What's Happening!!: Dwayne's Debate

What's Happening!!: Dwayne's Debate
ABC
April 21, 1979
Sitcom
DVD
C+

I considered giving this Sally Wade story a B- or even a B, partly because of some of the guest cast (see below), and partly because of the basic premise, but there are too many flaws.  To begin with, it's another episode where Snake is again clumsily substituted for the absent Rerun, although at least his role is smaller than last time.  I have more of an issue with the tag, which not only has Little Earl's crush at its most nauseating (these sort of one-sided crushes get old fast, even when there's no age difference, see Urkel, if you must), but with its "older woman" line it feels like it drifted over from  the landlady episode.  Furthermore, the mockery of Dwayne's opponent, especially by Shirley, goes too far.  Still, I like how Dwayne realizes he's not the best candidate.

Greg Morris returns as Dwayne's councilman father, with Betty Bridges, who'd recently guested on son Todd's Diff'rent Strokes, playing Dwayne's mother.  LaNette Hardiman, who was Delores before, is Lisa here.  Richard Couture appears at both Rob's Place and the school auditorium.  And it's nice to see Fritzi Burr back as Miss Collins.\
\
This is the 900th program I've reviewed for the '70s.  With only about eight months to go, I don't  know if we'll hit 1000, but we'll certainly come close.

What's Happening!!: If I'm Elected

What's Happening!!: If I'm Elected
ABC
October 27, 1977
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Rose Fonseca makes her last WH appearance, here as Dwayne's new girlfriend Connie.  The Eric Monte story focuses mostly on Dwayne and his relationship with his father Lawrence "Larry" Nelson (Mission Impossible's Greg Morris), but Connie does impact the plot.  Mr. Nelson is running for the city council, and Dwayne and Connie witness him firing family friend Ted Howard (Hank Rolike, who would return in another role) from the campaign.  She's sympathetic to Dwayne and urges him to talk to his father.  And yet the tag expects us to believe that she would leave him for another guy and write a "Dear John" letter that she has Shirley give him.  (Thus lowering the grade from a B to a B-.)

The episode feels almost like a back-door pilot, since Raj, Dee, and Rerun are absent, while Bryan O'Dell as Marvin and Debbi Morgan as Diane are in more than one scene.  Note that there's another Amy Carter reference, this time because Dwayne imagines his father going on to be the first black President.