Another 70s sitcom that I love. It was a very funny show but I can't believe that originally they were going to cast Rerun as a skinny white boy. That just NEVER would've worked. The fat jokes in this show were always funny, among other things, one I loved was when Raj and Dee were arguing and Dee said 'who are you?' and Raj said 'the defendant in your muder trial' and she straightened up. Classic stuff, you couldn't do that today. And I liked that Dee was smart, money wise definitely, but also like in the episode where she's accused of stealing and she and the store manager are in a debate about Billy the Kid, and in that battle of wits, the manager is clearly unarmed. So funny.

I liked early What's Happening; as in season one, when they were still in high school (although those episodes where Mabelle would whoop Raj always seemed far fetched to me.) The show really started to lose something when Raj and Rerun entered college. Dee was funny in the very beginning as a bratty little sister, but when she started to grow up and become more 'sensible,' she lost major steam and it highlighted the actresses weaknesses.

I liked What's Happening Now, though.

One thing I didn't care for in the third season, Little Earl, he just annoyed the hell out of me. Some people complain about the later seasons of Good Times because of Penny, how she and her Mae West impersonations got old real quick, Penny got nothing on Little Earl in the annoyance department.

Little Earl, and his silly little crush on Dee, was awful. He was basically Cousin Oliver.

I hadn't thought of that but you're right, of course then you have to wonder between those two, who was the worst, or are they tied?


Though they did have a few good episodes in the third season, one I liked was when Dwayne got a job as a vendor at ballgames and dreamed what his future would be like, that was funny. But I agree, it was better when they were in high school and Dee was still little.

By the way, has anybody noticed that up to a certain point in the show, Dee wore a lot of short sleeve and sleeveless tops, and then suddenly they were all long sleeved? During the episode where Rerun was in a dance contest was the only time of that era when I recall her wearing a short sleeved shirt and she had a big scar on her arm; this was a result of a car crash she was in not long before that, that killed her father. I can't imagine what that would be like, and I'm surprised that after something like that, she stayed on to do the show.

I did like this show, but really don't remember it much.

They certainly had some good moments, like the episode Roger pretends to have hypertension and he pretends to be hallucinating to scare Dee as revenge for her snooping around, unfortunately that one backfired and she found out, but it was still good when Roger was going, about them having a pony and Dee being a man, etc.

Though one thing I could never figure out, okay Rerun was held back several times, so that explains why he and Raj are in the same classes, but Dwayne's younger than both of them so why is he in the same classes as them?

In my high school you could have a mix of freshman-seniors in elective classes such as languages, economics, certain histories, certain sciences, computers, shops, home ec, journalism, genetics, etc. Pretty much the only thing based on your grade level was the English classes, bio, chemistry, and state mandated histories and math.

My favorite episode was when Rerun joined the cult and worshipped RALPH, the head of lettuce! "Don't you know... its not wise to mess with mother nature"

I have a season of What's Happening Now on DVD.