newsmakers

newsmakers

‘Black-ish’ creator to write ‘Good Times’ film

LOS ANGELES

Good times are coming to the big screen. “Black-ish” creator Kenya Barris has been set to write the screenplay for a “Good Times” film based on the hit ’70s sitcom, his manager confirmed to The Associated Press.

“Good Times,” which aired on CBS from 1974 to 1979, was about an African-American family living in a poor neighborhood in Chicago.

Barris, who also is writing the screenplay for “Barbershop 3,” tweeted Monday that he was excited about the project. Known primarily for his work on the ABC sitcom “Black-ish” and creating “America’s Next Top Model,” Barris also has written for “Girlfriends,” “The Game,” and “Are We There Yet?”

No director or stars have been set for the project yet.

A Sony Pictures representative had no comment.

Jayne Meadows, actress and TV personality, dies at 95

LOS ANGELES

Jayne Meadows, the Emmy-nominated actress and TV personality who often teamed with her husband, Steve Allen, has died. She was 95.

Meadows died of natural causes Sunday at her home in the Encino, Calif., area, spokesman Kevin Sasaki said Monday. Her son, Bill Allen, and other family members were with her.

“She was not only an extraordinarily gifted actress who could move audiences from laughter to tears and back again all in one scene, but she was the greatest storyteller I have ever known,” said her son, who heads the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

Though best known as the wife of the beloved TV host — and the sister of “Honeymooners” star Audrey Meadows — Jayne Meadows had a solid career in her own right. She appeared on Broadway and in movies, gained three prime-time Emmy nominations as a TV actress and was a staple of talk shows and game shows.

Steve Allen, who died in 2000, summed up her appeal in a 1977 Los Angeles Times interview.

“She’s an old-fashioned woman, old-fashioned in terms of her attitudes, her manner, her demeanor, her voice,” he said. “She has a dignity that is rare these days. But she also has a lightness, an airiness, a girlishness and a certain degree of social innocence.”

Meadows appeared in several Broadway shows and films before she first became known to a wider audience as a panelist on the prime-time game show, “I’ve Got a Secret.”

Associated Press