This episode – Part 1 of the first two-parter on the series – centers on J.J.’s 18th birthday. We learn early on that James and Florida are looking forward to presenting their gift to him: a monogrammed genuine leather case filled with new paints and brushes. And it’s no wonder they were so excited to see J.J.’s reaction – the gift cost $75, which would amount to more than $500 in 2025 dollars. As it turns out, though, James’s credit is turned down at the department store where he attempted to buy the case. When he protests, he’s told that he wouldn’t be able to get credit from any store, as his financial status has been broadcast to computers throughout the country.

Meanwhile, J.J. – who’s notorious for snooping and finding his presents (he’d already found and exchanged one of his gifts) – is expecting to receive the art supplies, and when he learns that he’s been given a sweater instead, he begins frantically searching the apartment, looking in closets and atop the kitchen cabinets for the more expensive gift. Once he realizes he’s not going to receive the supplies, he tamps down his disappointment and abruptly announces that he is going out for a date. A short time later, the episode ends on a cliff-hanger when the family learns that J.J. has been taken away in a police car.

This episode doesn’t rank among my favorites – maybe because there’s a lot of dialog that I just don’t find funny, like James’s predictions for J.J.’s wedding, Florida’s description of J.J.’s birth, James’s recollections of first seeing J.J. in the nursery, and Florida’s reminiscences of her wedding day. I concede that the latter was a necessary set-up for the episode’s final exchange, where James and Florida sing the first dance song from their wedding reception, “It Had to Be You.” This part is actually quite sweet, as the two start out with a leisurely sway and then break into a dance known as the bop, before returning to the slow dance again. They’re interrupted, though, when Thelma answers a knock at the door and is given news from a family friend that knocks the family for a loop – J.J. has been arrested him for robbing a liquor store. “Could J.J. have wanted the art supplies that much?” Thelma asks at the end of the scene, as Florida, in disbelief, calls out to God. It’s a very sobering and real-feeling conclusion.

Pop Culture Connections

The Waltons
After J.J. leaves for his date, Willona announces that she’s going to return home and watch her favorite television show, The Waltons. This popular show aired on CBS-TV from 1972 to 1981 and focused on the large family of the title, which lived a hardscrabble life in the Appalachian Mountains of Western Virginia. Referring to the day-to-day problems that often plagued the family, Willona joked about the episode that would be airing that night: “It starts off where they can’t pay the mortgage, the horse dies, the mule gets a migrane and the drugstore’s closed,” she explains, adding, “and then it gets sad.”

Avon Lady
When J.J. describes his new job to the family, he tells them that it’s “really, really big – I’m gonna be ringing doorbells all over Chicago.” To this, Florida responds, “Don’t tell me you’re going to be an Avon Lady!” Avon is an international company selling cosmetics, perfume, and personal care products; its founder, David H. McConnell, initially sold books door-to-door in New York, and decided in 1886 to switch to perfumes. Also in 1886, he hired a 50-year-old woman, Mrs. P.F.E. Albee, who became the first woman to sell the products door-to-door and is considered to be the first Avon Lady. The company is still in business today (although Avon Products, Inc., the non-U.S. brand, filed for bankruptcy in August 2024, primarily due to lawsuits related to alleged cancer-causing agents in the company’s talc products. The North American brand was unaffected by the bankruptcy filing.) Below is a vintage Avon TV commercial focusing on the “Avon calling” slogan:

Kojak
After J.J. reveals that he aleady knows what’s inside the gift box from Willona, she calls him an “ebony Kojak.” Airing from 1973 to 1978, Kojak was another popular CBS-TV series. This one was a cop show starring bald Greek-American actor Telly Savalas as the New York City detective of the title. The pilot for the series was a made-for-TV movie, The Marcus-Nelson Murders, which was based on a real-life case from the early 1960s, the Wylie-Hoffert murders. That cse involved the murder of two young professional women in Manhattan; by illegally obtaining a confession, the police pinned the crime on a Black man – George Whitmore, Jr. – who had been arrested on a different charge of assault. Later, a different team of detectives investigated the case, exonerated Whitmore, and captured the real killer. Telly Savalas starred in The Marcus-Nelson Murders – in that production, his character’s name was spelled “Kojack” and he was a composite of several people who worked on the real-life case.

Guest Star:

Monty: Stymie Beard

Beard was the family friend who informed Thelma about J.J.’s arrest. He didn’t have any lines; he just appeared on screen for a few seconds. You can read more about Beard in the post on the first episode of the series.

Other Stuff:
Unless I’m mistaken, this is the episode that knocked J.J.’s use of the word “dynomite” into the pop culture stratosphere, when he began inserting the word into rhymes. This one takes place when he first enters the Evans apartment and announces, “Here I am! Eighteen today, happy, bright – now a man and pure dynomite!” (Up to this point in the series, I didn’t have a problem with the use of the catchphrase, but when the writers turned J.J. into a dynomite poet, it was really too much.)

I’m not sure if I overlooked it in previous episodes (one of these days, I’ll review them to see), but this one seemed to be overflowing with slang from the day. Here are all the different terms you can hear in this episode:

Later for you
Groovy
Jive turkey
Outta sight
Right on
Pad

My favorite laugh in the episode comes when J.J. receives his gifts and, without tearing the wrapping paper, he knows that Michael gave him a book on Black oppression. “Remember? Me and you sleep together,” J.J. explains, “and you’re the little guy who talks in his sleep.” Offended, Michael retorts, “So what? You used to wet the bed.” The way Ralph Carter delivers this line, and the insulted look on his face, cracks me up every time I hear it.

As the episode ends, the words, “TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK” appear on the screen and John Amos’s voice informs us, “You have just seen Part One of ‘J.J. Gets Arrested.’ Be sure to see the conclusion next week.” Interestingly, that is not what the episode is called now – it’s now called “J.J. Becomes a Man,” for some reason.

The next episode: J.J. Becomes a Man (or J.J. Gets Arrested – take your pick), Part II . . .