A Different World (TV series)

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A Different World

A Different World cast photo from Season 6: Top row: Bumper Robinson, Lou Myers, Kadeem Hardison, Patrick Malone, and Darryl M. Bell. Bottom Row: Jada Pinkett, Karen Malina White, Jasmine Guy, Cree Summer, and Ajai Sanders. Not Pictured: Glynn Turman.
Genre Sitcom/ComedyDrama
Creator(s) Bill Cosby
Starring Jasmine Guy
Kadeem Hardison
Lisa Bonet (1987-1988)
Marisa Tomei (1987-1988)
Darryl M. Bell (1988-1993)
Cree Summer (1988-1993)
Charnele Brown (1988-1993)
Glynn Turman (1988-1993)
Dawnn Lewis (1987-1992)
Sinbad (1988-1991)
Mary Alice (1988-1989)
Lou Myers (1989-1993)
Karen Malina White (1992-1993)
Jada Pinkett Smith (1992-1993)
Ajai Sanders (1992-1993)
Loretta Devine (1987-1988)
Opening theme performed by:
Phoebe Snow
(Season 1)
Aretha Franklin
(Seasons 2-5)
Boyz II Men
(Season 6)
Country of origin Flag of United States United States
No. of episodes 142 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) Marcy Carsey
Tom Werner
Debbie Allen
(Seasons 2+)
Caryn Mandabach
(seasons 5+)
Susan Fales
(Season 6)
Running time 30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel NBC
Original run September 17, 1987 – July 8, 1993
Links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

A Different World is an American television sitcom which aired for six seasons on NBC (from September 24, 1987 until July 9, 1993). It is a spin-off series from The Cosby Show, originally centered around Denise Huxtable (portrayed by actress Lisa Bonet) and the life of students at Hillman College, a fictional historically Black college in Virginia. Later seasons of the show focused on other characters including Dwayne Wayne (portrayed by actor Kadeem Hardison) and Whitley Gilbert (portrayed by actress Jasmine Guy).

While it was a spin-off from the Cosby Show, A Different World typically addressed issues that were avoided by the Cosby Show writers (race and class relations, the Equal Rights Amendment). One episode that aired in 1990 was one of the first American network television episodes to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Reruns can be seen on Oxygen, Nick at Nite, and The N, as well as on many local stations around the United States.

The success and popularity of A Different World is credited with an increase in enrollment at historically Black colleges and universities during the late 1980s and early 1990s. [1]

Contents

[edit] Cast

Main article: A Different World characters

[edit] Hillman College Reunion

In August 2006, Nick At Nite aired a weeklong marathon of A Different World episodes. Lisa Bonet, Jasmine Guy, Kadeem Hardison, Darryl M. Bell, Cree Summer, and Sinbad reunited for short vignettes that provide a glimpse of the current state of their characters. Nick at Nite's Hillman College Reunion[2] website added details beyond those shown on television.

[edit] Season 2 changes

During the summer of 1988, Lisa Bonet announced that she and husband Lenny Kravitz were having a baby. It was felt that viewers would not accept Denise Huxtable as an unwed mother, having grown to know her as a "good girl" after four seasons of The Cosby Show and A Different World. Thus it was decided that Denise would drop out of Hillman, return home to her family, and eventually travel to Africa throughout the fifth season of The Cosby Show, ensuring that viewers would not see a pregnant Denise. This led to Debbie Allen becoming the chief creative force behind A Different World, and to the revamp that placed Whitley and Dwayne at the center of a wider ensemble, dealing with more relevant issues of the day. Allen, an alumna of Howard University, made a conscious effort to make Hillman resemble an actual historically black college as much as possible. The first season of Hillman's student body consisted of both black and white students, but this was changed at the beginning of the second season and was maintained until the series ended.

Marisa Tomei and Marie-Alise Recasner were replaced by Charnele Brown and Cree Summer. Darryl M. Bell and Sinbad were promoted to the principal cast, which (coupled with the addition of Glynn Turman and Lou Myers) allowed the show to provide a more equitable balance of male and female perspectives.

Dwayne's status as the campus nerd was gradually phased out, and Ron was transformed from devoted boyfriend to notorious womanizer. The replacement of the passive Millie with the more confident Kim as Whitley's roommate and confidante helped to make Whitley a more sympathetic character.[citation needed] The addition of Freddie preserved other elements of Season 1, as the character represented both the Bohemian aspects of Denise and the studious nature of Maggie.

