A Different World Appreciation Thread!

I can't remember, this station shows them way wierd out of sequence....not long though.

patti labelle guesting as dwayne's mom=super classic!

right now, we're in the Dwayne/Whitley marriage run-up....dramatic stuff...Dwayne thought he loved Kim for awhile...then she did goofy african themed performance art thing...

...oh and then this AM, Dean Cain was guesting as a racist college kid...him and his buddies got in a fight with Ron Johnson cuz they lost a bet to him on a college football game....then they tried to spell the "n-word" on his car but only got as far as "NI" and tried to tell the cop they were going to spell "NICE" (yeah we're not falling for that doods!)

But something about the Dwayne/Whitley married period was just weird and off -- Whitley's character started changing in weird ways, like up to that point where she calls the talk show about her marriage (or was it her mother?) and everybody hears it. And then the whole "will he take the job in Japan" bit ... I dunno. Also there's this weird Cosby-stamp where Dwayne and Whitley basically start acting exactly like Cliff and Claire, all the way down to bits where they romance one another to the dusty sound of old-ass r&b, and while there's something cute about that -- they way it seems like they're self-consciously trying to be adult, which is what people in that situation totally do -- it's also just weird. But the set for their little house was pretty pleasant -- wasn't Ron squatting upstairs, or something?

I have seen this episode like eighty times. I remember seeing it when it first aired, and I see it in reruns all the time. there was a portly, wise white cop who mediated between Dean Cain's band o' racists and Ron, right? wasn't it originally aired around the time of the Rodney King verdict and riots? or was there a different episode all about how Hillman reacts to the Rodney King verdict? watching that show these days is a revelation; it was so unabashedly political.

I had a huge crush on Ron when the show was actually airing. I remember the period of time when he and Freddy were illicitly hooking up (was he supposed to be dating Kim at the time?) as the hottest thing ever,for some reason. Also, I always thought the actress who played Kim was the beautiful-est. and that, though Jasmine Guy rocked as Whitley, she kind of looked like a man.

no one ever wants to talk to me about A Different World! I love you, this thread.

as in: "why don't you just take it down a thousand and we'll go over it again together, okay?"

my parents (one social worker, one child psychologist) latched onto this phrase as cutting-edge kool-kids street slang. it became part of their communicating-parent repertoire, regularly deployed in kids-v-parents arguments for the next decade or so. along the way, the phrase picked up a "level down" flat-hand gesture that i'm not sure was present in the original.

very annoying at the time, but cute now. i've never seen that episode since the original airing.

(btw: a thousand WHAT? feet? was that supposed to be pilot-speak or something?)

...One thing that really bothers me on this show (and a lot of shows)...is the conceit that everyone sticks by that Whitley is somehow hotter than Freddy, because she's cast as the "hot one"...it's ridiculous!

I know! I never got that. She looked like Michael Jackson before Michael Jackson looked like Michael Jackson. Maybe Whitley is his secret role model.

When the preachiness is traditional Cosboid "go to college and you can get a good job and have a nicer life" preaching, I can't muster up much objection to that.

(*) In modern-day Girlfriends terms, this means that Freddy is Lynn, Kim is Mya, Jalisa is Joan, and Whitley is Toni (which I guess means Denise is WILLIAM!).

is that really Diana Ross's daughter on Girlfriends? she's sexxxy.

I've watched an amazing amount of Girlfriends.

Ron Johnson's band was probably the worst musical act of all time. It's like "Hey Everybody, want to hear Atlantic Starr backing tracks with no vocals? Anyone? Anyone?"

Dwayne and Whitley basically start acting exactly like Cliff and Claire, all the way down to bits where they romance one another to the dusty sound of old-ass r&b, and [...] there's something cute about that -- they way it seems like they're self-consciously trying to be adult, which is what people in that situation totally do

I never thought about it that way but you're right.

If we could just pull Doug E. Doug out of the Cosby alternate-universe, I think they'd make good roommates.

Me too! I've never understood why it's the butt of so many jokes!

He was in Jungle Fever AND Dr. Giggles.

Dwayne Wayne
Ron Johnson
Theo
Cockroach
Doug E. Doug

Given a chance to hang out with either Dwayne or Theo's NYU friend Howard with the modernist flat-top and the big black glasses, I think I would choose Howard. But given a chance to hang out with either Theo's college friend Ron or Dwayne's college friend Ron, I'm pretty sure I would pick Different World Ron.

Also you forgot cousin Pam's friend Lance and of course obviously KENNY aka "Buuuud" as their kind of Gleep-like Snarf-like mascot figure.

what yr guy's favorite Cosby Show opening credits...I like the "classy" one where they're all in formal wear and it's the (I think?) Apollo in the background?

Props also to original Cosby opening with Bill in the 80s tracksuit - definitely down with that.

also, I totally love the 1980s Levis commercial first season Dif. World intro better than the one where they pan though all those rooms and Ron gets tackled by football dudes...

I'm remembering that I hated every Sinbad in every Different World incarnation he was a part of.

The Levi's commercial one is only on the Bonet era...it's basically them walking around...actually come to think the pan one might actually be better, but it's cool seeing the old one just cuz I'd forgotten those 80s Levis commercials and it was sort of a wierd shock of recognition moment...

sonia braga!

this was a great time in my life, but like everything, it had to end. everyone graduated from hillman...WB 23 stopped rerunning A Different World. Me, I started exercising in the mornings and quit watching TV during breakfast. Last I heard Denise had married a guy in a rock band. I guess it didn't work out. Someone told me she had moved to Chicago and was a folk singer and with a guy that owned a record store, but I don't know if that's true...

Walter finally left Hillman and took a job in the secret service watching the president's kid. Jilisa and Col Taylor are still married, they had their second child! They named it Vernon for old time's sake....who knows what happened to Ron...I wonder if he ended up working for his Dad's car dealership after all.

I haven't see Freddie or Kim in forever. Kim finished Med school and practices medicine in Atlanta. Freddie tried a music career for awhile, but I don't think it worked out. I heard she married an artist and lives in L.A.

I don't like to talk about Dwayne much. After college he became a pro basketball player. Suddenly, he died of a heart attack. It took everyone by surprise, it was like the air got sucked out my lungs when I heard. Dwayne came back as a ghost, though...even helped his brother win the NBA championship....I hope he's happy where ever he is. I still keep a pair of his sunglasses he left at my house.

If Dwayne had joined Olivia and Cousin what's-her-name-wearing-Daisy-Age-drag, "The Cosby Show" would have been worse than Ghost Dad

I have a weird soft spot for the fake Cosby kids toward the end, the Pam + Lance + Charmaigne era.

Especially the one where they tail Rudy and her friends to the club in the village.