Television series

What's Happening!!

Name: What's Happening!!
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1976
Cast: Haywood Nelson, Ernest Thomas, Danielle Spencer, Fred Berry, Shirley Hemphill

Buddy comedy
Light-hearted

What's Happening!! is a sitcom about three working-class Black teenagers navigating 1970s Los Angeles with humor, heart, and realistic warmth. It's funny without being mean, grounded in character and friendship rather than contrivance. A show that treats its young leads as fully realized people—what they want matters, what they feel matters—which was rarer than it should have been.

TVMaze rating

3.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like sitcoms built on small everyday mishaps, lots of quick-fire banter between friends, and a warm, hangout feel where the gags land on sincere characters rather than cynical ones.

Skip it if you need serialized plotting or a dark edge, since each half-hour mostly resets, and the jokes and rhythms of late-seventies multi-camera comedy can feel dated to a modern eye.

What it asks of you: Half an hour per episode, with no homework: you settle in, let the familiar characters bicker and scheme, and accept that most stories wrap up before the credits roll.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Good Times1974

The spiritual cousin to What's Happening!!, following another Black family in 1970s Chicago with wit, social awareness, and genuine affection. Combines comedy with real stakes about money, dignity, and survival.

But Heavier than What's Happening!! and the laugh track can feel incongruous with some of the harder material the show tackles.

Sanford and Son1972

Fred Sanford's junk shop is the setting for comedy that's warm, absurdist, and anchored by Redd Foxx's brilliant chemistry with Demond Wilson. The same era, the same trust in its characters' humanity.

But Redd Foxx's comedy style is very much of the moment—quick, arch, sometimes dated. It's a lead performance that demands patience.

The Jeffersons1975

Follows George and Weezy's climb upward with comedy that's both silly and surprisingly substantive about race, class, and belonging. Warm family sitcom DNA with actual satirical teeth.

But The early seasons have the creakiest sitcom mechanics—broad humor, obvious setups—before it finds its voice. Uneven by design.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from What's Happening!!

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Wire2002

Both center young Black characters navigating systemic obstacles with wit and love holding them together, trusting the audience to care about their inner lives.

Not a comedy, but it has What's Happening!!'s DNA—young people trying to survive and thrive in systems stacked against them, portrayed with unflinching dignity and realism. Every character is fully human. The structural opposite of sitcom convention but the moral identical twin.

But Five seasons, 60 hours of television. Grim, sometimes brutally so. Entirely devoid of music or romance to soften the blow. Demands active attention; you cannot half-watch it.

Welcome Back, Kotter1975

Teacher Gabe Kotter and his ragtag Brooklyn classroom full of lovable misfits. Character-driven comedy where you actually care about these kids and their futures, not just the gags.

But The Vinnie Barbarino charm offensive and the broader comedy bits can overshadow the sweeter, more grounded stuff that makes it work.

Diff'rent Strokes1978

Two Black adoptees in a wealthy white household; could've been exploitative but instead it's genuinely tender about family, belonging, and what home means. Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges are magnetic.

But The concept walks a tightrope and doesn't always stick the landing. Some episodes veer uncomfortably close to the very stereotypes the show claims to subvert.

The Facts of Life1979

Starts as a Nancy Walker sitcom and evolves into something richer—a girls' boarding school where friendship, difference, and growth matter as much as the punchlines. Wilona Rideout's Mrs. Garrett is a revelation.

But The pilot doesn't hint at what it becomes. You have to sit through broader material before the show finds its heart.

Alice1976

Linda Lavin as a widow starting over in Phoenix, working as a diner waitress. Character comedy that treats its protagonist's dignity and struggles with real respect; funny without condescension.

But Structured around the diner like a stage play. If you need visual variety and plot momentum, the repetitive setting will feel constraining.

Happy Days1974

Milwaukee in the '50s, nostalgia played warmly, ensemble cast where everyone gets to matter. Doesn't punch down; it's genuinely affectionate about its characters and their world.

But The broad sitcom elements and laugh track heaviness date it visibly. The Happy Days formula can feel mechanical if you're not in the mood for it.

The Cosby Show1984

Sitcom warmth centered on Black characters whose lives, families, and aspirations are treated as completely normal. Both refuse to make their characters' race the joke.

Upper-middle-class Black family in Brooklyn; jokes about family life, college, work, relationships. If you want the DNA of What's Happening!! evolved into a different economic reality, this is it—sitcom warmth and character comedy translated upscale.

But The show has become radioactive and nearly unwatchable due to Cosby's subsequent actions. The shadow it casts has swallowed its actual content. This is a real problem, not a quibble.

Lean On Me1989

Both trust that young people deserve to be seen as whole people with agency and dignity, and both believe mentorship and collective care are worth the effort.

Morgan Freeman as a disciplinarian principal saving a failing Newark high school through will, love, and accountability. It's earnest, even corny, but genuinely moving about what adults owe young people and what young people deserve.

But Operates on sentiment and inspirational uplift that would feel manufactured if you're cynical about institutional change. The film never doubts its own good intentions.