| Ep |
№ |
Title |
Original airdate |
| 1 |
1 |
"The Runaway" |
5 August 1976 (1976-08-05) |
| Roger is told to miss a party in order to babysit his sister Dee because their mother must work. But Roger sneaks out to the party, and Mother returns home to find Dee there with a senile old lady. After Mom takes Dee with her, Roger and his friends return home to find Dee gone and think she ran away. |
| 2 |
2 |
"The Birthday Present" |
12 August 1976 (1976-08-12) |
| Roger needs money to buy his mother a birthday present so he wins it in a dice game. When his mother finds out he was gambling, she takes his winnings, the money needed to buy Mother her present. Then Roger, Dwayne and Rerun try to steal it and get caught. Then Roger swipes his winnings back and gets the blouse for his Mother. |
| 3 |
3 |
"When Daddy Comes Marching Home" |
19 August 1976 (1976-08-19) |
| After deserting Roger and Dee as little children, their father returns to town and begins to visit regularly. |
| 4 |
4 |
"My Three Tons" |
26 August 1976 (1976-08-26) |
| Rerun enters a dancing contest, to find out he is only entered in as a joke because of his obesity. |
| 5 |
5 |
"Saturday's Hero" |
13 November 1976 (1976-11-13) |
| Rerun is a football star, but cannot play due to failing grades. |
| 6 |
6 |
"The Burger Queen" |
20 November 1976 (1976-11-20) |
| When Roger's and Dee's mother is away, Roger enters Dee in a contest to become a burger queen for Bridgeburgers, which becomes a disaster. |
| 7 |
7 |
"Speak for Yourself, Dwayne" |
27 November 1976 (1976-11-27) |
| Dwayne has his eye on a new girl, Nancy, but he is too shy to talk to her, so he gets Raj to. However, that turns into a mistake for Dwayne because this leads to Raj falling for Nancy. Raj is left with guilt and one angry friend. |
| 8 |
8 |
"Shirley's Date" |
4 December 1976 (1976-12-04) |
| Raj has sold a kid's story to a children's magazine, and to celebrate he throws a party. However, Shirley is reluctant to come because she doesn't want to show up without a date. |
| 9 |
9 |
"A Christmas Story" |
11 December 1976 (1976-12-11) |
| Roger and Dee think their mother is working on Christmas Day so they spend it with their father, who recently entered their lives. After a ruined Christmas dinner due to their father's girlfriend's inability to cook, they wind up all having dinner together with Mother. |
| 10 |
10 |
"Puppy Love" |
30 December 1976 (1976-12-30) |
| Raj is tutoring Patrice Williams in exchange for one of the puppies that her dog Susie is soon to have. However, confusion erupts in the Thomas household when Dee overhears a conversation between Raj, Dwayne and Rerun which leads her to believe Raj has gotten a girl pregnant. |
| 11 |
11 |
"The Maid Did It" |
6 January 1977 (1977-01-06) |
| Roger's and Dee's mother is fired after being accused of stealing from a home where she serves as a maid. Roger, Dwayne and Rerun prove her innocence. |
| 12 |
12 |
"The Incomplete Shakespeare" |
13 January 1977 (1977-01-13) |
| Roger is trying to break into the writing business. |
| 13 |
13 |
"The Hospital Stay" |
20 January 1977 (1977-01-20) |
| Dee helps a dying man reunite with his estranged daughter who married a white man. |
| 14 |
14 |
"The Sunday Father" |
27 January 1977 (1977-01-27) |
| After being "expelled" (actually suspended) from school for bad behavior in class, Roger soft-soaps his father into coming to the school for the conference instead of his mother because Roger knows his father cannot punish him. |
| 15 |
15 |
"The Firing Squad" |
10 February 1977 (1977-02-10) |
| Shirley gets fired for arguing with business associate of her boss Rob. |
| 16 |
16 |
"The Boarder" |
17 February 1977 (1977-02-17) |
| When the Thomas family has financial problems, Roger and Dee's father moves in and pays rent to help out, pretending not to know their plight. |
| 17 |
17 |
"Dwayne's Dilemma" |
24 February 1977 (1977-02-24) |
| Dwayne is dating a girl who recently broke up with a violent boyfriend. |
