What's Happening!! aired on ABC from 1976-1979, it has been one of the famous 'black' sitcoms of all time.  BET aired reruns in the early 90s.  TV Land has picked up the show effective November 2005! What's Happening Now!! was about the cast about 6 years later and Raj was married, it aired from 1985-1988, and it was a syndicated show.  WH!! had 65 episodes and WHN!! had 66 episodes, see the episode guides above.

What's Happening!! debuted on August 5, 1976. The teenage focused sitcom aired on the ABC network until April 28, 1979.

Roger 'Raj' Thomas lives with his divorced mother, Mabel and his younger bratty sister, Dee. While growing up in a middle class neighborhood in the inner city, Raj and best friends, Freddie 'Rerun' Stubbs and Dwayne Nelson experience life, love, growing into adulthood and the problems often associated with it. As an aspiring writer, Raj does his best to balance schoolwork with the responsibilities of being the oldest child in a fatherless home. Hanging out with Rerun and Dwayne takes priority in his life. One of their favorite haunts is Rob's Place, the neighborhood hangout. On any given day of the week, the boys can be found sitting around gossiping, trying to pick up girls and drinking more than their share of grape soda. Waitress, Shirley Wilson's brazen remarks served with warm soda help keep the local kids coming back day after day.

In 1974, writer/producer, Eric Monte enjoyed great success after the episode he wrote for All in the Family introduced characters who would go on to enjoy a long successful spin-off show: George and Louise Jefferson. Together with creative partner, Michael Evans aka Lionel Jefferson, they created another historical show of the 1970's, Good Times. Monte also wrote for that sitcom. But for Monte, television wasn't his only avenue of success. In 1975, Monte wrote the wildly successful film, Cooley High. This coming of age movie focused on two teenage African American men growing up in the inner city. The immense success of the film sparked the interest of the ABC network and popular television producer, Bud Yorkin. The two entities approached Monte to adapt his hit movie for television. With that idea in mind, Monte created and wrote a project loosely based on his original hit film Cooley High. The end result was What's Happening!! Initially, What's Happening!! was given a four-week run during the summer months. The resounding cheer from the audience encouraged the network to add the sitcom to its regular lineup. In spite of weak critical reviews, audiences couldn't get enough of the happenings of Raj and the gang. But after three seasons, What's Happening!! was having a hard time keeping an audience. Attempts to move the show to a more desirable timeslot were not successful and behind the scenes disputes and problems further tainted the once family friendly program. On April 28, 1979, What's Happening!! aired its final episode.

With the success of middle-class African American shows of the 1980's, Bud Yorkin made an attempt to resurrect What's Happening!! With the majority of the original cast, What's Happening Now!! debuted in first-run syndication in 1985. This time around, Raj and best friends Rerun and Dwayne have matured and were trying to juggle the pressures of their personal and professional lives. Like its original predecessor, What's Happening Now!! was well received in the first couple of seasons. But by the third year, audiences had faltered and the production company pulled it from the air at the end of the season.

To this day, What's Happening!! has gone down in history as a fun show about life, love and friendship.

Casts:

What's Happening!!:

What's Happening Now!!:

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