The BEST episodes of Good Times season 5

Every episode of Good Times season 5, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Good Times season 5!

The Evans family scratches and survives in their tough South Side Chicago ghetto. Esther Rolle and John Amos star as parents Florida and James, with "dyn-o-mite" breakout comedy star Jimmie Walker as J.J., the oldest of the three Evans children.

Last Updated: 9/7/2024Network: CBSStatus: Ended
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The Evans Get Involved (1)
star
7.95
22 votes

#1 - The Evans Get Involved (1)

Season 5 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/21/1977

When young Penny Gordon follows J.J. home, she tells the Evanses tall tales about her life without mentioning her abusive mother (Chip Fields). But when Penny changes into a dress, a stunned Willona and Thelma discover the girl's badly bruised back.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Watch Now:Amazon
The Evans Get Involved (2)
star
7.85
20 votes

#2 - The Evans Get Involved (2)

Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/21/1977

Willona and the Evans children are convinced that Penny is being abused and discover that she has an injured arm, caused by her abusive mother, but the doctor who treats Penny refuses to believe that she is a victim of child abuse.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Writer: Sid Dorfman
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Evans Get Involved (3)
star
7.72
18 votes

#3 - The Evans Get Involved (3)

Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/28/1977

Willona and the Evanses are stunned to discover that Penny and her mother have moved, but soon find the girl hiding in the Evans apartment. Later, Penny's abusive mother abandons her, leaving Willona to ponder adopting the battered youth.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Penny's Christmas
star
7.60
10 votes

#4 - Penny's Christmas

Season 5 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/21/1977

When Penny steals a necklace from a department store, Willona faces the possibility of losing custody of the girl.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Watch Now:Amazon
Something Old, Something New
star
7.55
11 votes

#5 - Something Old, Something New

Season 5 - Episode 21 - Aired 3/13/1978

James' father visits and proposes marriage to his neglected girlfriend.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Writer: Sid Dorfman
Watch Now:Amazon
Thelma's Brief Encounter
star
7.50
12 votes

#6 - Thelma's Brief Encounter

Season 5 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/7/1977

J.J., Willona and Michael suspect that Thelma's new boyfriend is married, but find that he is a former bigamist doing time in a halfway house.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Watch Now:Amazon
No More Mr. Nice Guy
star
7.50
12 votes

#7 - No More Mr. Nice Guy

Season 5 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/4/1978

J.J. assumes the role of father figure when Michael starts to slack off, prohibiting his brother from attending an awards dinner.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Watch Now:Amazon
Breaker, Breaker
star
7.46
13 votes

#8 - Breaker, Breaker

Season 5 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/9/1977

While using a CB radio, Michael makes a connection with a teenage paraplegic girl.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Watch Now:Amazon
Requiem for a Wino
star
7.44
9 votes

#9 - Requiem for a Wino

Season 5 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/14/1977

When local wino Fishbone is mistakenly believed to have been killed, he attends his own wake dressed in drag as a mourner.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Watch Now:Amazon
Willona's New Job
star
7.42
12 votes

#10 - Willona's New Job

Season 5 - Episode 22 - Aired 3/20/1978

Willona reconsiders her marriage plans when she hears her boyfriend's old-fashioned views on marriage and women in the workplace.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Writer: Michael Moye
Watch Now:Amazon
Willona, the Fuzz
star
7.40
15 votes

#11 - Willona, the Fuzz

Season 5 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/19/1977

Willona's new job in department-store security requires that she spy on changing rooms through a one-way mirror.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Wheels
star
7.38
13 votes

#12 - Wheels

Season 5 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/2/1977

J.J. and his friends buy Bookman's beat-up old car and argue over who gets to drive it.

Watch Now:Amazon
Bye-Bye Bookman
star
7.38
8 votes

#13 - Bye-Bye Bookman

Season 5 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/16/1977

Fed up with Bookman's incompetence, Willona, Penny and the Evans kids start a petition that gets him fired.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Evans Get Involved (4)
star
7.35
17 votes

#14 - The Evans Get Involved (4)

Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/5/1977

While Willona worries about the adoption, Bookman tries to help by telling the social worker that he is Willona's husband.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Watch Now:Amazon
J.J.'s Condition
star
7.33
12 votes

#15 - J.J.'s Condition

Season 5 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/13/1978

J.J.'s relationship with a married woman gives him an ulcer.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Where There's Smoke
star
7.27
11 votes

#16 - Where There's Smoke

Season 5 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/25/1978

With a hole burned into a couch cushion, the Evans kids each flash back to their versions of how it happened.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Watch Now:Amazon
Willona's Mr. Right
star
7.22
9 votes

#17 - Willona's Mr. Right

Season 5 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/11/1978

When Willona rejects an old boyfriend's proposal, Penny thinks she's holding Willona back and tries to run away.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Writer: Laura Levine
Watch Now:Apple TV
That's Entertainment, Evans Style
star
7.17
12 votes

#18 - That's Entertainment, Evans Style

Season 5 - Episode 24 - Aired 4/3/1978

With J.J. out of town, the cast puts on a talent show to save a local daycare center.

Directors: Gerren Keith
J.J. and the Boss' Daughter
star
7.10
10 votes

#19 - J.J. and the Boss' Daughter

Season 5 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/18/1978

J.J. dates his sexy new assistant, who is also the boss's daughter.

Thelma Moves Out
star
7.00
15 votes

#20 - Thelma Moves Out

Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/12/1977

Fed up with her brothers and her lack of privacy, Thelma moves in with three roommates.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Write On, Thelma
star
6.91
11 votes

#21 - Write On, Thelma

Season 5 - Episode 23 - Aired 3/27/1978

Thelma's play is selected as the community theater's latest production, but not without a flurry of changes demanded by the theater's director.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Willona, the Other Woman
star
6.90
10 votes

#22 - Willona, the Other Woman

Season 5 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/27/1978

Already suspected of infidelity by his wife, Bookman is caught with Willona in a compromising situation.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Writer: Michael Moye
I Had a Dream
star
6.80
10 votes

#23 - I Had a Dream

Season 5 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/30/1978

Afraid he will be passed over for a promotion in favor of a white man, J.J. has a crazy dream in which he experiences being white.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Writer: Jim Rogers
The Boarder
star
6.77
13 votes

#24 - The Boarder

Season 5 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/6/1978

The Evanses fear that their new boarder may become the target of a hitman.

Directors: Gerren Keith
Writer: Don Segall