What's Happening!!: The Benefit Show

What's Happening!!: The Benefit Show
ABC
April 28, 1979
Sitcom
DVD
C+

While this Joanne Pagliaro story is certainly better than the recent Welcome Back, Kotter talent show episode, with Dwayne's drumming the highlight, it's hard to get past Rerun lying and getting away with it.  Note that the studio audience remains vocal, with one man exclaiming, "Stole the rose!"

Diane Sommerfield, who was Guru Girl #2 on Three's Company, is Ginger here.  Helen Martin makes her third WH cameo, this time as Mrs. Lloyd.  And Richard Couture is featured quite prominently in the crowd shots.

What's Happening!! in its final season ranges from C+ to B, landing right on the C+/B- border for an average.  In other words, it was still somewhat entertaining, though past its peak.  Getting rid of Mrs. Thomas was a mistake, as was adding more supporting characters, but neither of these wrecked the show.  I actually would've have liked more to be done with Raj in college, other than vague references to him studying.

I occasionally watched What's Happening Now!, but the characters and I were older and it just didn't stay with me like the original series did.  If there were any moments on a level with, for instance, "Handyman," I'd be surprised.

What's Happening!!: The Last Page

What's Happening!!: The Last Page
ABC
March 31, 1979
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Sally Wade wrote this story which has gentle parodies/homages of three hit ABC shows: Happy Days, Three's Company, and Mork & Mindy.  More unusually, the director is also female, Mary Hardwick, who doesn't have very many credits.  I don't know if this is partly why this is one of my favorite episodes for how Shirley is treated, like a normal, attractive woman (as a girl Roger-Richie wants to meet and as Mindy, although even her Mrs. Roper has a certain style).  Rerun imagines himself as the leads of the various shows, which are presented with minimal sets.  The costumes alone are worth tuning in for.  Not a great episode but definitely one that I remember from the time and since.

Frequent WH director Mark Warren plays the Killer on the TV show Rerun is cast on.  Note that this is the week that the series switched to Saturday nights, at 8 p.m., while Welcome Back, Kotter was on hiatus.

What's Happening!!: Food Poisoning

What's Happening!!: Food Poisoning
ABC
March 2, 1979
Sitcom
DVD
B-

While the plot of Rerun seeming to get food poisoning at Rob's and then being tempted to sue is predictable, the regular cast and the guest cast do nice work with it.  Nathaniel Taylor and Chip Fields return as Rerun's brother-in-law Ike and sister Donna, the nurse.  Richard Stahl plays the doctor, while Alan Oppenheimer, whom I've decided to finally tag, plays the shifty lawyer, Mr. Sloan.  And Richard Couture makes probably his most unusual appearance, as the heavily bandaged Mr. Flynn.

This is the only writing Bruce Kalish & Philip John Taylor did for this show, but they'd co-write three Mork & Mindy episodes, while this is the middle of three WH scripts for Tom Moore & Jeremy Stevens.

What's Happening!!: Dwayne's Dream

What's Happening!!: Dwayne's Dream
ABC
February 16, 1979
Sitcom
DVD
C+

This Joanne Pagliaro episode is predictable but cute, with a few ironic-in-retrospect aspects.  Dwayne gets a job as a concessions vendor (cue the Carter peanut jokes) and of course wants to quit school and work full-time, till he has a dream set 30 years in the future.  Bear in mind, the characters are supposed to be in their 40s or 50s, but they look like they're at least 60.  Then the Earls hear Dwayne screaming in his sleep, so they talk to him, and then he has another dream, this time where he's the American President.  (Yes, a black president in 2009, who knew?)  Meanwhile, Rerun, who's head of ABC in both dreams, compliments "Baba Wawa" on her interview with "Fidel," little knowing that in real life Castro would leave office in 2008.  Not to mention that Shirley Hemphill would die in '99, and Fred Berry in '03.

Richard Couture makes another appearance at Rob's/Shirley's diner and actually gets a line.