| 18 |
18 |
"The Tickets" |
3 March 1977 (1977-03-03) |
| Roger has two tickets for a Stevie Wonder concert but wants to take both Dwayne and Rerun, so they try to scalp the tickets and they get arrested. |
| 19 |
19 |
"What's Wrong with Raj?" |
10 March 1977 (1977-03-10) |
| Dee is always snooping in Raj's journal, so they trick her into thinking that Raj is really sick. |
| 20 |
20 |
"Nice Guys Finish Last" |
24 March 1977 (1977-03-24) |
| Dee allows her pen pal from prison to visit thinking, she was paroled, but actually she is still a fugitive and she and her boyfriend take Dee hostage. |
| 21 |
21 |
"From Here to Maternity" |
31 March 1977 (1977-03-31) |
| Shirley's sister comes to visit, unmarried and eight months pregnant. |
| Ep |
№ |
Title |
Original airdate |
| 1 |
22 |
"Rerun Gets Married" |
22 September 1977 (1977-09-22) |
| Rerun attempts to marry an illegal alien so she can stay in the country. |
| 2 |
23 |
"It's All in Your Head" |
29 September 1977 (1977-09-29) |
| Dee's visit to a school psychologist for a friend's problem is misinterpreted, and Dee's family is suddenly extremely nice to her. She then takes advantage, and when they find out the truth Dee's Mother says she has a surprise for her and then tricks her into doing chores before the surprise is revealed to be punishment. |
| 3 |
24 |
"Trial and Error" |
6 October 1977 (1977-10-06) |
| Roger wrecks his work bicycle after running into a moving car. |
| 4 |
25 |
"Raj Goes to Press" |
13 October 1977 (1977-10-13) |
| Roger, Dwayne and Rerun begin an underground newspaper to protest Miss Collin's surprise quizzes. |
| 5 |
26 |
"Nothing Personal" |
20 October 1977 (1977-10-20) |
| Shirley is offered a highly skilled job only because she is black. |
| 6 |
27 |
"If I'm Elected" |
27 October 1977 (1977-10-27) |
| Dwayne is helping his father campaign for election to city councilman. Meanwhile, he gets very upset when his uncle is suddenly fired as campaign manager. (Roger, Rerun and Dee do not appear in this episode.) |
| 7 |
28 |
"The Play's the Big Thing" |
3 November 1977 (1977-11-03) |
| Out of pity, Roger uses Rerun in a skit for their theatre arts class. |
| 8 |
29 |
"Give Me Odds" |
10 November 1977 (1977-11-10) |
| Dwayne is in a lucky streak with the system he uses to make bets. This leads Rerun to pass along Dwayne's tips to his brother-in-law, Ike, who bets $500 on a football game. It is only after he has made the bet that everyone discovers just what kind of system Dwayne uses. |
| 9 |
30 |
"Bill Gets Married" |
17 November 1977 (1977-11-17) |
| Bill has become serious with his latest girlfriend and announces that they plan on getting married. Almost everyone is happy for the couple, including Mama who even lets them have the ceremony in her house. However, it is Dee who refuses to accept their marriage and refuses to be the flower girl in the wedding. |
| 10 |
31 |
"Mama, the School Girl" |
24 November 1977 (1977-11-24) |
| Mama begins taking courses at Raj's school and even gets his teacher, Miss Collins. A fellow classmate takes an instant liking to Mama and she falls head over heels for him, unaware that he is only using her to write his term paper for him. |
| 11 |
32 |
"One Strike and You're Out" |
8 December 1977 (1977-12-08) |
| Rerun being fired from the supermarket is the last straw for Raj, who rallies the rest of the workers to take some action against their boss Mr. Pronson. However, when the staff goes on strike, Raj finds himself in a jam, since Mama has lost her job and the family now has no source of income. |
| 12 |
33 |
"The Testimonial" |
15 December 1977 (1977-12-15) |
| Miss Collins is being honored for 25 years of teaching and this prompts Raj to play a trick on her after she gives him detention for being tardy. However, he soon finds his trick is totally inappropriate and sets out to right his wrong. |
| 13 |
34 |
"Black and White Blues" |
22 December 1977 (1977-12-22) |
