Greetings,
You know, I had so much of a good time doing my top ten for The Cosby Show yesterday that I thought I'd just keep this going by moving on to its spin-off, A Different World. And, I must admit, I love this show as much I love the show from whence it came. Differently, but equally. Now, for those of you who may not the history, here is a quick (hopefully) synopsis.
In 1987, this spin-off was created to center around the Hillman College life of Denise Huxtable after Lisa Bonet left The Cosby Show. From what I've heard, there was a lot of behind the scenes stuff going on, mostly concerning Bill Cosby having some issues with the acting choices of Lisa Bonet. More adult acting choices, apparently. I understand her not wanting to stay a kid forever mentality, but it's hard for me to go against Mr. Cosby. So point goes to him. Not that any of this mattered, because, in 1988, Bonet announced that she and her then husband, Lenny Kravitz, were expecting a baby. Instead of having Denise be an unwed college mother, they just let her go. That might have been kind of a good thing.
Look, I'm not blaming Lisa Bonet for this, because I think she is a very good actress, but the first season was a bit . . . not as good as it would become. Don't get me wrong. It did have its moments. We even got to see a fresh faced Marisa Tomei, and yes, to this day, I still hear people say, "What! She was on the show. But she's . . . white!" Really, people? Get over it. Besides her though, we were also introduced to the characters that we would eventually come to love, like Dwayne and Whitley played wonderfully for years by Jasmine Guy and Kadeem Hardison. But after that first season, it improved greatly, and many people give that credit to the involvement of Debbie Allen. Agreed. With her as a producer, the show was saved and became the wonderful thing that it was. While being very funny, the show began to delve into some issues that were probably deemed too edgy for the family tone of The Cosby Show. Issues like AIDS, racism, domestic violence, even date rape. I would say that A Different World could be called a coming of age type show. Or a family show not centered around a family. Whatever you want to call it, make sure you call it great. Because it was.
And now, my Top Ten favorite episodes of A Different World.
#10. "Three Girls Three" (Season 2) - Much like The Cosby Show, A Different World managed to snag a boatload of special guest stars. In this case, it was Gladys Knight. Ms. Knight is planning a trip to Hillman and several students are auditioning to be some makeshift Pips. I know I would certainly try out for that. This brings together Whitley and Jaleesa, who don't really like each other but sing very well together. But their decision to bring in a third party is not the best. If this episode was intending to prove women are not catty, it did not do so very well. But it's funny, so it's okay.
#9. "Good Help is Hard to Fire" (Season 4) - At the start of season 4, a love triangle was formed. It consisted of Whitley, Dwayne and, Dwayne's new girlfriend, Kinu. Oh, it gave us so many laughs, especially with the constant mispronunciations of Kinu's name by Whitley, but the whole thing came to a head in this episode. I could talk about a lot of things here, but let's just admit that the best part was the little visit we got from one, Ms. Patti LaBelle. She popped in, prune cobbler in hand, to visit her son, Dwayne, her little Chipmunk. Or just Chippy, depending on her mood. And we thank you for your time, Patti.
#8. "Love Taps" (Season 5) - This is one of the more serious episodes. Gina is dating a guy named Dion, who fancies himself a rap star. They seem like a good couple, but their secret is that Dion has been beating her. One by one, Gina's friends find out and try to help her. She is resistant, at first, but soon comes to her senses. One of the best parts is definitely the talk that Whitley gives her. Sure, we rely on Whitley for the funny, but she's got a lot of wisdom and a good heart, too.
#7. "Faith, Hope and Charity" (Season 6) - I love Thanksgiving, so naturally, I love a good Thanksgiving episode. Newlyweds Dwayne and Whitley are having their mothers over for dinner, and that should be simple. Nope. Now if you've watched this show you know that those mothers don't necessarily get along, class issues and whatnot. But those fights were good for some laughs over the years. Again, I'm giving another major shout out to Patti LaBelle, but she is only one half of the awesomeness in this episode. The other goes to Ms. Diahann Carroll. What a legend. Watch these two together and you will wonder, much like I often did, why they did not get their own show.
