After Careful Deliberation, I Decided 'What's Happening Now' Was A Big Failure! - Page 4 - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

GSU2004 · 02-22-2016, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Damage

I use to watch this show and originally, was happy when the old gang reunited for an updated version of the 70's classic. However, thinking about it, the show was more fail than pass for me. Here are my reasons why I think it failed...

1. Raj was back living in his old house and now part owner of Rob's Place along with Shirley.

2. Rerun still didn't grow up at all.

3. No Mabel

4. Dwayne should've been married to Dee

5. Fred Berry left the show

WHN had many great opportunities to bring back the magic of the original but the show ignored TOO MANY details.

-When Dwayne had a politician for a client in Season 2, he mentioned that he was never into politics like this before. In the original series, his father was a school board member who later became a city councilman.

-Raj's father comes back as a long lost father when he was a 'Saturday style' parent in the original series who got married in the second season to the woman who he was dating in the series. It made no mention of the wife or even said if they got divorced.

-Mama was a domestic worker so where did she get money and backing to ove to Arizona. She barely finished high school and worked two jobs. They could had Mabel working as a Housekeeper manager at a nice hotel downtown or used her singing talents to have her focusing on being a lounge singer.

-The dumb antics of Rerun as a grown man were just stale. No character development for him nor Shirley. What was Shirley doing since the diner closed? Surely a woman her age would had a love interest or something.

-The Dee and Dwayne storyline could have been stretched throughout the series with the two later getting married.

-Mabel could have guest starred a few times such as coming home to cook for the holidays. We could have saw her remarried

-The Goodbye Mr. Rips episode could have been better used for a Goodbye Ms. Collins episode since she was their teacher for many years and she could have been referred as teaching Dee. The kid who played the funeral director's son could have been a great waiter at Rob's Place. With his dumbness and Shirley's sassy antics, that could have been comedy gold

-Dwayne's dad could have came back in a political show running for Mayor and losing but later being appointed to a vacant county commission seat

-Marvin could have been the city newspaper editor or had his own newspaper featuring the food critic from Dueling Menus episode

-A better explanation of why Rob's Place closed could have been given with Rob coming back to talk about the restaurant or even having him ditch the soda shop concept for a BBQ spot or something

-A valentine's day flashback of how Raj and Nadine met.

-WHN like other black sitcoms had a bad problem of just adding characters instead of fixing bad storylines. Caroline was not needed. She could have been a neighborhood kid who ate at the restaurant. Maurice and his friend could have been used for spin-off characters for their own series thus giving What's Happening the college franchise they wanted.

I could have easily made this show last 100 episodes with a spin-off that could have yielded three seasons with Martin Lawrence, Ken Sagoes and some other young actors at the time

mets82 · 02-22-2016, 05:14 PM

Good post. I dont remember too much of WHN. I, too, dont like inconsistencies in a show.

GSU2004 · 02-22-2016, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mets82

Good post. I dont remember too much of WHN. I, too, dont like inconsistencies in a show.

The 1980 Sanford ignored the events of Sanford Arms (for good reason). Sanford Arms should have been a regular family sitcom without the name Sanford in there and I think it could have lasted about 4 seasons. I've been watching WHN on youtube as someone put up some season 2 episodes there and the series is in syndication again on TVOne and some new retro network. TVLand gave this show **** treatment back in 2007. They aired it at 7am and only aired the first season which was just released on DVD at the time and select episodes from later seasons.

mets82 · 02-22-2016, 05:36 PM

Dont forget I think Centric or TVOne gave them the same treatment back in 2014. The shows were off the clock and only from season 1.

GSU2004 · 02-22-2016, 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mets82

Dont forget I think Centric or TVOne gave them the same treatment back in 2014. The shows were off the clock and only from season 1.

I interviewed Essie Berry almost 10 years ago and she warned me this would happen. She told me there were plans to release WHN to DVD and she said, 'Fred's years are what people wanted and the series could have been a hit if they realized he was the reason people watched it. Even in local markets, stations often will air the first season of WHN as an unofficial 4th season of WH and go back to the first episode of WH.'

mets82 · 02-22-2016, 06:03 PM

Didnt know you did that interview. But still its part of WHN they should air the whole series. Because it wasnt just Rerun. It was Raj and Dwayne too.

TVFactFan · 02-22-2016, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GSU2004

The 1980 Sanford ignored the events of Sanford Arms (for good reason). Sanford Arms should have been a regular family sitcom without the name Sanford in there and I think it could have lasted about 4 seasons. I've been watching WHN on youtube as someone put up some season 2 episodes there and the series is in syndication again on TVOne and some new retro network. TVLand gave this show **** treatment back in 2007. They aired it at 7am and only aired the first season which was just released on DVD at the time and select episodes from later seasons.

