What's Happening Now! (1985–1988)

"What's Happening Now!" is a sequel to "What's Happening!," a TV series about the adult main characters (Raj, Dwayne, Rerun, Shirley, and Dee) as teenagers/children.

Stars:

Ernest Thomas, Anne-Marie Johnson, Haywood Nelson

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Ernest Thomas	...	Roger 'Raj' Thomas (66 episodes, 1985-1988)
Anne-Marie Johnson	...	Nadine Hudson Thomas (66 episodes, 1985-1988)
Haywood Nelson	...	Dwayne Nelson (66 episodes, 1985-1988)
Shirley Hemphill	...	Shirley Wilson (66 episodes, 1985-1988)

Storyline

This was an urban comedy following the lives of three black men. Raj is newly married and trying to write while his two buddies, Rerun and Dwayne are sharing a bachelor apartment. Rerun is working as a used car salesman while Dwayne is a computer programmer. This syndicated program was on the air between September 1985 and September 1988.

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Plot Keywords:

sitcom

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Television, LBS Communications

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The whereabouts of several minor characters on the original series are never mentioned in this revival: Rob, who founded the diner, Marvin, a former school mate of the gang, Big Earl and Little Earl, and the college basketball player "The Snake".

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Quotes

[peeking through a window he just broke with his new boomerang]
Dwayne Nelson: [nervous laugh] G'day, mates?
[Shirley and Raj chase, Dwayne runs]

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Connections

Referenced in How I Met Your Mother: The Fight (2008)

User Reviews

Hey hey what's happening now?

I was addicted to the first series so when syndication came up with the brilliant idea of bringing back the original gang. I was thrilled. The show came back with the same gang including Raj, Dwayne, Rerun, Dee, and Shirley. It was a shame that Mabel King who played Mama Thomas never returned to the show. I felt her departure from the first series left it a little emptier. She was a great character as Mama Thomas. I would have been thrilled to see her return to the second series. Anyway, you can only ask for so much. I was happy to see Ann Marie Johnson playing Raj's wife. She is an accomplished actress before this show and afterwards as well. Anyway, the show was never hard hitting. Of course, the renovation of Rob's Soda Shop was quite drastic to the original place. What's Happening Now remained the same about the group of friends who grew up together and the friendship among them. That was the glue that kept the show together was the friendship. Even now, I think about Shirley and the gang.