James Evans was a key character on Norman Lear's sitcom, "Good Times." On the premiere of the show’s fourth season, Evans’ family learned that he died in a car accident.

When his character was killed off-screen, it was a clear indicator that something was amiss behind the scenes for John Amos to be leaving the cast.

In an interview with the Television Academy Foundation, Amos said that serious character arcs were suffering because too much focus was given to a comic relief character named J.J.

"I felt like I knew more about what a Black family should be and how a Black father would act than our writers, none of whom were Black," Amos said.

"By the end of the third season, John Amos was so glum and dispirited that it seemed impossible to go on, and we decided to write him out of the show," Lear wrote in a memoir.

While Amos may not have left "Good Times" on pleasant terms, he and Lear maintained respect for one another and continued to collaborate later on.