What's Happening!!: The Play's the Big Thing

What's Happening!!: The Play's the Big Thing
ABC
November 3, 1977
Sitcom
DVD
B

In the main story by Orenstein & Turteltaub, Roger has to decide whether to let Rerun act in the play he's written for Miss Collins (Fritzi Burr)'s Drama class.  (Does the woman teach every subject?)  Rerun is a terrible actor and may ruin Raj's chance to impress the visiting producer of Happy Times (there's a '70s sitcom mash-up name), but on the other hand Rerun desperately needs an A to pass the class.  No one thinks to suggest he dance, so instead he does the play with Diane (Debbi Morgan) as his mother, and we find out that her last name is Harris.  The real reason to watch the show though is for what's probably the funniest sequence in the entire series, Dwayne's rendition of "Handyman," with the disgusted reactions of his classmates.

Donald Blackwell, who plays Johnson, would be Graham the next year on M*A*S*H.  That's the entirety of his screen career, but if Johnson is the organist, he's already got immortal fame.