Editing What's Happening!! (section)

==Production==

The pilot episode, "The Birthday Present", was videotaped in front of a live audience at ABC Television Studios in the [[Los Feliz]] section of [[Los Angeles]] on March 16, 1976.  Three additional episodes were videotaped that June, with the plan to release ''What's Happening!!'' as a short-duration "summer series" in August, 1976.  The first episode aired, "The Runaway", was actually the second episode taped, but was used as the premiere because it featured Fred Berry's dancing skills in a short scene.

The series was picked up after a successful summer run, and additional episodes were ordered for a November, 1976 airdate. Production was moved from ABC to [[Old Warner Brothers Studio|Golden West Videotape Division Studios]], an older, but larger facility, where it would remain for the rest of the series.

During the second season, Fred Berry demanded pay increases and improved studio accommodations for the actors by using the show's first season's success as leverage. The accommodations issue eventually led to a walkout by Berry and Thomas during the second-season episode "If I'm Elected" (leaving Haywood Nelson to carry the entire episode, with Shirley Hemphill stepping to the forefront, along with Bryan O'Dell and [[Debbi Morgan]] in featured speaking parts). Producer [[Bud Yorkin]], in turn, suspended the pair and forced them to sign $25,000 promissory notes to return to the show and prevent further walkouts.<ref>{{cite journal|date=October 20, 1977|title='Messy' Dressing Room Cleaned Up, 'What's Happening' Stars Return|journal=[[Jet (magazine)|Jet]]|publisher=Johnson Publishing Company|volume=53|issue=5|page=57}}</ref>

In addition, [[Mabel King]] offered producers input on her character and storylines during the second season, specifically that her character's ex-husband, Bill ([[Thalmus Rasulala]]), return full-time in order for the children to have (once again) married parents, showcasing what she felt would be a strong Black family. The producers did not incorporate King's suggestion, which resulted in additional tension on-set and a much-reduced role for King during the second season. Her character, Mama, was not written out of the show but rather limited to brief appearances on set (where she would say she was "leaving for work" or "going to the store") or mentioned in passing by other characters as being "at work".