| While watching a football game at Raj's house, the black and white set goes berserk and Rerun suggests that they "borrow" the new color television set that is being offered as a prize at a church raffle. However, once they get it to Raj's house, Rerun and Dwayne accidentally drop it. When that one goes out they think it got broken until Dee tries to vacuum the floor and the vacuum keeps going out; it turns out that the wall outlet is messed up, and Dee goes to the church raffle to tell Roger that the television is not broken. |
| 14 |
35 |
"Going, Going, Gong" |
5 January 1978 (1978-01-05) |
| Raj has become the manager of a kid's song and dance group, and believes that they are so good that they may have a chance to get on The Gong Show. However, once at tryouts, Raj discovers he has some competition from Rerun. |
| 15 |
36 |
"Dee's First Date" |
21 January 1978 (1978-01-21) |
| Dee is going out on her first date with a boy whose sister Raj has made into the object of his affection. His plan is to buddy up to Dee's boyfriend to get close to his sister. However, he quickly finds he has another thing coming. |
| 16 |
37 |
"Doobie or Not Doobie (Part 1)" |
28 January 1978 (1978-01-28) |
| The Doobie Brothers are set to put on a concert at the guys' high school, and Raj and Dwayne leave Rerun to get the tickets. However, by the time Rerun gets to the ticket booth, they are sold out. Later, two shady characters offer Rerun free tickets if he just tape-records the concert. It is only later that Rerun learns that they are bootleggers and they threaten Rerun, Raj and Dwayne if they do not comply. |
| 17 |
38 |
"Doobie or Not Doobie (Part 2)" |
4 February 1978 (1978-02-04) |
| The bootleggers force the guys into tape recording the concert, but while everyone is jumping around the tape recorder falls out from under Rerun's coat, right in full view of the Doobie Brothers. After some explanations, the guys and the Doobie Brothers set up a trap to catch the bootleggers. |
| 18 |
39 |
"Rerun Sees the Light" |
11 February 1978 (1978-02-11) |
| Rerun encounters a strange woman on the street who goes by the name of Love-Is-Life and she lures him into attending one of her cult gatherings. Rerun enjoys his new-found faith and how it makes him feel, but Dwayne and Raj are a bit leery about a group that worships a head of lettuce. |
| 19 |
40 |
"Raj and the Older Woman" |
18 February 1978 (1978-02-18) |
| When Raj goes down to a photographer to get his yearbook picture taken, he is instantly smitten with a beautiful model. Raj lies about his age and says he is 21 and a movie star, and the girl is instantly taken by him. That is, until she learns the truth. |
| 20 |
41 |
"Diplomatic Immunity" |
25 February 1978 (1978-02-25) |
| Rerun borrows a car so the guys can get to a Lakers game, but after the game Rerun becomes the victim of a hit-and-run driver. Dee surprises everyone by coming forward with news that she was a witness and saw the driver, who turns out to be the son of a foreign diplomat. |
| 21 |
42 |
"Shirley Takes Over" |
13 April 1978 (1978-04-13) |
| With Mama out of town, Raj gets Shirley to babysit Dee, who gets Shirley thinking about her past. Meanwhile, Raj and Rerun's graduation is approaching, but right at the last minute Rerun gets himself in trouble by cheating on a final exam, which prompts Shirley to give him some guidance. |
| 22 |
43 |
"The Apartment" |
11 May 1978 (1978-05-11) |
| On graduation day, Raj gives a speech riddled with hints to Mama about his plans on moving into an apartment with Rerun, but after some conversation Mama finally agrees to let him move out. However, Rerun and Raj quickly find themselves with little privacy with Mama constantly coming over. |
| Ep |
№ |
Title |
Original airdate |
| 1 |
44 |
"Disco Dollar Disaster" |
21 September 1978 (1978-09-21) |
| A dance contest has Rerun scrambling to get enough money for the entrance fee and ending up having people buying shares in his prospective winnings. However, he finds himself facing stiff competition from a notorious disco dancer and the prospect of two thugs breaking his hands if he does not win. |
