SEASON 1
Created by Eric Monte
Opening theme: “What’s Happening!!” by Henry Mancini
NOTE: This series is a revival of the sitcom “What’s Happening!!,” which was based on the film “Cooley High”
- 001. Raj Returns – 9/7/1985
- Roger “Raj” Thomas (Ernest Thomas) has been living away from Watts for years, working as a writer, but now returns back to town with his new wife Nadine Hudson Thomas (Anne-Marie Johnson), a social worker. They purchase the house where Roger grew up, now that his mother has remarried and moved to Arizona. Rogers old friends Shirley Wilson (Shirley Hemphill) and Dwayne Nelson (Haywood Nelson) are keeping watch on the house, and when they see the lights on, they believe there are intruders in the house. Roger and Nadine also think there are intruders, so they early attack each other before having a fond reunion and catching up. Now that Rob’s restaurant has closed, Shirley is in-between jobs, but waiting for something to pan out the next day. Dwayne has been working with computer following a stint in the Army. Their old friend Rerun is working at K-Doe’s Used Cars, and doing their commercials. Dwayne calls Rerun (Fred Berry) to tell him to hurry over to the Thomas house because there is an emergency. When he arrives, he is less than enthusiastic to see Raj and leaves immediately. He refuses to talk about him with Dwayne, who invites them both to meet at the dilapidated Rob’s. Once they get there and the old memories start coming back, they make up, and Rerun admits he is being childish, jealous that now that Raj has returned as a successful author, he will be in his shadow again, despite doing commercials himself. Raj admits that he sold very few books and is far from successful. Shirley shows up and tells them that she attempted to buy the restaurant but didn’t have enough money. Nadine talks Raj into going into the deal, so he becomes a silent part-owner. Teddy Wilson plays a bum named Mr. Lee living in Rob’s. 4/8/20
- 002. A Horse Is Not a Home – 9/14/1985
- When Rerun is forced to take a horse as commission from K-Doe’s after he takes it as a trade-in, he brings it to Rob’s and asks Raj if he can keep iit at his house and then split the sale price when he sells it. Nadine is especially anxious to get rid of the horse because she is allergic to it. Rerun put an ad in the paper for it, but they misprint the word ‘house’ instead of the word ‘horse,’ so while Raj is talking to his publisher, a couple named Duke (Ray Girardin) and Jane Miller (Susan Ruttan) show up to look at the house, and then make a lowball offer of $5000. Roger gleefully accepts it, receives a down payment, and shares his good fortunate with Rerun, before Rerun can tell him about the printing error. Duke takes advantage of the situation and takes over the house and kicks them out. Raj, Rerun, Dwayne, and Shirley come up with the idea to try and scare them out of the house, so Shirley and Dwayne dress up like Ghostbusters and visit the house, while Raj makes spooky noises upstairs. When Nadine comes home and wonders what is going on, Raj is forced to tell her the truth. When she lambastes Duke for throwing out a family because of a mistake, Jane takes pity and tells Duke that she won’t move into the house. Raj offers Duke the horse for free, so he feels like he comes out ahead. 4/8/20
- 003. Dwayne’s Crush – 9/21/1985
- Since Roger is scared to death of dentists, Dwayne accompanies him and agrees to make an appointment of his own. While Roger is in with the dentist Frank Templeton (Harold Sylvester), Dwayne meets an attractive girl in the waiting room named Theresa (Mariann Aalda), who is trying to get an appointment of her own. She and Dwayne hit it off immediately and she arranges for them to go out. Days later, Dwayne is walking on air and Rerun is sick of hearing about his new relationship. Roger is down in the dumps because he needs to get a root canal for his abscessed tooth. When he returns to the dentist, he overhears Theresa talking to the receptionist Doris (Ronalda Douglas) about her husband. Once Roger is able to talk, he tries to find Dwayne to tell him that Theresa is married. She comes into the restaurant and Roger, Rerun, and Shirley read her the riot act. When Rerun tells her that Dwayne is seeing Dr. Templeton, she leads them all to rush to the office, because Dr. Templeton is her husband. Templeton discovers from some things that Dwayne said that he is seeing his wife, so he plans to fill him with nitrous oxide and pull all of his teeth out with a chisel and hammer. Theresa arrives in time to stop him and make up with him, telling him that she only did it to make him pay attention to her because he’s been working too much. Dwayne can’t really comprehend what’s going on because he is too high on laughing gas. Later he sobers up and makes a list of questions to ask a girl before dating her, but quickly discounts it when a pretty girl shows up at the restaurant looking for a man to help change her tire. Walter Klenhard is Walter the plumber. 11/4/20
- 004. The Houseguest – 9/28/1985
- When Rerun and Dwayne get over a fight over what color to paint the walls, it ends up escalating to the point that Dwayne decides to move out. He asks Raj if he can stay at his house, and Nadine agrees to this. They quickly come to regret it when they can never get any privacy, and Dwayne keeps cranking the heat up and re-arranging the furniture. Raj and Nadine invite Rerun over to see if they can mend their difference, but when each of them thinks the other one wants to apologize, the fight starts back up again. Dwayne ends up leaving to move back home, but Rerun now counts on staying with them. Once again Roger and Nadine cannot get any privacy, but decide to have a romantic night when Rerun goes to a party. Unfortunately Rerun’s date Joyce (Yvette Aubry) gets drunk and falls in the pool at the party. He brings her back to Raj’s house and she dries off and gets into one of Nadine’s nightgowns. Roger and Nadine come home early to be together, but when Raj sees Joyce in the nightgown, he pounces on her thinking she is Nadine. Raj decides to confront the problem head on and invites Rerun to the restaurant to tell him he needs to move out. Before it becomes necessary, Rerun and Dwayne chat at the restaurant and decide that Roger is extremely difficult to live with. They decide to move back in together. Shirley sees this as an opportunity to see if Roger will let her stay while she gets her house painted, much to his incredulity. Episode writer Kurt Taylor appears as the smoking man. 7/20/20
- 005. One Enchanted Evening – 10/5/1985