What's Happening!!: Dee the Cheerleader

What's Happening!!: Dee the Cheerleader
ABC
January 25, 1979
Sitcom
DVD
C+

This Sally Wade story has potential but it also has flaws:

1. There's too much set-up to explain why Rerun is absent and Snake has temporarily moved in;
2. Little Earl creeps me out when he talks about Dee's "crazy hips";
3. Not enough distinction is made between the effects of busing and the specific expectations of Mr. Bradley the principal (Davis Roberts returning in the role);
4. And Dee is 13 but going to high school?  Did she skip a grade at some point?

I do like Dee standing up for her rights, the ironic twist about the Chicana cheerleader, and the bonding not only between Dee and her friend but among the girls and Shirley.

What's Happening!!: Making Out

What's Happening!!: Making Out
ABC
January 11, 1979
Sitcom
DVD
C+

It's a little surprising to find out that this episode was written by a woman, Joanne Pagliaro, who would do three more.  Roger and Rerun compete over who's better at romancing their new girlfriends, April (Ronalda Douglas, in her third and last appearance on WH) and Cindy (Candy Ann Brown, who almost twenty years later, as Candy Brown Houston, would play Sue on Ellen).  And then they switch off, and the women go along with it, even though Raj told Cindy he loved her and then claimed he lied about that.

Rani DuBois makes her fourth and last appearance on the show, as Girl of Interest.

What's Happening!!: No Clothes Make the Man

What's Happening!!: No Clothes Make the Man
ABC
December 14, 1978
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This Sally Wade story has Raj losing his long-time job at the supermarket, briefly getting a job selling meat door-to-door, getting a job as a nude model, and then getting a job as a cub reporter, even after he tells the publisher off.  The episode slightly resembles the Three's Company episode where Jack sells encyclopedias and perhaps becomes a nude model, although we see more of Roger's skin (legs and chest) than we did of Jack's.  And, yes, this seems to be implied male nudity week, if we count 3'sC and M*A*S*H.

Harry Basch, who plays Mr. Evans, had three roles on That Girl.  And, yes, that's John Ritter's then wife Nancy Morgan as Mrs. Peterson the secretary.

What's Happening!!: Raj Moves Out

What's Happening!!: Raj Moves Out
ABC
November 30, 1978
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This week it's Raj's turn to do something stupid: move in with a girl he's known only a week.  Rerun, who's been his friend for ten years, is hurt.  Well, Dee and to a lesser degree Shirley are the only ones acting sensibly in this episode.  Dee even gently lets Raj know that the girl's ex-roommate is not what she claimed (see picture).

Co-writer Marty Brill would later play Mike O'Connell on Three's Company.

What's Happening!!: Charge

What's Happening!!: Charge
ABC
November 23, 1978
Sitcom
DVD
C+

While it's nice to see Shirley again giving a commonsense speech to one of the guys, as well as to see furniture so tacky that they even knew it in '78, it's hard for me to get past Rerun's foolish behavior over the credit cards.  And Dwayne doing false bids to drive prices up was old when Chico Marx was doing it on Broadway fifty years earlier, so that part needs something to freshen it up.  Note that the VCR that Rerun buys is a little more modern than the one Henry Winkler got on The Bob Newhart Show four or five years before.

Leland Smith returns as The Snake, now with a brand-new job and apartment.  I don't think I have any other TV shows with Roger Bowen, who plays Robert Glover at the finance company, but I will note that he was Colonel Blake in the movie version of MASH. This is the 600th ABC program I've reviewed so far, with many more to come.

What's Happening!!: The Landlady

What's Happening!!: The Landlady
ABC
November 16, 1978
Sitcom
DVD
B

This story, which is not only one of the better episodes of the relatively weak last season but one of the better ones of the series, turns out to be the only one written by Dee Caruso (male) and Gerald Gardner, who co-wrote the amazing Gilligan's Island episode "The Producer."  This isn't on that level of course, but it does more with the predictable idea of Raj developing a crush on the title character than you'd expect.

