What's Happening!!

I have to say that I grew up on these reruns. I was surprised to see and remember how much I enjoyed the show during the recent TV Land marathon. The show was still groundbreaking too. I never understood why Mabel King who played Mama so beautifully left. I still remember Rerun, Dwayne, Raj, Dee, and Shirley as a happy group of people in working class Los Angeles, California. I'm not black but I can relate to the financial struggles that they held despite maintaining a happy suburban life. They provided many memorable moments for me over the weekend. It was nice to see Irene Cara in a guest appearance and Alice Ghostley and others too many to mention. The sitcom was probably criticized in its day but today, I can see it as a brilliant piece of realistic comedy touching on subjects tactfully and carefully like teenage pregnancy, marriage, divorce, single-parent home and of course, financial problems like all families share. I believe it was the first sitcom in my memory to feature divorce in a positive light rather than negative. Enjoy it!

Interesting note about this show. It was the creative brainchild of producer Eric Monte(who also co-created and produced "Good Times"),and produced under Saul Turtletaub, Bernie Orenstein and Bud Yorkin(of "Sanford and Son",and "All In The Family"),"What's Happening!" premiered on ABC as a summer replacement for "Barney Miller" on August 5,1976 but returned on November 13,1976 as a regular series running three seasons and 65 episodes until April 28,1979.

This was one of my fondest memories of childhood back in the day,coming home and watching the antics of Roger,Dewayne,and Rerun getting into all sorts of trouble only to get Roger's smart-mouth sister Dee and Roger's mother get them out of unsuspected situations. Interesting note on "What's Happening!!",though.....it got the idea from a 1975 film "Cooley High"(on which the show was based)about three Chicago kids who were having fun and getting into all sorts of trouble......The show(getting back to "What's Happening"!!) was based in the residental section of Los Angeles where the mom was the single parent with two children in the household. The show itself was side-splitting hilarious indeed catching the gang down at the soda stop coming up with some crazy scheme or another,and catching Rerun and Shirley(the waitress) battling it out,or getting some girl to go out with them. The show was a major top ten hit for the ABC network(which started off as a trial run,but returned in the fall as a weekly series). The theme score to the show was done by the great Henry Mancini,and its a classic. Some of the cast members reunited for a spin off called "What's Happening Now!!",with Roger getting married off,and Rerun and Dewayne having a business of their own,and the waitress Shirley who brought Rob's Place and is the owner. Rumor has it that two of the cast members of that show Dewayne,(played by Haywood Nelson),and Dee(played by Danielle Spencer) are living in North Carolina now,and Roger(played by Ernest Thomas)is doing feature films(notably seen in Denzel Washington's movie "The Hurricane") nowadays. Great show,as it celebrates it Golden 40th Anniversary!!! Happy Anniversary Roger, Dewayne and Rerun!!!

This was one of my favorite tv shows growing up! as other users commented, it was the first thing i would turn on after school! it was not only the funniest show, but it dealt with a single parent home, and i was raised in a single parent home, so i related to it. i miss seeing Raj make a fool out of himself, by being so nerdy and Dee, with all the sarcasm, you never stopped laughing....and Shirley, anything she said, made you laugh. i think if more people posted their comments, than maybe it will impact someone to syndicate the show! as you can see, the cast of the show never really made it, perhaps this could help their careers, so bring us RERUNS of "What's Happening"! we miss Rerun and all his dance moves...."Hey Hey Hey"!

One of the best sitcoms made. It is a shame TV Land or Nick at Nite does not have "What's Happening!!" on their network. This show deserves to be played again, there are so many people who have not seen it. "What's Happening!!" was not meant to be a permanent show on ABC. It went for a trial run on ABC,but viewers like it so much it returned in the fall. One thing I like about "What's Happening!!" is it deals with a single parent in the house hold. When the father comes around the children sometimes have bad experiences with him. We do not see this anymore in sitcoms that much. If you look at family sitcoms today most of them have the two parents. But "What's Happening!!" was not affraid to be different, not afraid to show how a child's parent (the father) could not be a good person. But then again "What's Happening!!" also showed the good times Roger, Rerun & Dwayne could have (getting into unsuspected trouble). This is a great show and I hope to see it repeated on television.

Believe me, WHATS HAPPENING came out on a perfect time. There was'nt a better TV show to grow up on! Who could ever forget 1)Raj, the wise, bird-cracklin nerdish dude who could never sit in a chair the right way! 2) Rerun, the round, always-in-step party mover 3) Dwayne, the not so smart, heckling nervous breakdown "They cut off your fingers and your toes, man!" 4) And good ol' bratty sister Dee, who reminded you of everyone's sister!

WHATS HAPPENING is really missed by this commentator. Come on TVLAND, give us some RERUNs! RERUNs!