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Netflix’s new animated “Good Times” reboot caused an intense reaction for the culture, having been met with decidedly negative reactions from Black Twitter. Now, original stars John Amos and BernNadette Stanis have offered their thoughts on the new series.

In case you’re wondering what reboot everyone is up in arms about, the animated series follows a new generation of the Evans family, who are still living in Chicago and struggling to survive poverty, racism and classism. The voice cast includes J.B. Smoove as patriarch and cab driver Reggie Evans; Yvette Nicole Brown as his wife Beverly; Jay Pharoah as their artist son Junior; Marsai Martin as activist daughter Grey; and Gerald “Slink” Johnson as drug-dealing baby Dalvin.

The drug-dealing baby seemed to be a particular point of contention for some viewers.

Amos, who played James Evans through the first three seasons of the classic family comedy, explained that he hasn’t seen the new show, so he “can’t form an opinion.”

“Norman [Lear] — and the entire cast and company — set the bar pretty high. They’ll have a hard time reaching that level of entertainment [and] education,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “I wish them the best. I see people aspiring to that, but I don’t see anybody reaching that goal, especially in an animated version.”

The issue with the new “Good Times” is that it really has nothing to do with the original. It follows a Black family from Chicago named Evans, and that’s where the similarities end. It bears a closer resemblance to “Family Guy” or “The Cleveland Show,” which makes sense, as Seth MacFarlane is one of its executive producers. Stanis, who played Thelma in the original, echoed these sentiments.

“A lot of times, you use a certain name to open up the door for a new show. That could be what it is,” she said. “But I’m sure a lot of people will be a little confused at first because they have to think that it’s us. They think, ‘Oh, my God! That’s got to be Thelma, J.J. and Michael.’ And then you come in there, and you don’t see anything like that.”

Stanis also revealed that she did voice work for the series, but “thought it was going to be different.”

“It’s just a little here and there. But I think that they did that because they knew what their show was going to be like,” Stanis said. “So I guess they figured, if you put us in there, it wouldn’t look so bad or whatever.”

Brown posted several tweets defending the show from the negativity. When one person suggested producers release a new, “more meaningful trailer,” the actress responded that they could just wait for the new series.

“You could watch the actual SHOW when it starts streaming on #April12th on @netflix to SEE what the show is actually about,” Brown wrote on X. “Y’know, like you do after a trailer of a movie drops. You just go see the film… or not.”

No one is forcing audiences to watch the new show. But producers clearly underestimated the importance of “Good Times” to Black culture. They may have just been trying to use the classic for name recognition and didn’t know they would end up in an avalanche of bad press.

If you’re curious about the new “Good Times,” it premieres April 12 on Netflix.