Rerun, who we know from a previous episode is a page at ABC, refuses to cross the picket line when the cameramen go on strike.  The landlady, Mrs. Watson (Hope Clarke, who had given another solid but very different performance as the estranged but reconciling daughter of Dee's cranky old friend from the Negro leagues), not only is understanding about the rent being late, but she befriends 19-year-old [sic] Roger, who reminds her of her late husband.  He's had at least two crushes on slightly older women, and now he not only thinks that a romance is developing between him and a 35-to-40-year-old, but he starts trying to act older.  His friends gently (well, Dee not so much) try to set him straight, with the one-on-one talk with Shirley, who incorporates an extra memorably (the guy isn't credited), both funny and sweet.  We know Raj is in for a fall, even before Mrs. Watson and her date show up to take him to the ballet, but the performances here add more realism and sensitivity than I expected.

LaNette Hardiman, who plays Delores, would return as Lisa.  This is the 800th program I've reviewed from the '70s, with over a year to go.

What's Happening!!: Shirley's Cookies

Hmm....

What's Happening!!: Shirley's Cookies
ABC
November 9, 1978
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Everyone loves the title sweet, so a fast-talking con artist tells Shirley she could be another Well-Known Jones, i.e. Famous Amos.  It's up to the gang to get her out of the contract.  The Earls aren't too annoying in this one, and Big Earl does some impressive tongue-twisters.

Leland Smith returns as The Snake.  Larry Gilman, who plays Sylvester, was a GI on M*A*S*H.  This is the only WH script Ken Hecht wrote, although he would do one for Three's Company.

What's Happening!!: The Creep Detective

What's Happening!!: The Creep Detective
ABC
November 2, 1978
Sitcom
DVD
C+

This Ted Bergman story introduces John Welsh and David Hollander as new neighbors Big Earl and Little Earl.  The former is the title character, not so much a "creep" (and, yes, I know it's a pun on Cheap Detective) as mildly annoying, with his habit of nicknaming people.  His nine-year-old son is also mildly annoying, with his instant crush on Dee.  But the real trouble-makers are Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence (Ric Mancini, who'd appeared on M*A*S*H and The Bob Newhart Show, and Carol DeLuise, who'd be Marcia Brady's future mother-in-law), who ask Rerun to watch their silverware, which turns out to be stolen cameras and tape recorders.

What's Happening!!: Basketball Brain

What's Happening!!: Basketball Brain
ABC
October 12, 1978
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This Ted Bergman story introduces the character of The Snake, played by Leland Smith, who would be in five more episodes.  He's a basketball player that his manager Mr. Finley (Booke) pays Raj $5 an hour to tutor, but then Mr. Finley wants to pay $500 for Raj to take a test for The Snake.  Both Raj and The Snake rebel against this, and towards the end of the episode Shirley gives The Snake a job as busboy.  (I guess Rob won't mind, though it is his restaurant.)

What's Happening!!: Shirley's Boyfriend

What's Happening!!: Shirley's Boyfriend
ABC
September 28, 1978
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This is the first of three WH stories co-written by Tom Moore and Jeremy Stevens.  While it gives Hemphill more emotions to play than usual, it does bug me that while Rerun has no problem finding dates, when Shirley finally finds a guy, Mr. Thomas's friend Ed Roberts (Ed Bernard, yes, another Danza name, this time for an actor who would soon appear on Mork & Mindy as Officer Boyd), he turns out to be a married liar.  Couldn't she have found someone nice and had outside influences break it up, like usually happens for the guys?

Note that Roger and Rerun's apartment is much nicer than the dump they had in the spring.  Maybe they were able to break the lease since Raj was under 18 at the time.  This is the episode where Shirley moves into Raj's old room.  And this would've been a good episode to have at least one of Raj's parents around.

What's Happening!!: The Apartment

The girls the guys have over.

What's Happening!!: The Apartment
ABC
May 11, 1978
Sitcom
DVD
B

In Thad Mumford's second of two WH stories, Raj and Rerun graduate from high school and rent an apartment.  Raj is only 17, so Mama has to sign the lease.  It's hard for her to let go, and it's hard for him to tell her not to drop by so often.  The ensemble works well in this one, with Shirley and Dwayne both having insights into their friends.  It's bittersweet though, now knowing that it would be King's last episode.  (She was dissatisfied with how Bill Thomas was dropped as a character, as well as that Mabel didn't get much to do.)  Note that Nelson gets some teen-idol squeals when he first enters.