| 2 |
45 |
"Shirley's Boyfriend" |
28 September 1978 (1978-09-28) |
| Raj, Rerun and Dwayne learn how lonely Shirley's life is and decide that the best thing for her is a blind date with Ed Roberts. Things start getting serious between Shirley and Ed, but then Dee learns that Ed is married. |
| 3 |
46 |
"Basketball Brain" |
12 October 1978 (1978-10-12) |
| Raj is coerced into tutoring a basketball star and gets plenty of encouragement thanks to a generous salary for doing so. However, Raj finds himself in trouble with tutoring Dee and Dwayne as well, and he has little time to do his own studying. |
| 4 |
47 |
"The Creep Detective" |
2 November 1978 (1978-11-02) |
| Rerun and Raj are arrested after Rerun unknowingly stores stolen goods. Dee and Earl combine their efforts to save the guys. |
| 5 |
48 |
"Shirley's Cookies" |
9 November 1978 (1978-11-09) |
| Shirley brings some homemade cookies into Rob's Place as a gift for Rerun and the guys, and they are so taken with how good they are that they suggest that she try selling them at Rob's. She decides to try it, but soon finds that her small business venture has attracted the likes of a con man who talks her into a long-term contract that is binding. |
| 6 |
49 |
"The Landlady" |
16 November 1978 (1978-11-16) |
| The rent is due for Raj and Rerun's apartment but they are short since Raj has not been able to find a job. When the landlady stops by to collect the rent, she takes Raj aside and tells him not to worry and then proceeds to give Raj signals that convince him that she's interested in him romantically. Raj soon begins acting more mature, since she's in her 30s and he's 19. |
| 7 |
50 |
"Charge" |
23 November 1978 (1978-11-23) |
| Rerun gets a credit card and goes on a spending spree, buying everything in sight from food processors to new furniture. He soon applies for more credit cards and quickly finds himself sinking into debt, but he continues to spend, totally refurnishing the apartment. He takes out a loan, but soon finds a repo man on his doorstep. |
| 8 |
51 |
"Raj Moves Out" |
30 November 1978 (1978-11-30) |
| Raj's study date with an attractive girl, Jean, goes awry thanks to Rerun's annoying presence. Thus, it is no surprise when Raj jumps at the chance to move in with Jean to get away from Rerun. However, Dee makes a shocking discovery; Jean has a distinct motive for the roommate proposal. |
| 9 |
52 |
"No Clothes Make the Man" |
14 December 1978 (1978-12-14) |
| Raj needs a job and gets one selling meat, but when he learns the company is a fraud and has been busted by the FBI, he begins searching for another one. He finally finds one that pays $35 an hour but involves posing nude for an art class. |
| 10 |
53 |
"Positive Identification" |
21 December 1978 (1978-12-21) |
| The Christmas spirit has touched everyone except for a burglar who has just robbed Rerun and Raj's apartment. As he is getting away, Raj and Rerun inadvertently help him, leaving them with only a glimpse. Thus, when they are asked to pick the robber out of a line-up, Raj and Rerun just are not positive if they identified the right guy. |
| 11 |
54 |
"Making Out" |
11 January 1979 (1979-01-11) |
| Raj and Rerun each have a girl in their lives—April and Cindy—and finding free time to spend alone in the apartment is a challenge. Soon, it becomes a bet to see how far each one can go with each girl. Rerun ends up striking out with both of them, but Raj hits pay dirt with April, who happens to be the girl Rerun has his heart set on. |
| 12 |
55 |
"Dee, the Cheerleader" |
25 January 1979 (1979-01-25) |
| Dee has her heart set on joining the cheerleading squad, and while preparing she helps out her friend Julie who also want to be on the squad. With Dee being better than her, Julie does not think she has a chance; however, everyone is in for a shock when Julie is picked and Dee is not. |
| 13 |
56 |
