What's Happening!!: Bill Gets Married

What's Happening!!: Bill Gets Married
ABC
November 17, 1977
Sitcom
DVD
B

Carol Gary's second and last WH story has Bill marrying a different girlfriend than he was dating the first season, although she's also a bad cook and her name starts with L (Lee rather than Loretta).  It's somewhat predictable, like that Dee has always hoped her parents would get back together, but it's nicely done, and I particularly like the talk between Raj and Dee.  This is Bill's last appearance and, while it would've been nice to have him around for the second half of the series, it's a good note to end on.  Note that Shirley cries just as much as she did at Rerun's wedding.

What's Happening!!: Dwayne's Dilemma

What's Happening!!: Dwayne's Dilemma
ABC
February 24, 1977
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This is the only WH script by Jerry Ross, who also did one each for That Girl and Welcome Back, Kotter.  (In scanning his IMDB credits, this seems to have been his pattern, although he did make it to eight for Sanford and Son.)  Dwayne's dilemma is whether to keep dating a girl he likes or stop because of her ex, Darryl (Bob Harcum, who would return in this role, although he's more recognizable as Murray on WBK).

Rose Fonseca, who previously was Gloria, is Angela here.  Bryan O'Dell returns as Marvin, this time eager to put gossip about Dwayne in the school newspaper.  (How often did these school newspapers come out on sitcoms?  The Buchanan Bugle seems to have a quick turn-around time, too.)

What's Happening!!: The Incomplete Shakespeare

What's Happening!!: The Incomplete Shakespeare
ABC
January 13, 1977
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This is the only WH episode written by Mort Scharfman, who'd write one for Three's Company.  It's an odd, almost meta story, with Raj submitting a script to a show called Central Avenue, i.e. a sitcom set in Watts.  Dee rejects some of the earlier script ideas, including one about someone hiding in their room because of braces, since she saw that plot on the Brady Bunch (presumably in syndication), and yet, no one points out that Raj's idea, which has been recycled by the network since '65, was in fact a BBunch plot (three boys find some money lying around).  Then Raj, because he's young and black and lives on Central Avenue, is hired as an "ethnic consultant," but quits when he realizes that he's only being used to provide slang, not to offer the truth.  (He says no kid in Watts gets $20 a week allowance.  I don't think anyone in my middle-class Southern California suburb got that much in '77 either, although it might've been different for high school kids.)

Warren Berlinger, who's Ben Martin, had a couple roles on That Girl, including as Ann's cousin, while Sheila Rogers, who's Madge the secretary, was Mrs. Kling on That Girl and would go on to multiple appearances on Three's Company.

What's Happening!!: The Burger Queen

What's Happening!!: The Burger Queen
ABC
November 20, 1976
Sitcom
DVD
B

This Orenstein and Turteltaub story was one of the two I most remembered the show for.  (The other is the ABC sitcom homage in the final season.  Oh, all right, and the Doobie Brothers two-parter is high on the list, too.)  I mean, look at this guest cast:

• Robbie Rist, now 12, as John Stevens
• Dick Van Patten as Mr. Claxton
• David "Larry Tate" White as Mr. Reynolds.

Even at eight, I was impressed.  (I'm not sure if I got the in-jokiness that Rist is playing an overexposed child star around the time that he became Ted Baxter's son and of course a couple years after his stint as Cousin Oliver.)  Watching the episode now, I'm most struck by the catharsis offered by 10-year-old Dee directing her snark not just at hapless Rerun but at the white dudes in suits.  Every time she says, "Jackass meat," the studio audience is delighted.  Plus we get to see both Shirley and Rerun dress up as absent Mama.  This is the first of four WH episodes directed by Dick Harwood.