What's Happening!! in its second season averages out to right on the border of B-/B.  It's an unpretentious show that does what it does well, with a fresher feel than Welcome Back, Kotter in its third season.  The cast is solid, the humor corny but often funny, and the use of music & dance good to great.  As a season, it resembles Season One much more than Season Three, and not just because of Mabel King.

What's Happening!!: Shirley Is a Mother

What's Happening!!: Shirley Is a Mother
ABC
April 13, 1978
Sitcom
DVD
B

This Orenstein & Turteltaub story is a bit slow-moving, but it does have some sweet moments, like Shirley playing mother to Roger and Dee while Mama's visiting her sister in Phoenix, and Roger asking Shirley to a dance because she's the nicest girl he knows.  I also like how Shirley understands that 19-year-old Rerun is afraid of leaving high school after seven years.  (He started at 13 and presumably hasn't had his 20th birthday yet.)  Also, there's a nice scene with Miss Collins (Fritzi Burr), who would return one last time in the next season, Dwayne's senior year, but gets some closure here.  This wouldn't be the last episode of Season Two though, as there would be one more in May.

Henry Robinson, who plays the Customer having the little conversation with Shirley, would return as Leon.

What's Happening!!: Diplomatic Immunity

Fox in Dr. Bombay days

What's Happening!!: Diplomatic Immunity
ABC
February 25, 1978
Sitcom
DVD
C+

Ted Bergman's first of three WH scripts feels off to me.  It seems like Mama should be more upset about the boys borrowing Ike's car without permission.  Also, the pacing of the episode feels slow, with a lot of sitting around and waiting.  The Arab and British stereotypes (including Bernard Fox) are about what I'd expect, simplistic but not hostile.  There's a reference to oil prices but this is before the Iranian Hostage Crisis, so the feel is different here than it would be a couple years later.  And of course the OJ Simpson reference sounds different nowadays (although not as much as Exidor worshiping OJ on Mork & Mindy).

Jeff Corey, who was Carol's older boyfriend Dr. Scott Rivers, is Hassan here.  Richard Couture is again a Patron at Rob's Place.

What's Happening!!: Raj and the Older Woman

What's Happening!!: Raj and the Older Woman
ABC
February 18, 1978
Sitcom
DVD
B-

In this Sally Wade story, 17-year-old Raj pretends to be 21 so he can date a 19-year-old model.  It doesn't seem like a terribly large age difference, especially since he's about to graduate from high school, and if the sexes were reversed, it wouldn't be that big a deal.  Also, I find the way that Raj's classmate (Bob Harcum again) gives him away a little contrived.  Still, there are some nice moments, including Dee's talk with the model.

Richard Couture again plays a Patron at Rob's Place.  Sip Culler, who's Mr. Johnson, would appear on Welcome Back, Kotter later that year.  Shirley is absent again.

What's Happening!!: Rerun Sees the Light

I'm guessing this was during a dress rehearsal,
since Rerun still has his "dynamite 'fro."

What's Happening!!: Rerun Sees the Light
ABC
February 11, 1978
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Just like Arnold Horshack before him and Billy Tate after him, Rerun falls for a pretty girl and joins a religious cult.  And, yes, he dresses in brightly colored robes, this time peach with a lavender wrap.  The story by Thad Mumford (his first of two for WH) isn't as funny as I remembered, with too much time spent on "bald jokes."  But Mabel's portrayal of Mother Nature is still fun.

Interestingly, Rob (Earl Billings) appears in this episode and Shirley doesn't.  He recognizes Love-Is-Life as the con artist Wanda Jordan, which seems more likely for him as a middle-aged small-business-owner, so the substitution works.

What's Happening!!: Doobie or Not Doobie, Part 2

What's Happening!!: Doobie or Not Doobie, Part 2
ABC
February 4, 1978
Sitcom
DVD
B+

Sally Wade wrote this as well as Part 1, although much of the episode is given over to the DB concert.  And that's perfectly fine with me, since I was chair-dancing to "Takin' It to the Streets" and the rest.  Rerun of course gets caught, but the Doobies let the guys off the hook and instead have Al Dunbar (Theodore Wilson) and Bruno (Alonzo Brown, Jr.) arrested.  Mama is absent and definitely would not approve of the bootlegging.