The Hollywood Reporter is quoted as stating that when Debbie Allen became the producer-director of A Different World after the first season, she transformed it "from a bland Cosby spin-off into a lively, socially responsible, ensemble situation comedy."[3]

The Museum of Broadcast Communications states that Debbie Allen:

a graduate of historically black Howard University — drew from her college experiences in an effort to accurately reflect in the show the social and political life on black campuses. Moreover, Allen instituted a yearly spring trip to Atlanta where series writers visited two of the nation's leading black colleges, Morehouse and Spelman. During these visits, ideas for several of the episodes emerged from meetings with students and faculty."[3]

[edit] Notable episodes

Main article: List of A Different World episodes
  • In the fourth-season episode "Ms. Understanding", Shazza peddles a book he has written and self-published that is highly critical of African-American men and their allegedly sexist behavior. The episode is a thinly-veiled commentary on the controversy surrounding the book The Blackman's Guide to Understanding the Blackwoman. The latter book, written by an African-American woman named Shahrazad Ali, blamed many of the problems within the Black family and the Black community on African-American women. Though most Black women found the book highly offensive and intellectually deficient[citation needed], African-American men purchased hundreds of thousands of copies in 1989 and 1990, leading to a temporary rift between many African-American men and women. Ali's book also is mentioned specifically in the 1990 episode, "Time Keeps On Slippin'," where Ron suggests putting it in the time capsule to represent a female point of view, but is shouted down by the women in the group.
  • The fifth-season episode "Mammy Dearest" addresses two subjects almost never discussed on prime time television: the "mammy" image and its negative effect upon African-Americans' sense of beauty and self-worth, and the little-known fact that some well-to-do African-Americans actually owned slaves themselves.
  • Various episodes in the last two seasons of the series referenced contemporary high-profile cases of sexual harassment, such as the Mitsubishi scandal and the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings. In the episode "Bedroom at the Top," Whitley is sexually harassed at her job. The Anita Hill hearings also are mentioned in the episode "The Little Mister," in which Dwayne dreams about the 1992 elections.

[edit] Trivia

[edit] The opening credits

Like its parent series The Cosby Show, A Different World altered its opening credit sequence at least slightly almost every season. Kadeem Hardison is the only person featured in every variation of the opening credits.

  • Season 1 - Joint and individual scenes featuring Lisa Bonet (Denise), Marisa Tomei (Maggie), Dawnn Lewis (Jalessa), and Kadeem Hardison (Dwayne) frolicking on the campus of Hillman College. Jasmine Guy (Whitley) and Loretta Devine (Stevie) are named but not shown, nor is Mary Alice (Lettie) when she replaces Devine. Episode 22 removes the names of Hardison, Guy and Devine/Alice, replacing them with Ted Ross (Dr. Harris) and Vernee Watson-Johnson (Carla). The theme song is sung by Phoebe Snow.
  • Season 2 - Series of individualized scenes featuring Jasmine Guy, Dawnn Lewis, Kadeem Hardison, Mary Alice, Darryl M. Bell (Ron), Sinbad (Walter), Charnele Brown (Kim), Cree Summer (Freddie), and Glynn Turman (Col. Taylor). Lisa Bonet and Marisa Tomei are not present. The theme song is sung by Aretha Franklin.
  • Season 3 - Same as Season 2, except Lou Myers (Mr. Gaines) replaces Mary Alice.
  • Season 4 - Same as Season 3.
  • Season 5 - Same as Season 4, except Sinbad is removed, and Darryl M. Bell's scene is re-shot to reflect this.
  • Season 6 - Completely new series of individualized scenes. Dawnn Lewis is removed. Many of Jasmine Guy's and Kadeem Hardison's scenes are together, reflecting Whitley & Dwayne's new marital status. Charnele Brown and Lou Myers share scenes. Ajai Sanders (Gina), Jada Pinkett (Lena), and Karen Malina White (Charmaine) are added. Dominic Hoffman (Julian), Gary Dourdan (Shazza), Patrick Malone (Terrell), Bumper Robinson (Dorian), and Jenifer Lewis (Dean Davenport) are not named but clearly shown. The theme song is sung by Boyz II Men.

[edit] Cosby connections

As a show developed by Bill Cosby for a character from The Cosby Show, A Different World naturally had many connections to its parent program, even before the latter program was created. The third-season finale of The Cosby Show, entitled "Hillman", was essentially a pilot episode for the new show.

The theme song was co-written by Stu Gardner, Bill Cosby, and Dawnn Lewis — who later became a cast member. In the online interviews related to the 2006 "Hillman College Reunion," Lewis revealed that her being approached to write the song and to audition were two separate events within a short time of each other, such that she thought it was a practical joke by her friends. The song was performed by Phoebe Snow in Season 1, by Aretha Franklin in Seasons 2 through 5, and Boyz II Men in Season 6.

The spin-off program featured many appearances by characters from the parent program, especially in the initial season, in which Denise's father, mother, younger sister Rudy, brother Theo, and grandfather all appear in the show, either at Hillman or on the other end of a phone call. Denise's departure from Hillman after Season 1 did not stop her mother from reappearing on the show. Three of Phylicia Rashad's four appearances as Hillman alumna Clair Huxtable took place after Season 1, and in one of these, she brought her younger daughter Vanessa to tour the college.