What events? It was only on NBC for 10 mins

GSU2004 · 02-22-2016, 11:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TVFactFan

What events? It was only on NBC for 10 mins

LMAO! That was funny

MIKEPR · 01-09-2020, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GSU2004

WHN had many great opportunities to bring back the magic of the original but the show ignored TOO MANY details.

-When Dwayne had a politician for a client in Season 2, he mentioned that he was never into politics like this before. In the original series, his father was a school board member who later became a city councilman.

-Raj's father comes back as a long lost father when he was a 'Saturday style' parent in the original series who got married in the second season to the woman who he was dating in the series. It made no mention of the wife or even said if they got divorced.

-Mama was a domestic worker so where did she get money and backing to ove to Arizona. She barely finished high school and worked two jobs. They could had Mabel working as a Housekeeper manager at a nice hotel downtown or used her singing talents to have her focusing on being a lounge singer.

-The dumb antics of Rerun as a grown man were just stale. No character development for him nor Shirley. What was Shirley doing since the diner closed? Surely a woman her age would had a love interest or something.

-The Dee and Dwayne storyline could have been stretched throughout the series with the two later getting married.

-Mabel could have guest starred a few times such as coming home to cook for the holidays. We could have saw her remarried

Since she left WH because she was unhappy with it why would she wanna return to this updated version?

Fallon97 · 05-23-2020, 06:51 PM

I guess I'm in the minority, but I actually like "What's Happening Now" just as much as I like "What's Happening."

And I liked Nadine and I thought she fit in perfectly. I also liked her and Raj as a married couple.

TVFactFan · 05-24-2020, 02:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fallon97

I guess I'm in the minority, but I actually like "What's Happening Now" just as much as I like "What's Happening."

And I liked Nadine and I thought she fit in perfectly. I also liked her and Raj as a married couple.

Yeah both shows were about the same and fun to watch

TMC · 06-01-2021, 11:15 PM

I wonder if WHN "failed" because at the end of the day, it really had or served no purpose. It was presumably a sequel series that was about kids becoming adults so to speak. But didn't it seem like Raj and Rerun felt more like they were in their 30s (as they were in real life) instead of their mid-20s?

TVFactFan · 06-01-2021, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TMC

I wonder if WHN "failed" because at the end of the day, it really had or served no purpose. It was presumably a sequel series that was about kids becoming adults so to speak. But didn't it seem like Raj and Rerun felt more like they were in their 30s (as they were in real life) instead of their mid-20s?

WHN was better than WH

TVLegend · 06-01-2021, 11:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TVFactFan

WHN was better than WH

Let’s see the dead weight

Nadine
The mother

WH, we have a winner

TVFactFan · 06-01-2021, 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TVLegend

Let’s see the dead weight

Nadine
The mother

WH, we have a winner

Never liked Mrs Thomas. I had the same feeling I had when I went to my friends house and his mom walked in when she appeared on screen lol

02-22-2016, 05:14 PM	#47
mets82 Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Mar 14, 2011 Location: Connecticut Posts: 5,058	Good post. I dont remember too much of WHN. I, too, dont like inconsistencies in a show.
	__________________ http://www.superbowlgreatness.blogspot.com/ Please check out my blog. I vent on all things. TV, sports etc. you name it. Its also a work in progress. Check out and see what you think.

02-22-2016, 05:36 PM	#49
mets82 Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Mar 14, 2011 Location: Connecticut Posts: 5,058	Dont forget I think Centric or TVOne gave them the same treatment back in 2014. The shows were off the clock and only from season 1.

02-22-2016, 06:03 PM	#51
mets82 Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Mar 14, 2011 Location: Connecticut Posts: 5,058	Didnt know you did that interview. But still its part of WHN they should air the whole series. Because it wasnt just Rerun. It was Raj and Dwayne too.

05-23-2020, 06:51 PM	#55
Fallon97 Member Senior Member Join Date: Mar 04, 2007 Location: America Posts: 1,268	I guess I'm in the minority, but I actually like "What's Happening Now" just as much as I like "What's Happening." And I liked Nadine and I thought she fit in perfectly. I also liked her and Raj as a married couple.

06-01-2021, 11:15 PM	#57
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 124,490	I wonder if WHN "failed" because at the end of the day, it really had or served no purpose. It was presumably a sequel series that was about kids becoming adults so to speak. But didn't it seem like Raj and Rerun felt more like they were in their 30s (as they were in real life) instead of their mid-20s?