) During the first season busing, bullies, guns, gangs, prejudice and black on black crime provided fodder for thoughtful and hilarious episodes. These were topics previously unexplored on television. John Amos was particularly strong as the head of the household, and the exchanges between JJ and sister Thelma are some of television's funniest moments. But the reaction that JJ Evans (Jimmie Walker) got was overwhelming - and unexpected. The studio audience went into convulsions on his first entrance, before he even opened his mouth. On the second episode, he uttered the phrase that paid. From then on he was "Kid Dyn-o-mite!" - and the series was his. When the series was moved to Tuesday nights in the fall of 1974, it did even better in the Nielsen ratings.