- Nadine’s difficult mother Yvonne Hudson (Lillian Lehman) is coming for a visit on her way to Hawaii, and Roger is climbing the walls because she intimidates him and causes him to act like a klutz. Nervous about her seeing the homeless wino Mr. Lee in his restaurant. Dwayne and Rerun agree to take Mr. Lee out for dinner elsewhere to avoid her seeing him. From the moment Yvonne arrives, she begins insulting Roger and being difficult. Roger tries to impress her by taking her to his restaurant for dinner, but after seeing it she requests to go to the expensive French restaurant Chez Argent instead. Before they leave, Mr. Lee returns dressed in a fancy suit and a suave demeanor, spouting poetry and impressing immediately Yvonne, who invites him to join them for dinner. When they arrive, the Maitre’d (Richard Balin) tells them that the wait will be an hour, but when Mr. Lee speaks French and tells them that he was there when they liberated France, they are seated immediately. Roger and Nadine are in a panic about her mother dating a bum, but even though his addiction to wine and his lake of refinement are rather obvious, Yvonne sees him as charming and droll. Roger gets the massive check, and the maitre’d tells them that Yvonne and Mr. Lee had left together. Dwayne and Rerun search the city trying to find them, but only tracks down their trail of getting soup at the mission. Roger confesses to Nadine that her mother makes him feel like a klutz, and Nadine tells him that she loves him as he is and that he should never let him feel inferior. Yvonne and Mr. Lee return, and Yvonne is walking on air spouting how much Mr. Lee is a sophisticated man of the world, and that Nadine sadly didn’t inherit her taste in men. Nadine is about to tell her off and inform her that she was dating a bum, but Roger stops her and tells Nadine not to rain on her parade. He decides it doesn’t matter what she thinks, since he has the love and respect of Nadine. 7/21/20
- 006. Aunt Shirley – 10/12/1985
- Roger and Nadine plan a mountain getaway at the Cozy Cottage, and plan to have Shirley look after their foster daughter Carolyn (Reina King). As they are leaving Carolyn overhears them saying how nice it will be to get away on their own. She is clearly upset by the time Shirley arrives and her folks leave. They spend the evening at the restaurant while Shirley works, and Rerun and Dwayne take her home to Roger’s house. There they play hide and go seek, but while Dwayne hides and Rerun eats, she runs away with her doll Natalie. By the time Shirley gets home from work, the guys haven’t realized she is gone yet, but tell her that Dwayne had mentioned that his uncle used to take buses to get away and at one point headed to Kansas City. Shirley heads there and finds her with the ticket agent (Lee Weaver) trying to buy a ticket. Shirley had a talk with her and, using reverse psychology, convinces her that Roger and Nadine do in fact love her, but need time to be alone sometimes. Roger and Nadine come home early because the bridge is out, and get there just before Shirley and Carolyn arrive back. Carolyn rushes into their arms and tells them it is okay to get away to ‘suck face’ now and then. Murray Rubin is the ‘ugly’ customer. Nigel Bullard is customer who gets his friend’s food. NOTE: This episode out of sequence with episode #7, so Carolyn’s presence wouldn’t be explained until the following week. 11/4/20
- 007. The New Kid – 10/19/1985
- During a promotional event at the restaurant for a personal appearance of Freddie “Swami” Stubbs, Roger gets stiffed by a customer named Lucy (Judy Pace), who leaves behind her daughter Carolyn and claims she is getting her purse from the car. It turns out that Lucy is a con artist and not the mother of Carolyn after all. Nadine discovers that Carolyn is actually a runaway from the orphanage, and she has the choice of either taking her to the detention center for the weekend or keeping her at her house. Roger agrees that they can keep her for the weekend. While Rerun is doing his Swami dance, Carolyn sneaks out and meets up with Lucy, who recommends that she goes home with Nadine and Roger and steal all she can. Carolyn swipes Nadine’s diamond necklace, a family heirloom that had been passed down through generations. Carolyn is also thrilled when Roger gives her $10 for helping at the restaurant. Carolyn decides not to turn over the necklace to Lucy and tells her to stay away from her. That night Nadine can’t find her necklace… but then locates it elsewhere in the drawer, indicating that Carolyn had returned it before anyone ever knew it was gone. As Nadine and Roger turn in on their last night with Carolyn, they discuss how much they’ll miss her, and then both admit that they both want to keep her. Carolyn excitedly agrees that she’d like to stay. NOTE: This episode aired out of sequence with episode #6, so it had not been explained where Carolyn came form in the previous episode. Lisa S. Cain is the customer and Swami fan, and Rick Berry is her bossy boyfriend. 2/24/21
- 008. The Bully – 10/26/1985
- Roger gets thrown into a jail cell by a guard (John Pappas) while dressed in a chicken costume. He explains to the drunk old man (Carmen Filpi), and then to Nadine and Carolyn when they come to see him, how this situation came to be. That morning he dressed as a chicken to promote a chicken sale at Rob’s. Shirley had found out from a friend at the health department that they were going to get an inspection that day, so she was ready. The inspector who showed up happened to be an old bully from high school named Howard “Buddy” Carlton (Meshach Taylor), who would put Dwayne into headlocks, snap Rerun’s suspenders, and wet Roger’s glasses with his fingers. The only time he was ever caught was when he tried to make Roger eat a worm and was caught in the act by the principal. Buddy is just as much of jerk as he ever was and threatens to close down the restaurant for minor infractions if Roger doesn’t eat a worm. Roger refuses but when he realizes that the case could get held up for several months before they get a hearing, he and his friends scheme to substitute a noodle for a worm. Buddy doesn’t fall for it, and brings along his own worm… but Roger stands up to Buddy and refuses again, telling him that he must still be an idiot to be such a bully. Buddy tells him that he respects him for the first time, then launches into another round of bullying against the guys. Roger tries to hit him with a cream pie but accidentally hits a police officer (David Moriarty) who comes in for the chicken special, which is what got him arrested. While Buddy is laughing, Roger drops the work into Buddy’s mouth. Shirley threatens to tell everyone at the health department that Roger made him eat a worm if he doesn’t open the restaurant back up. Shirley makes enough money with the chicken sale to pay Roger’s bail money. Shirley plans for the next week’s promotion as well… to have Roger dress as a fish. 2/24/21
- 009. That Old Gang of Mine – 11/2/1985
