What's Happening Now!!

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What's Happening Now
Opening titles from 1985.
What's Happening Now!! opening titles during the complete first season.
Genre Sitcom
Running time 30 Minutes
Creator(s) Eric Monte
Starring Ernest Lee Thomas
Haywood Nelson
Fred Berry(1985-1986)
Danielle Spencer
Shirley Hemphill
Anne-Marie Johnson
Reina King(1985-1986)
Martin Lawrence(1987-1988)
Ken Sagoes(1987-1988)
Country of origin Flag of United States United States
Original channel Syndication
Original run September 7, 1985March 27, 1988
IMDb profile

What's Happening Now!! was an American sitcom which ran in syndication from 1985 to 1988. It was the sequel to the popular American sitcom What's Happening!!

In the series, Roger Thomas (played by Ernest Thomas) had become a fledgling writer. He had bought half of the restaurant Rob's Diner (renamed Rob's) and he was running the business with Shirley (Shirley Hemphill), making money for himself and his new wife Nadine (Anne-Marie Johnson), who was a careworker and civic organizer. Dwayne (Haywood Nelson) had become a computer programmer, and Rerun (Fred Berry) had become a used-car salesman. Roger lived in the same house he grew up in, while Dwayne and Rerun shared an apartment. The antics and sarcastic one-liners were reminiscient of the first series. Roger's little sister Dee (Danielle Spencer) showed up on a sporadic basis in guest spots, with the explanation that she had gone away to college. Roger and Nadine also became foster parents to a young girl named Carolyn, played by Reina King (sister of actress Regina King), who had displayed of the sass that was seen in Dee when she was younger

By the second season, both Fred Berry and Reina King left the cast. King's character learned that she had an aunt and moved in with her while Rerun's disappearance wasn't explained.

During the third and final season, the series introduced a pair of characters that harkened back to the original incarnation of What's Happening!! back on ABC. Maurice Warfield (played by a very young Martin Lawrence in one of his first major roles) was a teenager who spent his afternoons as a busboy at Rob's Diner under the supervision of Shirley and Raj while his best friend Darryl (Ken Sagoes) hung out with him. Together, they had many misadventures not unlike the original trio of Raj, Dwayne, and Rerun.

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