I’m a big fan of What’s Happening!!, as you may have gathered over the years. And though I enjoy What’s Happening Now!! for what it is, I can acknowledge that it’s just a terrible, terrible show saved only by the performances from the original show particpants, when they were there.
The reason I say this is that the series had already jumped the shark by the second episode. Sure, some could argue that the first episode featuring Rerun as a car-selling swami was a jump-the-shark moment, but I’m willing to give that episode the benefit of the doubt, as it had the daunting task of telling an actual story about the characters coming back together.
In episode number two, Rerun accepts a horse as a trade-in for a car and has to store the horse at Raj’s house in Watts.
But wait.
Then Rerun places an ad in the paper advertising “Horse for sale,” but there’s a typo and it reads, “House for sale.” Raj doesnt’ realize this and proceeds to sell his house for $5,000 cash to some jerk and his wife.
But wait.
Somehow, the guy handing over the money serves as a legal and binding contract because he and his wife move right in. With all of Raj and Nadine’s stuff still in the house. And the horse in the backyard.
I was stunned to see such absurdity this early in the show’s lifespan. This is usually the type of nonsense they pull at the end of the last season, when the show is gasping for air.
I guess What’s Happening Now!! had asthma from the start.
Posted in Television, Movies, and Music
Paul August 1, 2007, 2:04 pm
The first ep is on TV Land today and, wow, it was pretty awful. Yeesh.