list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around What's Happening!! [TV Series] on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/What_s_Happening_TV_Series/249124/default.aspx Title: What's Happening!! [TV Series]
Year: 2008
Plot: The weekly, half-hour ABC sitcom What's Happening!! was based, albeit loosely, on the theatrical feature Cooley High, and created by the author of that film, Eric Monte. Set in Los Angeles, the series detailed the various misadventures of three fun-loving black teenagers. Level-headed Roger "Raj" Thomas (Ernest Thomas) aspired to be a professional writer; chubby Freddie "Rerun" Stubbs (Fred Berry) merely wanted to joke around and have fun; and shy Dwayne Clemens (Haywood Nelson) had visions of achieving "coolness." Raj lived with his divorced "Mama," Mrs. Mabel Thomas (Mabel King), who worked as a maid, and his sarcastic kid sister Dee (Danielle Spencer). Occasionally, Raj's no-good father Bill (Thalmus Rasulala) showed up with another of his pie-in-the-sky schemes, but was never seen again after remarrying. Our three young heroes hung out at Rob's, the local diner, where they traded quips with sassy waitress Shirley Wilson (Shirley Hemphill). During the boys' high-school years, they were frequently annoyed by pesky Marvin (Bryan O'Dell), a reporter for the student newspaper. Eventually the trio graduated from high school, whereupon Raj moved into an apartment with Rerun. (Mabel King had left the series due to creative differences with the producers.) Raj now attended college, while Rerun took on a variety of jobs, forever hoping to strike it rich overnight. As Dwayne receded into the background, several new characters were introduced, notably Raj's college pal "The Snake" (Leland Smith), a champion basketball player; Raj and Rerun's neighbor Big Earl (John Welsh), a police detective; and Earl's son Little Earl (David Hollander), who took a liking to Raj's sister Dee. Debuting as a summer-replacement series on August 5, 1976, What's Happening!! underwent a four-week trial run before it was optioned for the entire season in the fall of that year. Bouncing around the ABC schedule during the next three seasons, the series never developed a large audience, and was canceled April 28, 1979. However, the show proved quite popular in rerun syndication, particularly in cities with large black populations. The latter-day success of What's Happening!! resulted in a sequel of sorts, a weekly half-hour syndicated sitcom titled What's Happening Now!!, which ran from 1985 to 1988. Ernest Thomas, Fred Berry, Haywood Nelson, Danielle Spencer, and Shirley Hemphill all repeated their original roles in this later version, while among the new cast members was a young Martin Lawrence, playing a teenaged busboy named Maurice Warfield. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Number of blog posts: 1
]]>Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:00:32 GMTWhat's Happening!! [TV Series]2008The weekly, half-hour ABC sitcom What's Happening!! was based, albeit loosely, on the theatrical feature <a href=/films/7041/default.aspx style='text-decoration:underline'>Cooley High</a>, and created by the author of that film, Eric Monte. Set in Los Angeles, the series detailed the various misadventures of three fun-loving black teenagers. Level-headed Roger "Raj" Thomas (Ernest Thomas) aspired to be a professional writer; chubby Freddie "Rerun" Stubbs (<a href="/players/P___380162/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Fred Berry</a>) merely wanted to joke around and have fun; and shy Dwayne Clemens (Haywood Nelson) had visions of achieving "coolness." Raj lived with his divorced "Mama," Mrs. Mabel Thomas (<a href="/players/P____38328/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Mabel King</a>), who worked as a maid, and his sarcastic kid sister Dee (Danielle Spencer). Occasionally, Raj's no-good father Bill (<a href="/players/P____58874/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Thalmus Rasulala</a>) showed up with another of his pie-in-the-sky schemes, but was never seen again after remarrying. Our three young heroes hung out at Rob's, the local diner, where they traded quips with sassy waitress Shirley Wilson (<a href="/players/P____31671/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Shirley Hemphill</a>). During the boys' high-school years, they were frequently annoyed by pesky Marvin (Bryan O'Dell), a reporter for the student newspaper. Eventually the trio graduated from high school, whereupon Raj moved into an apartment with Rerun. (<a href="/players/P____38328/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Mabel King</a> had left the series due to creative differences with the producers.) Raj now attended college, while Rerun took on a variety of jobs, forever hoping to strike it rich overnight. As Dwayne receded into the background, several new characters were introduced, notably Raj's college