"A Present for Dee" |
9 February 1979 (1979-02-09) |
| Dee's 14th birthday has Raj and the gang preparing a surprise birthday party. Dee quickly gets word of it, but is not without a surprise thanks to Little Earl's birthday gift. The atrocious necklace he gave her turns out to be stolen, and Dee is accused of shoplifting when she tries to exchange it. |
| 14 |
57 |
"Dwayne's Dream" |
16 February 1979 (1979-02-16) |
| Dwayne gets a new job in concessions at ball games, and the owner wants him to handle all of the games all over town. Dwayne quickly realizes the job could turn into a full time employment and considers quitting school. However, he has serious doubts thanks to a talk from Raj and Rerun. This all leads to Dwayne having a crazy dream about the future. |
| 15 |
58 |
"Shirley's Fired" |
23 February 1979 (1979-02-23) |
| Shirley has decided to ask Rob for a raise and he is shocked, but he also has a shock for her; he has decided to hire an additional waitress, Liz. However, her constant clumsiness gets on Shirley's nerves so much that she quits. Later, Shirley witnesses Liz skimming the till. |
| 16 |
59 |
"Food Poisoning" |
2 March 1979 (1979-03-02) |
| Rerun has one of Rob's hamburgers and suddenly becomes ill. He is taken to the hospital and it is assumed that he has food poisoning. Suddenly, Rob finds himself with no business since no one wants to take a chance eating his food. However, Rob has bigger problems on his hands when a greedy Rerun decides to sue Rob's place for $100,000. It turns out that Rerun does not have food poisoning, but appendicitis. |
| 17 |
60 |
"The Eviction" |
9 March 1979 (1979-03-09) |
| Rerun and Raj have gotten a new landlord and he has been totally neglecting all of the repairs that are needed in the apartments. Fed up, Rerun calls a tenants' meeting and Raj is roped into handing the landlord a list a demands. However, things do not go quite as planned and the landlord evicts Raj and Rerun, which forces them to move into the Thomas household with Dee and Shirley. |
| 18 |
61 |
"The Thomas Treasure" |
16 March 1979 (1979-03-16) |
| After reading an article in a newspaper, Raj learns that Mama's house was once used as a hideout by some bank robbers and that they may have hidden some loot somewhere in it. This leads him, Rerun, Dee, Dwayne and Shirley on a mad search for the money. Meanwhile, they are all unaware the bank robbers are plotting to come back to claim their money. |
| 19 |
62 |
"The Last Page" |
31 March 1979 (1979-03-31) |
| The gang fantasizes about being television characters from famous ABC shows, such as Three's Company and Happy Days. |
| 20 |
63 |
"First Class Coach" |
7 April 1979 (1979-04-07) |
| Big Earl has been coaching Little Earl's basketball team and has been pushing the kids constantly to do their best, so when Big Earl gets an undercover assignment he must get a temporary coach and finds one in Dwayne. However, Dwayne proves to be the exact opposite of Big Earl and suddenly the team is finding themselves winning a game for a change. This leads the team to decide whether or not to keep Big Earl. |
| 21 |
64 |
"Dwayne's Debate" |
21 April 1979 (1979-04-21) |
| When another classmate drops out of a high school campaign, two attractive girls talk Dwayne into running. When the news reaches his dad's ears, Dwayne cannot even get a word in to tell him he does not want to run, but everyone convinces him that he would be perfect. However, the worst is yet to come, when Dwayne learns that there will be a debate between him and the other candidate. |
| 22 |
65 |
"The Benefit Show" |
28 April 1979 (1979-04-28) |
| A local teen center is in serious financial trouble and the gang tries to come up with a way to save it. They finally decide to put on a benefit show, and Rerun has someone in mind who will be sure to attract attention: Sammy Davis, Jr. Rerun does his best to get a hold of Sammy, but soon realizes he must announce that Sammy will not be coming to the benefit. |