Producer/director Debbie Allen is the sister of Phylicia Rashad and the former sister-in-law of sports personality Ahmad Rashad. Ahmad Rashad was a guest star in the third-season episode "Success, Lies and Videotape", along with his then-wife. (Allen likewise made one guest appearance on The Cosby Show, playing an aggressive aerobics instructor who helps Clair Huxtable (Phylicia Rashad) slim down for a special occasion.) Dwayne and Whitley also visited the Huxtable home in an episode featuring the revelation that Denise had married and would not return to Hillman.

Like Lisa Bonet, Karen Malina White brought her Cosby Show character to Hillman. Charmaine was the best friend of Clair Huxtable's cousin Pam Tucker. Her Cosby costar Allen Payne turned down an offer to bring his role as Charmaine's boyfriend Lance Rodman to A Different World as a regular during Season 6, preferring instead to pursue a movie career; he and Jada Pinkett starred in the 1994 film Jason's Lyric, which is considered to be a milestone in both of their careers. Payne did appear in one episode in which Charmaine visits Hillman as a prospective student, bringing Lance along to see if he can gain admission as well. When Charmaine arrives at Hillman, she and Lance are maintaining a long-distance relationship and he is mentioned in multiple episodes.

[edit] 1970s connections

Many of the main characters' parents were portrayed by individuals who were icons of African-American film, television, and music of the 1970s. Denise's father, of course, is played by Bill Cosby, who had come to public attention in the 1960s and 1970s in I Spy, The Bill Cosby Show, Uptown Saturday Night, Let's Do It Again, and Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. Whitley's mother is played by Diahann Carroll of the TV series Julia and the film I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, while her father was at one time played by Ron O'Neal of Superfly fame.

Kimberly's father, a police officer, is played by Richard Roundtree, well-known as the character "Shaft" in the films Shaft, Shaft's Big Score, and Shaft in Africa. Art Evans, who played Ron's father, had appeared with Carroll in the films Claudine and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Popular R&B singer Patti LaBelle played Dwayne's mother, and at one point, her character is even told, "You look like that singer, Patti Lulabelle," to which she replies that many have told her that, but she doesn't see the resemblance.

Several characters among the faculty and staff also were in prominent films and shows in the 1970s. Glynn Turman (Col. Taylor) had starring roles in Cooley High and JD's Revenge, Mary Alice (Lettie) appeared in Sparkle, Rosalind Cash (Dean Hughes) appeared in Uptown Saturday Night and Cornbread, Earl and Me, and Roscoe Lee Browne (Dr. Foster) appeared in The Liberation of L.B. Jones and Uptown Saturday Night.

Former Hill Street Blues and UCLA basketball star Michael Warren guest-starred as the minister that presided over the bizarre wedding at the end of Season 5. Whitley is about to marry Byron Douglass (Joe Morton), but realizes she loves Dwayne and always will and, much to the chagrin of her mother, changes her mind in mid-ceremony and marries Dwayne.

Guest star Bebe Drake (Velma Gaines) appeared in Which Way Is Up?, while Joe Morton (Byron) appeared in the Sanford and Son spin-off, Grady, and Phylicia Rashad (Clair Huxtable) was a member of the original cast of the Broadway musical, The Wiz. Final-season guest stars Leslie Uggams and Billy Dee Williams also had been entertainment fixtures for the previous two decades. Similarly, Marla Gibbs, who guest starred as Whitley's supervising principal in "To Whit, With Love" in the final season, came to prominence in the 1970s in the role of Florence Johnston on the sitcom The Jeffersons.

[edit] DVD releases

Season Releases

Cover Art DVD Name Release Date Ep # Additional Information
Season 1 November 8, 2005 24 Cast interviews, Out-takes, A retrospective overview of the series with cast members, Additional sixth-season "lost" episode featuring the rapper Tupac Shakur and Jada Pinkett-Smith.
Season 2 TBA 2007 25
Season 3 TBA 25
Season 4 TBA 25
Season 5 TBA 25
Season 6 TBA 25
  • The show's DVD release is rated PG for suggestive dialogue by MPAA.
  • Season 2 was originally planned for May 2006, then July 2006, then September 2006. It was believed to have been cancelled along with future seasons of The Cosby Show until First Look Home Entertainment bought rights to both shows on DVD. Season 2 is believed to be coming sometime in 2007. [4]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.santacruzlive.com/ex/content/view/5399/147/
  2. ^ http://www.tvland.com/nickatnite/shows/differentworld/hillmancollege/
  3. ^ a b A Different World, Museum of Broadcast Communications
  4. ^ http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=6685

[edit] External links

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