What's Happening!! - TV Show - Watch Online

What's Happening!! follows the lives of three working-class African-American teens living in the Watts section of Los Angeles. The show stars Ernest Thomas as Roger "Raj" Thomas, Haywood Nelson as Dwayne Nelson, and Fred Berry as Freddy "Rerun" Stubbs. Co-starring are Danielle Spencer as Roger's little sister, Dee; Mabel King as Roger and Dee's mother, Mabel; and Shirley Hemphill as Shirley Wilson, a waitress at "Rob's Place", the boys' favorite restaurant. Recurring characters include Rob (Earl Billings), owner of Rob's Place; and Miss Collins (Fritzi Burr), a sarcastic history teacher and the sponsor of the school newspaper.

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 episodes focused on the goals of teenage males — meeting girls, finding after school jobs, and planning for the future. Episodes sometimes featured subplots involving Mrs. Thomas, Raj's bratty sister Dee, or waitress Shirley.

Roger "Raj" Thomas (Ernest Thomas), the show's protagonist, is a 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.

Frederick (Freddy) "Rerun" Stubbs (Fred Berry) 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. He is nicknamed "Rerun" because, due to his failures in school, "every summer he has to go to school to rerun the stuff he did all winter." In the third season, Rerun shares an apartment with Raj. (Ironically, the character of Rerun was originally intended to be a skinny white teenager.)

Dwayne Clemens Nelson (Haywood Nelson) is the youngest member of the group. Dwayne has an unassuming, good-natured demeanor and suffers from debilitating shyness and acute Nyctophobia (fear of the dark). 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. Dwayne's character is well known for his greeting, "Hey, Hey, Hey", which differs slightly from Bill Cosby's Fat Albert "Hey, Hey, Hey".

Mabel Thomas (Mabel King) is Raj's 'large and in charge' mother. She is typically the voice of wisdom, and the parental authority over the main cast. Mabel's ex-husband drifts in and out of her life during the first season. 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. Purportedly, actress King disagreed with the show's concept and direction and decided to leave the show.

Dee Thomas (Danielle Spencer) 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. As the series progressed and Dee grew older, her caustic personality mellowed into a sly sense of sarcasm. After Raj moved into an apartment in the third season, Dee remained in the Thomas house with waitress Shirley moving in to help out. Her trademark phrase is "Ooooohh, I'm tellin' Mama!" Her favorite food is peanut butter.

Shirley Wilson (Shirley Hemphill) 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). Some episodes turn the spotlight briefly on Shirley and her joys and sorrows. Shirley moves into the Thomas house in the last season to supervise Dee after Raj moves out and Mrs. Thomas leaves to tend a sick relative.

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 (Earl Billings) is the owner of Rob's Place.

The Snake (Leland Smith) was a basketball player whom Roger tutored. He eventually became a friend of Roger, Dwayne, and Rerun.

Miss Collins (Fritzi Burr) was a high school teacher. She admired Roger, while Rerun had trouble getting along with her.

Marvin (Bryan O'Dell) 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.

Diane Harris (Debbi Morgan) was a classmate of Roger, Dwayne and Rerun. For the first two seasons she was frequently seen in the classroom or at Rob's Place with them, and at a birthday party for Roger.

What's Happening!! altered their opening sequence every season.

===Season 1=== - Joint scenes featured Ernest Thomas (Raj), Haywood Nelson (Dwayne), and Fred Berry (Rerun) taking turns dribbling a basketball down a sidewalk. Individual scenes introduced each character; Raj appearing on front porch, enjoying the temperature and throwing his jacket back inside the house, and Dwayne skateboarding off his driveway, then falls as he reaches the sidewalk, but breaks into laughter. Raj and Dwayne then meet up in front of Rerun's house, who appears on a balcony eating. Later, the three hitchhike a ride from a pickup truck on a street corner; unbeknownst to Rerun (who was looking in the other direction), the truck stops long enough for Raj and Dwayne to hop onboard. When Rerun realizes this, he starts to run after the truck, with no success. Mabel King (Mabel) and Danielle Spencer (Dee) are named but not shown.

===Season 2=== - The same opening appears, but the hitchhike scene is shortened to now feature individual scenes of Danielle Spencer, Mabel King, and Shirley Hemphill, who has now become a regular cast member. Shirley walks by on a sidewalk, looks at Raj, Dwayne and Rerun's antics, and looks at them in disgust. Dee runs outside to chase after them, and stares in the air (also in disgust). Mabel appears on the front porch to tell Dee to come back inside the house.

Season 3 - Completely new series of individualized scenes. Mabel King is removed. The opening sequence now begins with the entire cast inside of Rob's Place (at their favorite table). Raj, now sporting a fuller afro, is running to class on a college campus. Dwayne, a bit more muscular, is jogging alone to the apartment building which Raj and Rerun now share and yells out to them. Rerun, who was looking in the refrigerator for something to eat, hears Dwayne's call and goes to the window to answer, motioning Raj to come greet him as well. Back at the Thomas house, Dee is preparing to leave for school. Shirley (who has now moved there) has made breakfast for Dee and is bringing it to her but Dee declines. It ends with Raj and Rerun at Rob's Place (appearing to be listening to the theme music of the show), with Dwayne and Dee entering the diner together, and Shirley bringing their orders to the table. The theme music is slightly altered.

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. These changes/adjustments would ultimately cause the show to "Jump the Shark", as the ratings began to drop.

During the 1978-79 season, which was the third and final season of the teen comedy program, Fred Berry caused problems on the show. Ernest Thomas and Haywood Nelson joined him in the strike, the executive producers of the show had enough of the conflicts (demands for more money and constantly walking out during rehearsals, for example) with the three co-stars and closed the show in April 1979. What's Happening!! aired its last episode on April 28, 1979. A year later, in 1980, Hemphill starred in her very own sitcom, One In a Millon, which premiered in January 1980, and ended on July 23, 1980, after being on ABC for a few months.

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