- Everyone at Rob’s is getting ready to host a party fundraiser for the local Youth Center, even bringing in an old, crippled handyman named Cecil (Le Teri) to fix the jukebox. As they are decorating, a troublemaker named Tico (Theo Forsett) comes into the restaurant, insulting and bothering everyone, and announcing that he is bringing back the legendary gang The Bangers, a long-defunct gang that was once run by the notorious Dr. Blood, who, after many gang fights, disappeared. Roger threatens to have Tico arrested, and throws him out, but he vows to come back during the fundraiser to recruit others into the Bangers, Roger gets the idea to pose as Dr. Blood, and bring Dwayne and Rerun along as fellow gang members. When Tico does in fact show up looking for trouble, Roger makes his appearance, and nearly has Tico convinced that he was Dr. Blood, until Roger loses his fake giant afro. Tico then goes looking for a fight, and pulls out a knife. Cecil uses his cane to disarm Tico’s knife, then reveals that he in fact was the original Dr. Blood. He tells Tico and his friends that his brother lost his life in a gang fight, and that those who go down the gang lifestyle path, will end up dead or in jail, or working a second-rate job and walking with a limp like him. Tico decides to leave, and his two goons reluctantly go along. Cecil agrees to speak at the fundraiser, to convey how important it is to have a youth center. 6/20/21
- 010. Dueling Menus – 11/9/1985
- Dwayne does a business analysis of Rob’s, and tells Roger that the restaurant is losing money. Shortly after Roger delivers the news to Shirley, he sees her insulting a customer, who turns out to be food critic Perry “Pig Out” Peterson (Craig Richard Nelson) with the local newspaper. Roger blames Shirley for her treatment of the customers for their lack of business, and makes her promise to be more polite to the customers. She practices this on Roger and Rerun, but can’t go two minutes without dishing out the insults. This leads to an argument between them, and they decide to have a contest to see who will call the shots at the restaurant. They divide the restaurants in two sections to see whether Shirley or Roger will earn the most money. They resort to all sorts of gimmicks, with Roger bringing in fortune teller Talmo the Magnificent, while Shirley brings in Fatima the belly dancer. They then start to lower the food prices, until Shirley finally gives away all-you-can-eat for free. It turns out that they both lose money, but Roger loses less, so this puts him in charge. When he starts barking orders, Shirley immediately quits. They then realize that the Peterson had gave a rave review of sorts, pointing out that Shirley was the main attraction with her fire-breathing waitressing. This draws crowds from all over who want to see Shirley. Nadine tries unsuccessfully imitate Shirley’s insults, before suggesting that Roger bring her back. Shirley comes back to pick up a few things, and Roger admits he was wrong, and tells her that if she comes back, she can be herself. Shirley accepts his offer and comes out guns blazing with insults for the customers, all of whom get a kick out of her. Hawthorne James, Rocco Karega, and Jason Bowe Hedgia are customers. 6/21/21
- 011. Dee’s Dilemma – 11/16/1985
- Dee comes home for her break in her first semester in college, and asks Raj to let her work at the diner so she can make some spending money. Raj agrees, but still manages to treat her like a child with advise about her school and personal life. Dee runs into her friend Charlene (Wanda Penalver), who has been making a decent living selling cosmetics for Madame Renee. Dee decides to go out that night with her, and winds up staying out until 2am, much to Roger’s irritation. When he starts lecturing her, Dee tells Roger that she plans to not go back to college and to instead sell cosmetics. This escalates the friction between them even more, until they are no longer talking to one another. Dee talks Rerun and Dwayne into letting her host her cosmetics presentation at their place. Nadine and Caroline go along to presentation as well. Unfortunately, the other customers (Regina Hooks, Robin Claire, Robin Townsend) are unimpressed with the presentation, and an older customer (Isabel Cooley) gets downright nasty. Roger stops by the apartment, not knowing that the girls are all there, and when he sees Nadine, he is especially surprised she lied to go behind his back to support Dee. Nadine tells Roger that it is him who is making a mistake, and that the more that he lectures Dee, the more she’ll do just the opposite. Roger then goes into the party and pretends to be a French makeup artist to the stars, and recommends the product. When this doesn’t work and all of the customers walk out, Roger offers to buy one of every item from Dee. She declines, and tells Roger that she’s rather make her own mistakes, and Roger is able to convince her that it is probably best to ‘find herself’ as she works her way through the school classes. Dee tells him that he has to give her a cheek kiss, just like their mother used to make him do. Ryan White is Dee’s diner customer. 11/10/21
- 012. Raj on the Run – 11/23/1985
- Dwayne is rushing off to a job interview, Rerun is assisting with Nadine’s charity fashion show, and Raj is picking up Carolyn from school. Meanwhile, two F.B.I. agents come into the diner looking for Roger, but won’t reveal the reason. Shirley tells them that he should be coming there, then sends Dee to warn Roger that Agents Butler (Harrison Page) and Cosay (Michael Francis Clarke) are looking for him. Roger has just given a speech to Carolyn about her lying to the teacher and telling her that she read her assignment, but when Dee tells Roger about the agents, he believes that he picked up United States secrets from a Chinese laundry when he was interviewing a man in Washington for his book. Roger then dresses like a woman, has the girls cover for him, and sneaks out of the house to go see Nadine at the fashion show. It isn’t long before Carolyn tells the F.B.I. men that Roger is there at the show, since he just lectured her about lying. They go to try and find him, but Roger tries to sneak around the show, while trying to stay away from a drunk lodge member (Eugene Jackson). With the FBI lurking around, Rerun throws him on the stage, where Nadine finally sees him in drag. Dwayne finally shows up at the show and recognizes Roger. The FBI member/s reveal they were there to interview Raj since Dwayne used him as a reference for the job he was interviewing for, but ultimately decides the job is not for him. 11/10/21
- 013. The Challenge – 12/7/1985
- Dwayne helps out Roger by setting him up to sponsor Channel 77’s World Class Wrestling. Everyone is excited, but Roger insists that wrestling is stupid and fake. Nevertheless, he goes to the wrestling studio dressed as Mr. Good Chef to shoot the commercial. They run into wrestler “Mama’s Boy” Jones (John Hazelwood), a character who dresses like a baby and is obsessed with his mother (Belita Moreno) and convinces him to appear in the commercial. Roger doesn’t think his performance is very convincing, so when Dwayne tells him it angers Mama’s Boy when his mother is insulted, Roger purposely insults her to him. The other wrestlers hold him back while he tries to attack Roger, but it leads to a good commercial. Before Roger can leave, Mama’s Boy challenges Roger to a wrestling match. Since Roger still thinks it is fake, and the promoter agrees to televise it, Roger accepts the challenge. Meanwhile, Mama’s Boy’s mother convinces him to let Roger win the match so that he can become a good guy and get more merchandising opportunities. Mama’s Boy tells Roger that he’s going to let him win the match and even shows him how to do some fake moves in the ring. When Mama’s Boy mother sees Roger, she realizes that he cheated her when she ate at Rob’s restaurant, and then tells Mama’s Boy to destroy him. When the match takes place, Roger is surprised when Mama’s Boy doesn’t go easy on him. During the match, Mama’s Boy’s mother realizes that she had actually had bad service at Ron’s Place, and not Rob’s Place. This leads to a fight between Mama’s Boy and his mother, but it makes him angrier at Roger. He tries to destroy Roger, but Roger winds up falling on him and pinning him. Dwayne then sets Raj up for another promotion opportunity… roller derby. Dean Dittman is the ring announcer. Bill Grant is the Duke of Earl. Ripper Savage is Jungle George. 4/21/22
