John Amos says it was a "quadruple blessing" to reunite with Norman Lear decades after he was fired from Good Times over creative differences

Entertainment Weekly

Amos, who turns 80 next week, previously said he got kicked off the 1970sLear ABC comedy after Season 3 following his complaints that Good Times had descended into shucking and jiving. Amos says he was labeled a "disruptive element" and that Lear told him personally hat he would not be returning for Season 4. On Wednesday night, Amos and Lear reunited for Live in Front of a Studio Audience. "I was informed that they were doing Live in Front of a Studio Audience, where they’d be doing a recapitulation of a Good Times episode," Amos tells EW. "That meant working with Norman Lear again, which was like a quadruple blessing. Norman and I have a history that goes back a number of decades. He literally changed the face of television for all time. He’s the most creative person I’ve ever worked with in my career, and I feel so blessed to have been able to work with him again." Amos says he and Lear resolved their differences years ago. "In fact, I went on to do at least three other pilots for him," says Amos. "They all could’ve been very successful if they had been handled the right way by the media. Norman was one of the most dominant and creative forces on television at the time. He had several of the top 10 shows at the time, and there were some people that were quite jealous of him. They showed their jealousy by not showing support for his shows that they should’ve received. One way or the other, we resolved our differences."