What's Happening!!
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| What's Happening | ||
|---|---|---|
 What's Happening!! opening titles from the show's third season |
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| Genre | Sitcom | |
| Running time | 30 Mintues | |
| Creator(s) | Eric Monte | |
| Executive producer(s) | Bernie Orenstein Saul Turteltaub Bud Yorkin |
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| Starring | Ernest Lee Thomas Haywood Nelson Fred Berry Danielle Spencer Mabel King Shirley Hemphill |
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| Opening theme | Henry Mancini | |
| Country of origin |  United States |
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| Original channel | ABC | |
| Original run | August 5, 1976–April 28, 1979 | |
| No. of episodes | 65 | |
| IMDb profile | ||
What's Happening!! was an American sitcom that ran on ABC from August 5, 1976 to April 28, 1979. Originally meant to be a summer series, it premiered in August, ran four episodes, and was brought back that November as a weekly series. It was suggested by an American International Picture Cooley High written by Eric Monte.
The show became part of the TV Land schedule after a 2005 marathon, and currently airs daily at 12:00 noon Eastern.
Contents |
[edit] Premise
What's Happening!! dealt with the antics of three working class African-American teens living in the Watts area of Los Angeles. Ernest Thomas played Roger "Raj" Thomas, Haywood Nelson played Dwayne Nelson, and Fred Berry played Freddy "Rerun" Stubbs. Also featured were Danielle Spencer as Roger's younger sister, Dee; Mabel King as Roger and Dee's mother, Mabel; and Shirley Hemphill as Shirley Wilson, the waitress at "Rob's Place", the boys' favorite restaurant. Other recurring characters included Diane Harris (Debbi Morgan), an attractive girl whom the boys liked; Rob (Earl Billings), who was the owner of Rob's Place; and Miss Collins (Fritzi Burr), the boys' sarcastic history teacher and the sponsor of the school newspaper of which Roger was the editor.
Unlike Good Times, a contemporary show that also had African-American cast, What's Happening!! only rarely and mildly ventured into social commentary. TV Guide once famously referred to What's Happening!! as "a look at urban black life that manages to capture the offensiveness of Amos and Andy while avoiding that program's fun." Most of the episodes revolved around the travails of the three young men that most American youngsters of any race could relate to, such as the need to find a date for the dance. Other schemes involved getting back at Roger's sister Dee, who was a caustic, bratty busybody.
[edit] Major characters
Roger "Raj" Thomas, the show's protagonist, is a black teenager living in a house in Watts with his divorced mother Mabel and his younger sister Dee. Raj is an intelligent, well-mannered, young man who sports large, black horn-rimmed glasses and has aspirations of becoming a writer. Many episodes find Raj taking steps to pursue his dream, such as saving up for a screenwriting course or a typewriter. The show begins while he is still in high school; he later graduates as valedictorian, moves out of his house, and attends college.
Freddie 'Rerun' Stubbs is an overweight, bumbling, comedic young man, commonly seen wearing a red beret and matching suspenders. He is often teased by his friends for being overweight and unintelligent. Rerun is a very skilled dancer and is commonly seen entering dance contests or trying to get on TV commercials. (Ironically, the character of Rerun was originally intended to be a skinny white teenager.)
Dwayne Nelson is the youngest member of the group. He is well known for his greeting, "Hey, Hey, Hey". Dwayne has an unassuming, good-natured demeanor and suffers from debilitating shyness. While Rerun attempts to enter dance contests and Roger aggressively pursues his dream of becoming a famous writer, Dwayne's plotlines often deal with his problems with girls and bullies.
Mabel Thomas is Raj's 'large and in charge' mother. She is typically the voice of wisdom, and the parental authority over the main cast. Her role became less important in later episodes, until eventually she disappeared from the show (though her character was never written out and still mentioned off-screen).
Dee Thomas is Raj's younger sibling. She personifies the typical 'annoying little sister'. Dee is obsessed with making money, usually by blackmailing her brother and his friends a quarter at a time. She is also shrewd, and difficult to keep secrets from. Her trademark phrase is "Ooh, I'm tellin' Mama!"
Shirley Wilson is a portly waitress at the local restaurant, "Rob's Place", where the main cast is constantly eating. She is a brash person who likes to take shots at the boys, and most often clashes with Rerun (with whom she exchanges fat jokes, both characters being overweight).
[edit] Minor characters
Bill Thomas (Thalmus Rasulala) is Mabel's ex-husband and the father of Roger and Dee. He divorced Mabel, ran out on his family, and became a shady sort of character. When he first appears he tries to con Mabel out of money. Later episodes in which he appears depict him in a more positive light and culminate with his remarriage. After his remarriage, Bill was not seen on the show although he is mentioned.
Big Earl Barnett is a detective who lives in the apartment building Raj and Rerun move into and was introduced in the third and final season.
Little Earl Barnett is the son of Big Earl. Little Earl has a huge crush on Dee (who is about five years older than he is).
Rob is the owner of Rob's Place.
The Snake was a basketball player whom Roger tutored. He eventually became a friend of Roger, Dwayne, and Rerun.
Miss Collins was a high school teacher. She admired Roger, while Rerun had trouble getting along with her.
Marvin was a schoolmate of Roger, Dwayne and Rerun at their high school. He was a reporter for the high school newspaper and was sometimes seen at Rob's Place.
[edit] The third season
The third season marked changes for the show. Roger and Rerun moved into their own apartment. Mabel King left the show, but the character of Mabel Thomas was not written out. Instead it was said that Mama was working or not around. To take the place of an adult presence in the house for Dee, Shirley would move into the Thomas household as a boarder. Several new recurring characters were introduced. The first was a basketball player whom Roger tutored nicknamed "The Snake" (played by Leland Smith). The other characters were Caucasian detective "Big Earl" Barnett (played by John Welsh) and his son "Little Earl" Barnett (played by David Hollander) who were neighbors in the apartment building where Roger and Rerun lived.
[edit] Success and What's Happening Now!!
The show was a modest success in its network run despite some serious production problems, and the repeats of the show's 65 episodes did considerably well in syndication. With this in mind, a revival of the show was produced entitled What's Happening Now!! It ran from 1985 to 1988 in first-run syndication.
[edit] Trivia
- The character of Roger Thomas was specifically written as wearing glasses. However, Ernest Thomas, the actor who portrayed the character, has 20/20 vision. In the series' early episodes, it's clear that the "glasses" he is wearing are actually just empty frames with no lenses in them. Eventually, the show moved to using actual glass lenses that had no prescription, so the light reflection can be seen from the lenses.
- The show's theme song was composed by Henry Mancini.
- Tim Pelt, the stepfather of Danielle Spencer, appeared in the first season episode "My Three Tons". In 1977, he was killed in a car accident that also seriously injured Spencer.
- All of the show's 65 episodes have been released on Region 1 DVD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
- In the 5th season episode of Family Guy, Stewie Loves Lois, Peter is featured doing the "Rerun Dance". Also, in the episode, "The Courtship of Stewie's Father", Peter asks Stewie (who is trapped on Disneyland's "It's A Tiny World" ride), "Why are you dressed like Rerun?"
- On the new series Big Day, a couple plans to get married to the theme of What's Happening!!.