- 014. Married or Not – 12/14/1985
- Nadine gets tickets to an art museum exhibit for Saturday, but Raj already has plans for a softball game when Roy’s Ribs challenges Rob’s Place. Raj promises Nadine that they will go out to dinner at Antonio’s after the game is over. However, Rob’s Place winds up winning the game with Raj being the hero, so Raj feels that he must attend the victory party instead. Raj calls and cancels the reservations and then has to face the task of telling Nadine. This results in a huge fight, and Raj explains to Nadine how he has never been the hero of a game before, making this one all the more important. Nadine still isn’t buying it, so Raj moves his thinks in with Rerun and Dwayne. That night, the guys try to talk Raj into going out to the Blue Fox dance club, but Raj isn’t up for it… until he finds out from Caroline that Nadine has gone out with her friend Paulette (Ola Ray), while Shirley babysits Caroline. Raj decides to go along after all, but can’t think of much other than Nadine. A girl at the club named Marcie (BernNadette Stanis) tries to hit on Roger, but Roger doesn’t show any interest. However Nadine and Paulette wind up showing up at the club, and Nadine spies Roger and Marcie together. This prompts her to start dancing with a smooth guy (Antonio McKay aka Anthony McLauglin) with a Porsche. Roger joins in on the dance floor with Marcie, and he and the Porsche guy end up trying to show each other up. Roger winds up falling and hurting himself, and Nadine runs to rescue him. Rerun has the DJ play a slow song for them and they slow dance together. Back home it is revealed that Raj wound up with a broken leg. Miguel A. Nunez, Jr. is the Porsche guy’s friend. Tena Brown is Rerun’s dance partner. 4/21/22
- 015. The Improbable Dream – 12/21/1985
- Carolyn brings home a little dog named Jojo, which had belonged to a classmate whose parents would not let them keep the dog. Although Nadine finds Jojo cute, she doesn’t think they have enough room for a dog. Carolyn tries to talk Roger into letting her keep the dog, but he won’t go behind Nadine’s back. Carolyn tries Dwayne and Rerun but they can’t keep the dog. Dee’s college dorm room is too small, and Shirley’s apartment doesn’t allow pets. When Carolyn goes into the back room at the restaurant to find Jojo some food, she is knocked out by a box that falls off of the shelf. When she wakes up, everyone is gone from the restaurant, and when she goes outside, she finds everything is in bright colors, and she runs into a group of Munchkins (Buddy Douglas, Jimmy Briscoe, Lou Carry, Kevin Thompson, and Debbie Lee Carrington). They are soon followed by the Wicked Witch, who is actually Nadine. Dee, as the good witch, then comes along and sends the wicked witch away and sets her out on a course of the Yellow Brick Road to see the Wizard who can get her back to L.A. Along the way, she encounters the struggling screenplay writer, the Scarecrow – who is Roger, the Tin Man comprised of computer parts who is brokenhearted because he can’t find a love of his own – who is Dwayne, and a lion who can’t sell cars an is afraid of failing as a salesman – who is Rerun. The join her in finding the Wizard, who is just around the corner. The Wizard is rude to them, but Jojo finds a menu leading to the real Wizard behind the curtain taking food orders – who is Shirley. She gives Roger an agent (Lou Carry), Dwayne a black book of phone numbers, and Rerun a Salesman of the Year award. She gives Carolyn a gift certificate for a new dog house, but Nadine shows up and steals Jojo and disappears in a cloud of smoke. As Carolyn cries for Jojo, she wakes up surrounded by her friends, family, and a paramedic (Harold Surratt), who offers to take the puppy and give it a home with him and his daughter. 8/25/22
- 016. Rags to Riches – 1/18/1986
- Rerun comes into the diner buying everyone free burgers thanks to a windfall that he has received by playing the stock market with his used car earnings. Before he even leaves the joint, he has doubled his $20,000 fortune to $40K. His friends all warn him to be careful and spend his money wisely, but he immediately lets it go to his head when he buys a stranger a new hat. His financial advisor J.B. Whitney (Rusty Cundieff) manages Rerun’s money, and advises him to splurge on the finer things. Before long he has a tailor named Henry (Alain Saint-Alix), an interior decorator named Diana (Stephanie Faulkner), a bodyguard named Mr. G. (Wazir Salaam), and two sisters, Rhonda (Valerie McIntosh) and Wanda Foxworth (Debbie Bell) following him around. He also begins dressing in a fur coat and beret. He begins hosting lavish and pretentious parties at the apartment, so Dwayne comes to have dinner at Roger’s house. That night on the news, they hear that J.B. has left the country and taken his clients’ money with him. They all find it amusing that Rerun is now broke, but decide they should tell him the news, so they head over to his party. Once they finally get his attention long enough to tell them that he is broke, he laughs them off and tells them that they are just jealous. However, he soon gets a call from his broker, and finds out that it is the truth. His party friends all leave immediately, but his real friends return to see if he is okay. Roger tells him that they all dream of being rich, and that he was lucky enough to get to actually experience it for a while. He has $100 left and offers to take his friends to the movies, but Shirley claims the money and says it will cover his tab at the restaurant. William Utay is the greedy customer. Craig Marks is the Backgammon gambler. Mark Lowenthal is the painter. Amy Wilkins is the harpist. 8/26/22
- 017. Goodbye, Mr. Ripps – 1/25/1986