pal "The Snake" (Leland Smith), a champion basketball player; Raj and Rerun's neighbor Big Earl (<a href="/players/P____75496/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>John Welsh</a>), a police detective; and Earl's son Little Earl (David Hollander), who took a liking to Raj's sister Dee. Debuting as a summer-replacement series on August 5, 1976, What's Happening!! underwent a four-week trial run before it was optioned for the entire season in the fall of that year. Bouncing around the ABC schedule during the next three seasons, the series never developed a large audience, and was canceled April 28, 1979. However, the show proved quite popular in rerun syndication, particularly in cities with large black populations. The latter-day success of What's Happening!! resulted in a sequel of sorts, a weekly half-hour syndicated sitcom titled What's Happening Now!!, which ran from 1985 to 1988. Ernest Thomas, <a href="/players/P___380162/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Fred Berry</a>, Haywood Nelson, Danielle Spencer, and <a href="/players/P____31671/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Shirley Hemphill</a> all repeated their original roles in this later version, while among the new cast members was a young <a href="/players/P____40942/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Martin Lawrence</a>, playing a teenaged busboy named Maurice Warfield. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide1http://www.spout.com/images/no_image.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/What_s_Happening_TV_Series/249124/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/6/10/31054.aspxPost By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 6/10/2008 2:00:32 PM
Body: After showcasing the well-timed TV spot for The Incredible Hulk, which reveals the film’s Tony Stark/Iron Man cameo, I was hoping to find something for M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening that could similarly turn my (and likely your) low expectations upside down. And I found it: a trailer that reveals the film’s cameos from Raj, Rerun, Dwayne and Shirley, all from TV’s What’s Happening!!. OK, so unfortunately it isn’t real, and it’s not even put together all that well (what’s with the strobe effect?), but it’s still probably more enjoyable than the actual movie (especially if that twist spoiler is legit). With the popularity of trailer mash-ups, the ease of YouTube distribution and the internet’s ability to expose the synchronous one-mind of a pop-culture-reared generation, it’s not surprising to find that the above video was not the only combination of The Happening and What’s Happening!!. There’s also this one, which only features the What’s Happening!! theme music and no footage from the show (also it boldly makes light of the more graphic footage from the film’s red-band trailer), and there’s this one, which does the opposite by including the audio from the Happening trailer over footage from the TV show. I’ll let you decide which of the three is the best/worst. Hopefully YouTubers will do better when mashing up What’s Happening!! with Barry Levinson’s What Just Happened? (obvious title: What’s Just Happening!!). Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:00:32 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com6/10/2008 2:00:32 PM After showcasing the well-timed TV spot for The Incredible Hulk, which reveals the film’s Tony Stark/Iron Man cameo, I was hoping to find something for M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening that could similarly turn my (and likely your) low expectations upside down. And I found it: a trailer that reveals the film’s cameos from Raj, Rerun, Dwayne and Shirley, all from TV’s What’s Happening!!. OK, so unfortunately it isn’t real, and it’s not even put together all that well (what’s with the strobe effect?), but it’s still probably more enjoyable than the actual movie (especially if that twist spoiler is legit). With the popularity of trailer mash-ups, the ease of YouTube distribution and the internet’s ability to expose the synchronous one-mind of a pop-culture-reared generation, it’s not surprising to find that the above video was not the only combination of The Happening and What’s Happening!!. There’s also this one, which only features the What’s Happening!! theme music and no footage from the show (also it boldly makes light of the more graphic footage from the film’s red-band trailer), and there’s this one, which does the opposite by including the audio from the Happening trailer over footage from the TV show. I’ll let you decide which of the three is the best/worst. Hopefully YouTubers will do better when mashing up What’s Happening!! with Barry Levinson’s What Just Happened? (obvious title: What’s Just Happening!!). Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/teenagers/MemberTagFilms.aspxteenagers
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