Editing What's Happening!! (section)

==Characters==

*Roger Everett Gerald "Raj" Thomas ([[Ernest Lee Thomas|Ernest Thomas]]), the show's protagonist, is a teenager, living in Watts with his divorced mother Mabel, and his younger sister Dee, played as a young man, who usually gets into trouble, once he got into situations he couldn't runaway.
*Dwayne Clemens Nelson ([[Haywood Nelson]]) the youngest of the three friends, portrayed as affable but sometimes slow witted.
*Frederick (Freddy) J. "Rerun" Stubbs ([[Fred Berry]]) another of the three friends, an overweight, humorous boy.
*Deadra "Dee" Thomas ([[Danielle Spencer (American actress)|Danielle Spencer]]) is Raj's sarcastic, meddling younger sibling.
*Mabel “Mama” Thomas ([[Mabel King]]) is Raj and Dee's overbearing, divorced mother.
*Shirley Wilson ([[Shirley Hemphill]]) is a wisecracking waitress at the neighborhood soda shop.

===Recurring characters===
*Bill Thomas ([[Thalmus Rasulala]]) is Mabel's ex-husband and the father of Roger and Dee.
*Gene "Rabbit" Walker (Ray Vitte) is a political science major at the [[University of Southern California]], and a track team member.
*Detective "Big Earl" Barnett (John Welsh) is a police detective.
*"Little Earl" Barnett (David Hollander) is Big Earl's son.
*Rob ([[Earl Billings]]) is the owner of Rob's Place and Shirley's boss.
*Terry "Snake" Simpson (Leland Smith) is a star college basketball player whom Roger tutors in the third season.
*Mrs. Gertrude Collins ([[Fritzi Burr]]) is the boys' high school teacher.
*Marvin (Bryan O'Dell) is the boys' high school classmate and works for the school newspaper as a reporter.
*Diane Harris ([[Debbi Morgan]]) is another classmate of Roger, Dwayne, and Rerun.

===Notable guest stars===
*[[The Doobie Brothers]] appeared as themselves to perform a concert at Jefferson High (which was portrayed as Doobie Brother [[Patrick Simmons]]' [[alma mater]]).
*Actor [[Theodore Wilson]] made three appearances on ''What's Happening!!'' as three different characters.
*Actress [[Chip Fields]] appeared on ''What's Happening!!'' as two different characters.
*The dance group [[the Lockers]], of whom Fred Berry was a founding member, appeared in the first season as a group called the Rockets for whom Rerun auditions.
*[[Sorrell Booke]] appeared as a college-basketball [[Booster club|booster]] who tries to manipulate Snake in the third-season episode "Basketball Brain".
*Actor [[Tim Reid]] appeared as Dr. Claymore in the episode "It's All in Your Head".
*[[Irene Cara]] appeared as Rerun's would-be [[Alien (law)|immigrant]] bride Maria in the episode "Rerun Gets Married".
*Musician and actor [[Slim Gaillard]] appeared as Al in the episode "The Thomas Treasure".
*Noted jazz singer [[Bill Henderson (performer)|Bill Henderson]] appeared in season 2, episode 3, "Trial and Error", as Clarence Hopkins.
*Actor and comedian [[John Witherspoon (actor)|John Witherspoon]] appeared as a disc jockey in season 3 episode 1, titled "Disco Dollar Disaster."