What's Happening!!

What's Happening was loosely based on the movie "Cooley High". It is sometime shown in reruns along with its vastly inferior sequel, What's Happening Now.

The heart of the show was the relationship among the three high school buddies, studious Roger, dim bulb Dwayne, and clownish Rerun. The late Shirley Hemphill got off some good zingers as the surly waitress of the malt shop the guys hung out in. Dee was the perfect snide and bratty kid sister to Roger, and Mama dished out discipline and love.

One of the best episodes was a two-parter that is seldom shown in reruns. Roger, Rerun and Dwayne were forced into illegally taping a Doobie Brothers concert (the rock group appeared as themselves) by some criminals. The tape recorder is discovered when it falls out from underneath Rerun's coat, and one of the musicians sees it. The Doobie Brothers then work with the three buddies to catch the criminals.

What a great show! What's Happening is so funny! There isn't one character I don't like. Rerun is one crazy kid. He sure can dance though. He is one of those characters you'll always hear about because they were so funny, like Kramer from Seinfeld. Mama is funny too. I love her. She is you typical crazy tough seventies mother, loving to teach her kids a lesson with a belt to the butt. Sherley was an underrated character. She had an unusual attitude that was hilarious. Raj was always in some situation. He has to have one of the funniest dance moves out there. He reminds me a lot of comedian Vince Morris. They look a lot alike and act a lot alike. Dee is one pain in the butt sister. Hate to have her around. Finally there's Dwayne. He had one crazy afro especially in the earlier years. Its a surprise that this show didn't last very long. It was just as funny as The Jeffersons or Welcome Back Kotter. I'm glad TV Land shows the re-runs of this show show we can all watch Rerun again. Ha!

This is one of my favorite shows of all time, if not my favorite show of all time. From Raj mumbling under his breath, to Rerun worshiping a head of lettuce, to Dwayne just being along for the ride, What's Happening was as much a slice of Americana as such shows as "I Love Lucy" and "Friends". I loved seeing them get into one mess after another. For instance, the episode when the guys apparently broke a brand new TV set that was used for a church raffle when they dropped it at Raj's house. They counted on Rerun to win the set, since he purchased about 80 tickets. How ironic that the one ticket he used to pay off his lunch tab to Shirley the waitress was the winning ticket for the TV? So Shirley wound up with the TV.

In any event, I heard that there will be a What's Happening marathon sometime in November on TVLand. If this is true, please let me know! Thanks for reading my post. Peace!

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!

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!