Good Times gets a modern update on Netflix with the upcoming animated reboot of Norman Lear's classic TV series.

Premiering Friday, April 12, the series is created by Mike Evans and Eric Montes, and executive produced by showrunner Ranada Shepard, the late Lear, Stephen Curry and Seth MacFarlane. Good Times is described as a spiritual sequel to the original live-action series that made history in the 1970s as the first black, two-parent sitcom on television. It follows the fourth generation of the Evans family living in apartment 17C of a Chicago housing project.

In addition to a posthumous vocal contribution from Lear, who contributed behind the scenes to the series until his death at age 101, Good Times introduces a new cast of characters voiced by Yvette Nicole Brown, JB Smoove, Marsai Martin, Jay Pharoah and Slink Johnson.

The animated reboot channels the original series by tackling contemporary issues. "It's about a black family coming together, laughing together, and surviving the system on the South Side of Chicago," Shepard told Netflix's Tudum. "What you get from that is a lot of social commentary, a lot of pushing the boundaries, a lot of feel-good television, but also a lot of things that could be in the vein of The Simpsons and South Park and Family Guy . When you look back 10 years later, you're like, 'Did they say that on Good Times ?' Oh my god.'"