- Shirley finds out from her church bulletin that one of the gang’s favorite high school teachers Mr. Ripps (Frank Pinkard) is going to be retiring. They all remember him for the practical jokes he used to play on his class, before yelling out “gotcha!”. They decide to arrange a retirement part for him at the diner, and plan to pay him back with their own practical joke. Mr. Ripps shows up before the party and brings along a cake, which the guys all assume is a practical joke. However, when they open it up, it really is a cake. He tells them that he gave up the practical jokes a long time again, so they decide to skip playing one on him. However, when Roger takes the cake back to the kitchen, it explodes everywhere. They decide that the joke is back on, so during the party, one of the gifts is an anonymous tape recorder sent by former student Lenny Cranberry, who was flunked by Mr. Ripps and then threatened him back in school. The tape says that he has heard about the party and is sending a friend to get even with him. Roger then enters wearing a mask and pulls a gun on Mr. Ripps. When he fires it, the gun only has a flag that says “Bang!” on it, but Ripps collapses. His brother Dr. Charles Ripps (Jason Edwards) is at the party and declares him dead. Before his funeral, Mr. Ripps reveals that he is still alive and has arranged to play this joke on the guys with his brother and the mortician Leon (Ted Ross), whose idiot son Junior (Donald Fullilove) was one Mr. Ripps students as well. Junor has been assigned to look for a casket that is supposed to ship to Pittsburgh. When Roger and his gang all arrive, they speak to Junior who inadvertently lets them in on the practical joke that Mr. Ripps is working on with his father to play on some kids. They decide to get revenge, so they go in to see the body, and speak about how they can give him a much cheaper funeral with a book of matches. This rouses Ripps to jump up and reveal himself to be alive, but the guys just close the casket door on him. They then tell Junior that this was the casket he was supposed to send to Pittsburgh. When Junior’s father comes looking for him, the guys tell him that he’s shipping a casket to Pittsburgh. He’s glad his son finally got something right, until he realizes that he’s take the casket with Mr. Ripps in it 12/12/22
- 018. Dee and Dwayne – 2/1/22
- Dwayne shows up at the restaurant with two tickets to the Tina Turner concert but doesn’t know who to ask out to go with him. He doesn’t want his latest girlfriend to read too deep into his intention for their relationship. When Dee comes into the place and tells him how much she loves Tina Turner, Dwayne agrees to take her to the show. Roger is a little taken aback when he finds out about it, but Nadine assures him that there’s nothing to worry about. After the show, they Dwayne and Dee have a such a nice time together that he decides to take her out again, this time to see a stand-up comedy show. Roger gets more annoyed this time, but Nadine mostly calms him down again. This time when they come home, Dee invites him to go in the house. They never actually make it past the front door, as Dee starts to tell him that she used to have a big crush on him when she was younger. He admits that over the past couple of nights, he’s looked at her as more of a woman than as his friend’s little sister. She gives him a kiss, and he kisses her back… and then they say goodnight. The next day, Dee is in a great mood even on a rainy day, and mentions Dwayne being her man, making Roger now livid at Dee and Nadine. When Rerun informs him that Dwayne had him clear out for a special date at his apartment, and then goes on to tell Roger how he can be a real wolf, Roger heads over to talk to Dwayne. Before he gets there, Dee stops to see Dwayne as well and brings over tickets to see Herbie Hancock. Dwayne says it would be awesome to go, but he has a date for a romantic dinner at the apartment with a girl named Cindy (Barbara Pariot). Dee is crushed and makes some rude comments about Cindy. Dwayne talks to her and tells her that he wouldn’t hurt her for the world, and he regrets kissing her and confusing the issue. He admits that a couple years earlier when he saw her, he developed a crush and thought about asking her out, but he considers their friendship very special, like a sister and brother, and wouldn’t want to jeopardize that. She understands and agrees, but when she goes into the bathroom to adjust her contact lens, Roger shows up berating Dwayne for his date. However, when Roger sees Cindy, he feels stupid, but once Dee comes out of the restroom, he is now angry again and confused. They both tell Roger that everything worked out the way they needed it to, and that they have decided not to date. Dee asks Roger if he wants to go to the Herbie Hancock concert, and Roger is flattered that she would want to go with her brother. Dee tells him that she meant that he and Nadine could have them, as long as they didn’t stay out too late. 12/12/22
- 019. Mr. First Nighter – 2/8/1986
- Raj’s friends all gather at his house to read his newest murder mystery play It’s Nothing Personal, but even though they all find it compelling, it puts Roger asleep in the chair. The next day, Roger takes his play to agent Bernie, who also find the play great but warns Roger that it will be difficult to find an investor since he is an unproven artist. He tells his friends that Bernie told him about the concept of showcasing, whereby he comes up with enough money to put on the show one time so that investors can come and take a look at the play. His friends all become more interested in chipping in when he tells them that there are possible rewards if the play makes it big and becomes a Broadway hit, a movie, or a TV show. They make arrangements and hire actors, and soon they are working on rehearsals with the chosen cast: Christina (Bobbie Faye Ferguson), Tracy (Jere Fields), Nelson Eric (Kevin Duffis), Roland (David Moriarty), and Murray (Jan Robson). Although Roger considers the relationship between the actors to be great, soon they start bickering and fighting, and within minutes they have all quit and walked out on the play. Roger tells everyone that if they can’t get actors by Saturday night, they will all lose their investment money. Rerun suggests that they play the parts themselves. Some have had more experience than others, and they tell Roger he can play the murder victim Garth who does nothing more than get shot early in the play. They all promise to act together as a team, and as the rehearsals go on, it starts to become obvious that Nadine and Dwayne are becoming attracted to each other. This all happens to coincide with Shirley taking out an insurance policy on Roger as her business partner with her insurance agent (Stephen Gradney). When Roger finds out that Shirley has bought some insurance, and then Nadine and Dwayne walk into the restaurant arm in arm after playing tennis together, he starts to get suspicious that something is going on. The next time they are at rehearsals, it becomes clear that they are all plotting Roger’s murder. During the scene when they murder Roger’s character, Dwayne pulls out a real gun. Nadine takes it and tells Dwayne that she and Dwayne are in love. Just as Roger is panicking that they are really going to kill him, he wakes up, having fallen asleep listening to his friends reading his play in the living room of his house. They all again tell him how much they like the play and suggest even playing the parts themselves, to which Roger responds that that would only happen over his dead body. Nigel Gibbs is the toasted bun customer. 5/27/23
- 020. Shirley’s Pen Pal – 3/1/1986
