Esther Rolle must have been the African American equivalent of Lucille Ball-a miserable person of limited abilities who was detested by everyone who ever worked with her. Notice how often her character sabotages every opportunity for the Evans family to better themselves & their circumstances, usually on purpose, for self righteous, holier than thou reasons, whether it's early in the series, with her refusal to act in a lucrative TV commercial ("James, they got me tellin' lies!"), right to the very end when her cousin Raymond's horse playing system enables him to give her a $10000 down payment on a lavish apartment, which she gives back because of her disapproval of gambling. Watch her whenever she delivers a line of dialogue which is supposed to be funny-she acts (?) as if she's about to get a double hernia from laughing so hard. And her leaving the series for a year because of her disapproval of the buffoonery of the JJ character? All well & good, but check out the mannerisms of Janet Dubois sometime. Her shufflin' and grinnin' act would have put Steppin' Fetchit to shame.