Info:
DVD Release Date: October 5, 2004 (Columbia Tri-star Home Entertainment)
Color/548 min.
MSRP: $29.95
Number of Discs: 3
Number of Episodes: 22
Languages & Subtitles: English Mono; Closed
Captioned.
Special Features: Bonus Previews
Review (out of 5 stars):
Video Quality: 4.5/5
Audio Quality: 4.5/5
Special Features: N/A
Menu Style & Navigation: 4.5/5
Overall: 4/5
Thoughts:
“Hey, hey, hey!!!” Raj, Rerun, Dwayne and the rest of
the gang are back for a second season of What’s
Happening!! All 22 episodes from the show's second
season are here to make you laugh out loud until it
hurts. The series’ second season started in the fall
of 1977 on ABC and aired on Thursday nights at 8:30
p.m., before moving to Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. for
mid-season. This is the last season for Mabel Thomas
who plays Mama on the show. She did not appear in the
series’ last season (season 3). The second season
also marks Shirley Hemphill joining the regular cast
in the opening credits. In season one she was listed
in the guest credits only. The opening credits now
also have video shots of Dee and Mama.
Notable episodes from the second season include:
“Rerun Gets Married,” “Rerun Sees the Light,” “Going,
Going, Gong,” “Dee’s First Date” and the 2-parter
“Doobie or Not Doobie.” The season finale is “The
Apartment” where Raj and Rerun move out after
graduation into an apartment, which will be the main
setting for season three.
Some famous guest stars include Irena Cara (“Rerun
Gets Married”), Tim Reid (“It’s All In Your Head”),
Ellen Travolta (“Nothing Personal”), The Gong Show
cast (“Going, Going, Gong”) and The Doobie Brothers
(“Doobie or Not Doobie”).
The packaging for this set is pretty nice. I had the
Time Life copy from the first season so I can’t
compare it to the Columbia Tri-star one from season
one. The box cover has Shirley, Raj, Rerun and Dwayne
from left to right. The background is in two shades
of an orange color with the title in red with a white
border. The back of the box is in two shades of a
blue type color and has a long synopsis to what to
expect in season two. There are three photos, too.
One of Rerun singing and the gang watching him, the
other of Raj, Dwayne and Rerun and the last one is a
big one of Shirley and Raj.
The case cover is the same as the box cover. The back
of the case has a photo of Rerun, Raj and Dwayne with
a message, “All of your FAVORITE characters are BACK!”
When you open the case once, you get a shot of the
title shot and a photo of Rerun and Dee on one side in
a yellow background and Raj, Dwayne and Shirley on the
right side in an orange background. When you open the
case another time, you get to the discs. There are
four sides to it. The first side holds the episode
synopsis booklet and a booklet of other upcoming
series on DVD, like One Day at a Time and NewsRadio.
Disc one has an orange background with Raj’s face on
it. It holds episodes 1-7 of season two. Disc two has
a red background with Dwayne’s face on it. The title
shot for this one is in orange this time, instead of
the usual red. Disc two holds episodes 8-14. Disc
three has sort of a dark yellow/light orange
background with Rerun’s face on it. It holds episodes
15-22.
The menu screen is fairly easy to navigate. My one
complaint for most (maybe all) Columbia Tri-star TV on
DVD sets is when you go into the episode selection
screen; I could never get back to the main menu! It
can be done, but you have to play around with your
remote control. They should have a link on the bottom
of the episode selection screen to get back to the
main menu screen. For each disc the menu screen photo
has the same photo as what is on the disc, like Raj on
disc one. The menu screens are shown above. This set
has chapters that have about 5 place marks. One thing
I noticed is that the last place mark doesn’t go to
the Sony logo like in previous sets; the last place
mark is the closing credits. I like that much better.
It made no sense before to have the last chapter have
a 10 second Sony logo. There are only two options on
discs one and two. Play All Episodes and Episode
Selection. The episode selection screen has a photo
of Shirley, for each disc. Disc three has the same
two options but also a Bonus Previews section. That
section has a photo of Raj. The same three previews
that Sony always uses are on this set. A note to
Sony: how about updating those previews?
The video and audio are about the same as they were on
season one’s set. However, for some reason to me, the
season two opening credits looks a bit dusty from
season one. It’s not that bad, but still I noticed a
difference. The audio is in mono and it’s like season
one. As for the episode timings, most of the episodes
run from anywhere between 24-26 minutes; with none
exceeding 26 minutes or lower than 24 minutes.
Though, part-one of “Doobie or Not Doobie” runs just
under 22 minutes but it also has a 4 minute preview
for part-two, so the episode comes out to little less
than 26 minutes. Part-two however runs just under 22
minutes. So either something is fishy there or it was
just like that originally. When this 2-part episode
first aired, it aired during two installments on
separate weeks, rather than a one hour episode on the
same night. So, if someone has syndication copies
taped from BET years ago or a local channel, please do
check if anything is edited out on this 2-part
episode. I’m guessing it’s unedited, though. I don’t
know if that four-minute preview was there originally
for part one, but it sounds like it was. I also don’t
know if that is in tact in syndication. This show
needs to be resurfaced more in syndication, so
everyone can tell. Right now the show is only on one
or two locals in the U.S.; very sad.
Sadly, this set again has no special features other
than those useless outdated bonus previews of other
Tri-Star sets. They could have done a tribute to Fred
Berry at least, who passed away untimely last
December. Some other Tri-star sets now are getting
interviews for special features like Diff’rent Strokes
and 227, so I’m guessing that they are learning, but
for sets that are already started, like Sanford & Son
and All in the Family, will just continue to have no
special features. Unfortunately, What’s Happening is
probably under that umbrella.
Finally, this set is good. The episodes are very
funny and worth watching. If you have Season one,
then of course please buy this set. We need season
three (the final season) to be released as soon as
possible, so we can complete our complete series set.
After that, I’m hoping the follow-up series “What’s
Happening Now!!” is also released. That also is
hiding in syndication now, with only one local or so
currently playing it. Earth to TV Land or any other
cable network pick up both series and air it! I
hope season three and the follow-up series do come out
on DVD so we can have the entire collection in our
home theater.
--Reviewed by pavanbadal on 09/17/04 (Happy Birthday
to John Ritter! We miss you.)
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