- After being pen pals for seven years while in the navy, Shirley’s sailor friend Nate Bailey (Felton Perry) gets out of the service and comes from Borneo to meet up with Shirley at Rob’s. Shirley is thrilled to see him, even though he is rather bullish. obnoxious, and overbearing. He enjoys slapping everyone on the back and making them exercise and stand at attention. After spending one night with Shirley, she arranges with Roger to have him work at the restaurant. He oversteps his bound quite often, especially when he orders 200 pounds of navy beans so that he can make his chili. He also has the delivery boy (Ronn Riser), a customer, and Roger doing calisthenics at the restaurant. Roger comes home physically sore, and decides he is going to have to tell Shirley that he needs to fire Nate. Before he can tell her his news, she shows up with some news of her own: she and Nate have decided to get married. Despite the fact that no one likes Nate, Roger and Nadine throw Shirley an engagement party. Soon Roger starts to infringe on the diner itself when he insists that they adopt a three-dollar minimum. During the party, everyone is bored with Nate’s Navy story, but they all toast the marriage. However, when Nate mentions that there will soon be just two people running the dinner, Roger thinks that Nate is trying to phase him out. Roger finally opens up and lays into Roger. Shirley tells Roger to calm down but then asks Nate for clarification. When he tells her that she will hang up her apron and stay at home. She tells him that she likes her job and serving customers, to which he tells her that she can serve up his meal every night. Shirley then gets angry at Nate and tells him that this isn’t the Navy and he has gone overboard. The two of them speak alone with calmer heads, but they agree that they tried too hard to make the relationship happen and shouldn’t get married. They agree to be friends, and Nate decides to move on to Seattle. They agree to remain friends and be pen pals again. Roger and the gang comfort Shirley, and Shirley jokes that Roger is stuck with 200 pounds of navy beans. 9/28/23
- 021. Nadine’s Boss – 3/8/1986
- Carolyn is getting ready for school where they will have a guest speaker from NASA, Roger is working on 10% off flyers for the restaurant, and Nadine is nervous about work as there is an efficiency expert named ‘Pink-Slip’ Patty Marlowe (Carol Swarbrick) is coming to observe their work practices. Roger asks Nadine to put up one of his flyers at work, and Nadine reminds Roger that reporter Ralph Clemons (Richard Cummings Jr.) from the Daily Star is coming to interview Roger about his writing career. Nadine is much more nervous that of her co-worker Byron (Earl Boen), who accidentally insults Patty when she is standing behind him. When Patty is ready for lunch, she sees Roger’s flyer and heads to Rob’s for lunch. With Shirley on vacation in New York, Roger has employed Rerun to help cook for the day, and the sales has proven a bigger success than expected. The place is a madhouse and Roger invokes the ire of many customers, chief among them is Patty herself. She is so vicious with Roger that he throws her out of the place. At the end of the day, Patty starts to lament her bad day and how she missed lunch thanks to the ineptness at the restaurant, so Nadine invites her over for dinner at their house. Dwayne stops by at Roger’s place to repay him a loan, and while they are in the kitchen, Patty shows up for dinner. When Roger sees that Patty is the customer he threw out, Roger asks Dwayne to pose as Nadine’s husband. Nadine has no idea what they are doing, so she is shocked when Dwayne acts as if he is her husband. Once Roger tells Nadine what is going on, Nadine tries to rush Patty out the door to go to a restaurant, but Ralph the reporter shows up to ask ‘Roger’ questions about his writing. Dwayne struggles to answer the questions, sneaking to get answers from Roger from the kitchen. Eventually, Patty becomes suspicious and looks in the kitchen and finds Roger. She recognizes him as the inept restaurant owner, and Roger confesses that he and Dwayne switched places so that she wouldn’t fire Nadine. Patty tells Nadine that she thinks she is a terrific and efficient worker and would not fire her. Roger and Patty then agree that they were both probably out of line and agree to truce. However, when Nadine finds out that Roger has cooked dinner, she notes it may be the shortest truce in history. Ray Ballard is the bathroom customer. Eric Fleeks is the customer at the bar. 5/27/23
- 022. The Wedding – 3/16/1986
- Roger and Nadine get a telegram from a messenger (Marc Silver) from the Connecticut Department of Records, which tells them that the minister was an imposter and that their marriage is not legal. Nadine finds out that a judge can marry them at the courthouse, but their friends convince them to have a real wedding since they never got to see them get married since they had eloped. Dwayne and Rerun both argue over who gets to be the Best Man. As Nadine works on Carolyn’s Flower Girl outfit, she drops the bomb that she has raised their total of twenty guests to seventy. Rerun stops by to show him their old yearbook to reminisce about their friendship. He is quickly followed by Dewayne, who offers Roger Lakers tickets. Shirley brings over a trio of singers Diane, Pat, and Robin (Phyliss Bailey, Carlease Burke, Gloria Rusch) to sing for them. When Dwayne tells Shirley that they’re renting the Community Center for the reception, Roger starts to feel overwhelmed and tells they can talk about everything later. Roger tells Nadine that he doesn’t want a wedding, but this hurts Nadine’s feelings and tells Roger that maybe they shouldn’t be married, relegating Roger to the sofa. He is so uncomfortable that he sneaks up to the bed, so Nadine decides to head to the couch. They decide that they’re both being silly and agree to head to the courthouse the next day to get married. The next day at Rob’s, the girls all practice Up Where We Belong, and Reverend Berry (Clinton Derricks-Carroll) has lunch and forgets his wallet. Roger, Nadine, and Carolyn shows up at the diner and tell them that they went to the courthouse to get married. Everyone is disappointed, but then Roger then tells them all that they were all booked up and there wasn’t a judge available. They tell their friends that there isn’t going to be a big wedding because it was making them miserable to have everyone make demands on them. Reverend Berry returns to pay Shirley for the meal, and when Roger and Nadine see him, they decide to cover his bill… if he will agree to marry them right then and there. While everyone else argue amongst themselves, Roger tells them all to gather around for their marriage. Roger tells Roger and Dwayne that they will both be the Best Men. Rerun buys a hat with flowers on it from a lady (Adrian Ricard) in the restaurant for Carolyn to hold. Roger has secretly purchased a ring for Nadine since he couldn’t afford one for their first marriage. Shirley and girls sing as the Reverend pronounces them man and wife. The lady with the hat burst out in tears when she sees what they did to her hat. NOTE: This episode marks the last appearance of Fred Berry and Reina King. 9/29/23
SEASON 2
- 023. Nadine’s Surprise – 9/27/1986
