<P> While Amos was less public with his dissatisfaction, he was ultimately fired after season three due to disagreements with Norman Lear . Amos' departure was initially attributed to his desire to focus on a film career, but he admitted in a 1976 interview that Lear called him and told him that his contract option with the show was not being renewed . Amos stated, "That's the same thing as being fired ." The producers decided not to recast the character of James Evans, instead opting to kill off the character in the two - part season four episode, "The Big Move". </P> <P> By the end of season four, Esther Rolle had also become dissatisfied with the show's direction and decided to leave the series . In the final two episodes of the season, "Love Has a Spot On His Lung", Rolle's character gets engaged to Carl Dixon (Moses Gunn), a man she began dating toward the end of season four . In the season five premiere episode, it is revealed that Florida and Carl married off screen and moved to Arizona for the sake of Carl's health . </P> <P> With Amos and Rolle gone, Ja'net Dubois took over as the lead character, as Willona checked in on the Evans children since they were now living alone . In season five Janet Jackson joined the cast, playing Penny Gordon Woods, an abused girl who is abandoned by her mother and eventually adopted by Willona . </P> <P> Before taping of season six began, CBS and the show's producers decided that they had to do "something drastic" to increase viewership . According to then - vice president of CBS programming Steve Mills, "We had lost the essence of the show . Without parental guidance the show slipped . Everything told us that: our mail, our phone calls, our research . We felt we had to go back to basics ." </P>

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