- Nadine’s neighbor Thelma, who has nine kids, drops off some baby clothes for the thrift store, and they get to talking about Nadine’s desire to have a family. When Roger gets home, she mentions this to him, also lamenting how much she misses Carolyn now that she has gone to live with her aunt, but he is too busy putting together new menu items to talk about it. After Roger leaves, his father Bill (Thalmus Rasulala) stops by the house while on a business trip for a stationary company from Seattle and meets Nadine for the first time. He admits that Roger may not want to see him, but Nadine invites him to come back that evening for dinner. When Roger gets to the restaurant, he mentions that Nadine questions him about having a baby, and Shirley and Dwayne ask him if Nadine is pregnant. He doesn’t think that is a possibility. He has to run back home to get a warranty for the restaurant grill so the repairman (Joel Weiss) can fix it. Thelma stops over again to drop off maternity clothes before Roger arrives, and when he comes in, he sees one of the maternity shirts and overhears them talking about a new addition to the family. Although they are referring to Roger’s father, Roger thinks that Nadine is pregnant, so he returns to work and tells everyone the news. Roger is happy, but nervous about being a good father. His friends all try to convince him he would be a great father. Roger goes home excited, bringing Nadine flowers and insisting that she sit down, relax, and put her feet up. When he mentions her having a baby, she tells him that she is not pregnant. When Bill shows up, Roger is not thrilled to see him and walks out of the house. Bill talks to Roger and apologizes for being such a deadbeat father but says that he has recovered from his days of drinking and not being able to hold a job. Roger reads him the riot act for all of the chances he’s already given him, and all the times that his father has walked out or disappeared from his life. He tells Roger he’d like to try and be a father again, and if not, he would settle just to be his friend. Roger agrees that he will give him another chance. Teresa Polk and Donniece Jackson are the impatient girl customers. Willie H. Reaves and Jason Moses are the impatient guy customers, with Moses being ‘Bird Brain.’ 1/28/24
- 024. Shirley’s Landlord – 10/4/1986
- As Dwayne is pledging his support for Senate candidate Jerry Schnabel who is running against Senator Hickman, Shirley’s neighbor Minnie (Alice Ghostley) comes into the diner to bring her a letter left by their new landlord R.J. Sloan (Harris Laskawy), who is working for the new building owners Combined Properties. The letter states that her rent is being doubled, so she calls Sloan for a meeting. He tells her that she doesn’t currently have a lease and hasn’t had a rent increase in six years. However, he says he will knock $100 a month off of the rent if she will agree to be the building manager. This means she will have to show apartments, take complaints, and collect rent. She agrees, but soon finds out that it is more work than she is cut out for, especially when he tells her that she had to serve eviction papers to Minnie for non-payment of rent. As she is trying to tell this to Minnie, who states that her retirement check doesn’t come until the 5th of the month was okay with previous management, Sloan comes into the restaurant and tells Shirley to serve two more notices, one to a family who just had a baby, and another to an elderly couple who yell a lot since they are hard of hearing. Shirley then realizes that he is only doing this to force those with leases out of them so that they can rent the apartments at higher prices. Shirley arranges to have a meeting with the tenants of the apartment, who initially blame her since she is the manager. However, when Sloan stops by and issues three more evictions, they realize that it is out of her control. Roger, Nadine, and Dwayne, who were all outraged by the situation, show up and reveal that one of the stakeholders of Combines Properties is Senator Hickman, and Dwayne says that as a representative of Jerry Schnabel, he can get this information on the evening news. This scares Sloan into backing off, thinking that the Senator might blame him for his publicity nightmare if this gets out. Sloan promises there will be no more rent hikes, but Shirley still says she wants to quit as manager. Sloan thinks he can handle the complaints, until he realizes that nearly everyone in the room has something that needs fixed. Jerry Schnabel loses the election. Gail Neely is the tenant who blames Shirley. Michael K. Woods is the customer who tells Shirley not to back down. 6/13/24
- 025. The Movie Deal – 10/11/1986
- Roger is preparing a celebratory romantic dinner after he sells a story to Reader’s Digest for $300 and finishes his manuscript for The Great Cleveland Jewel Heist. Impressed with his ability, Nadine asks Roger to help her write her case study on homeless women for a funding project for her job. Raj drops off his screenplay with his agent Bernie (Bernie West), and in no time, Raj gets a call from Bernie, who stops by at Rob’s Place to tell him that famous producer David Ross (Matt Landers) happened to be in Bernie’s office and became immediately interested in Raj’s submission. However, Ross has trepidation about signing a first-time screenwriter, so Bernie arranges a meeting between Raj and Ross. As Bernie is leaving, he tells him that his story about homeless women is a brilliant idea. Raj then realizes that he had accidentally dropped off Nadine’s case study instead of his manuscript. That evening, Raj gives Nadine the news but before he can tell her about the project involving her case study, Bernie arrives at the house. Raj then tells them both the truth about the situation, but Bernie convinces Raj to simply convince Ross that he had actually written the story. Unfortunately, Ross wants to change the story to make the homeless women into Dirty Dozen-style characters who are hired for a special assignment by the U.S. government, with Charo as the star of the picture. Nadine is offended by the ridiculousness of the plot, and Roger supports Nadine’s feelings about the story. He also admits to the fact that Nadine wrote the manuscript, which angers Ross and causes him to cancel the entire project, telling Bernie that he will never work with him again. Bernie notes that Ross is a terrible brother-in-law. Nadine tells Roger that one day he will be successful with a story that he believes in. When Bernie returns to grab his toupee, Roger reminds him of his original story about the jewel thief, but Bernie then thinks that he should tell David that it might work to make Charo a jewel thief. Claude Brooks is Shirley’s customer who can’t pay. 10/18/24
- 026. Picture Perfect – 10/18/1986
- Dwayne stops by the restaurant and shows Roger a brochure for a painting exhibit by successful artist Michael Sitaris (Ty Henderson), and one of the paintings in the brochure appears to be Nadine in the nude. Roger goes home and confronts Nadine about it and finds out that they both met Sitaris when they were in New York, and that Roger had even spilled onion dip on him. Nadine also admits that they took art classes together and she had indeed posed for him. Roger makes a big deal over it, questioning her about their relationship and what else she may have done. She doesn’t think it is a big deal because all of the students had posed for each other. Roger storms out and then spends the day angry at work. Meanwhile, Sitaris’s model (Yvette Holland Vasquez) gets angry at him because she wanted to pose nude, but he wants her in a Victorian dress and parasol and storms out on him. Nadine shows up at the gallery and the two friends reunite. She tells him about Roger’s anger and offers to buy the painting, as she doesn’t want her nude hanging in some stranger’s house. He offers to give it to her for free but asks her to replace the model that quit so he can meet a deadline to paint the picture of the woman in the dress. Roger has decided that he was wrong to prod Nadine about the painting and decides he wants to question Sitaris instead. Roger and Dwayne show up at the gallery, dressed as rich Southern wranglers named Billy Bob Roberts and Lefty, pretending that they want to buy some art. When Roger inquiries about the nude painting of Nadine and questions Sitaris about his relationship with her, Sitaris becomes angry and goes back to the other room to paint Nadine. Roger overhears them talking about doing what they used to do, and he busts in on them and accuses them of cheating… until he notices that Nadine is fully clothed and carrying a parasol. Later, Nadine and Roger share the story and all laugh about it with their friends. Sitaris shows up with the original painting of Nadine to give it to her. Roger is skeptical about revealing it, but then finds that Sitaris has added a red dress to Nadine so she is no longer nude. Duane Boutte is the nerd customer. Donnice Jackson is her boyfriend. Reggie Powe is the impatient customer. Bob McCracken is the customer in blue who doesn’t speak. 1/28/24
- 027. Raj’s Nightmare – 10/25/1986
- Raj comes home excited because he is planning a fishing trip with Dwayne and his cousin Harry that’s he’s always wanted to join. However, Nadine reminds Roger that he had already promised to go to her co-worker Fran’s wedding that weekend. As they two start to argue about it, Nadine’s mother Yvonne Hudson shows up unexpectedly from New York, expecting to stay with them while she is in town for the next three days for her old sorority’s convention. When Raj sees her suitcase, he throws a fit, but Nadine tells him that if he can manage to be civil to her mother while she is in town, he can go on the fishing trip instead of the wedding, Raj agrees, and for the next three days manages to stay civil no matter what Yvonne says or does to provoke him. At the end of her visit, he tells her that it’s too bad she can’t stay longer, and she takes this as an invitation to stay for another week. Roger can barely contain himself, but Nadine reminds him that he promised to be nice to her for the duration of her stay. Again, he struggles to keep his composure as Yvonne repeatedly antagonizes him. When the day finally comes for the fishing trip, Roger puts his fishing gear on his patio for Dwayne’s cousin to pick it up, but when he arrives, Mrs. Hudson tells him that Roger hates fishing – which was based on a lie he earlier told so that Yvonne didn’t think he wastes his time fishing. Dwayne’s cousin then leaves the house and finds a replacement. When Roger finds this out, he is more furious than ever, and is ready to let his mother-in-law have it, but when she tells him how nice he was to her and how happy she is that Roger is her son-in-law, Roger forces himself to stay how much he enjoyed having her. Still, he is so upset about missing the trip that he slams the pillow into the couch but tells Yvonne that he was fluffing the cushions for her. Nadine promises Roger a great time at the wedding, which will lead to a romantic night with champagne between the two of them. Roger is happy with that, but then Dwayne comes over and tells Roger that he figured there had been a mistake, and the opening is still there for him again to go fishing after all. Roger tells Nadine to keep their champagne on ice so that they can eat it with the trout he catches. Maurice Sneed is the customer in the diner (lines cuts in syndication). 6/13/24
- 028. Party Animal – 11/8/1986
- coming soon…
- 029. Shirley’s Little Sister – 11/15/1986
- coming soon…
- 030. Raj’s Big Break – 11/22/1986
- coming soon…
- 031. Thy Boss’s Daughter – 12/6/1986
- As Roger and Shirley are cleaning up one night at Rob’s Place, Roger discusses Nadine’s upcoming birthday as he decides what to get for her. Dwayne stops by the diner and introduces them to his new girlfriend Saundra (Renee Jones), who happens to be the daughter of his boss Mr. Wiggins (Gerry Black). Saundra shows up at Dwayne’s office while he is working and insists that they go for a picnic together. She also starts making all of his plans for him, even having him cancel his plans to go the ballgame with Raj and Nadine to go with her to the symphony. Dwayne confesses to Raj and Nadine that he is getting tired of her possessiveness and the fact she dictates everything they do. As he is getting ready to tell her that he needs to go the ballgame with his friends, Saundra mentions that Dwayne’s supervisor Dave Randall is leaving the company, and she is going to tell her father that Dwayne would be the perfect person to get the promotion. With this in mind, Dwayne acquiesces to Saundra and agrees to go to the symphony after all. Later, Roger hosts Nadine’s birthday party at their house, where they wait for Dwayne and Saundra to arrive. They show up late because they had to stop and by ‘I’m his’ and ‘I’m hers’ sweatshirts. Nadine opens her gifts and gets a neckless with a gold-plated ticket stub from A Chorus Line from their first date from Raj. A comedian named Rambozo (Michael Norris) shows up and entertains the guests with his jokes. He is a big hit with everyone, but Saundra unfunny and distasteful and wants to leave, especially when she finds out that Dwayne hired him. Dwayne stands his ground and says that he wants to stay with his friends. She breaks it off with Dwayne and storms out. He then wonders if he still will have his job. The next day at work, the secretary (Judy Jean Berns) tells Dwayne that Mr. Wiggins wants to see him. When Wiggins tells Dwayne that in light of recent events, he didn’t get the promotion. Dwayne thinks that he is fired, until Wiggins tells him that he wound up giving Dave Randall a raise in order to keep him, and since Dwayne is Dave’s best worker, he is giving him a raise as well. Dwayne tells him that he thought he might get fired because of Saundra, but he tells her that Saundra goes through men faster than Ms. Pac Man. A new girl named Susan (Alexia Robinson) starts work at the firm, and once Dwayne verifies that her father doesn’t work for the company, he makes his move on her. Cal Gibson is the restaurant patron. Craig Marks and Cindy Brooks are party attendees Ray and Marlene. 10/18/24
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