#6. "Monet is the Root of All Evil" (Season 4) - I am an art enthusiast, of course, and this episode is centered around the art world. Whitley, who is organizing a gallery show, finds a brilliant painter. She desperately wants him to give her one of his pieces, but he is hesitant. Eventually, he gives in. It's a great painting, but the sponsor of the exhibit thinks it is offensive and obscene. I didn't really get that, but some people see what they want to see and others see what is there. It does make some excellent arguments against censorship, and, as an artist, I appreciate that.
#5. "A Rock, A River, A Lena (Season 6) - And the special guest stars keep coming. This time we get the late, great Lena Horne, and she is, as always, fabulous. Beautiful, of course, but also very, very funny. She comes to Hillman whilst Whitley is teaching her students about Miss Horne's illustrious career. We also get a touching story line with our beloved Mr. Gaines, as well as a great performance by Jenifer Lewis as the dean of students. Love that woman.
#4. "Ms. Understanding" (Season 4) - In this episode, we get out first appearance of Shazza Zulu, played by, Warrick Brown of CSI himself, Gary Dourdan. This character is a sixth year undergraduate student (that's a long time, right?) and he has written a book about how the Hillman man should treat the Hillman woman. Of course, all he does is manage to divide the sexes and cause chaos. That is something that he does throughout his time on the show, and a lot of the other characters had a problem with him being so preachy and kind of pretentious at times. But we still love Gary Dourdan!
#3. "Cats in the Cradle" (Season 5) - Okay, I'm giving you another serious episode. In this one, Dwayne and Ron go to a college football game and end up in a brawl with three white students from the opposing school. I say specifically that they are white because it plays a major part in the story line. All five of them are thrown in jail, where a lot of arguments concerning race go back and forth. It is actually very compelling and feels very realistic to how people would talk about these things. Everyone does a fantastic job, including the guests stars. One of them is Dean Cain in one of his first performances. We also have Ernie Sabella playing a campus security guard. I will never forget what his response was when Dwayne said he didn't expect a fair shake from him. He said, "That's right, I'm a white man. I could be a card carrying member of the Klan. Or I could have marched with Dr. King. You DON'T know. Maybe you should look at me as an individual and not as a color." I mean, come on. Genius words there.
#2. "The Power of the Pen" (Season 3) - I'm a writer, which I'm guessing you already knew, so I love things about writing and writing being very appreciated. Here, we have Dwayne, the math guy, sitting in a class where he is going to be forced to write a poem - GASP! Needless to say, poetry really isn't his thing, and he just can't figure out what the big deal is. After spending endless and fruitless hours in the library, he falls asleep and dreams about Shakespeare. Yes, a guy shows up playing Shakespeare. He tells Dwayne that all he has to do is find something about which he is passionate and write. Dwayne does it and succeeds. So, if you stop and think, there is much power in those pens.
#1. "Save the Best For Last" (Season 5) - So much was crammed into season 5, so many ups and downs, I actually thought it might be the last. It wasn't obviously, but, had it been, this would have been a great way to go out. It is time for the wedding of Whitley and . . . Byron? That's right. When the season started, Whitley and Dwayne were engaged to be married, but through a series of unfortunate events, they break up and Whitley gets involved with a politician named Byron Douglas. They eventually get engaged, despite the obvious feelings that still linger between Dwayne and Whitley. Spoiler alert! Dwayne interrupts the wedding, resulting in his marrying Whitley himself. Of course, that was the major event of this two part episode, but again, I must bring up the majesty of Diahann Carroll. Like I mentioned, she has not exactly been a fan of Dwayne's, so when she sees what he is trying to do, she waves her hands at him and utters three words which could be the greatest ever said on this show - "Die, just die!" Oh, the way she does it is gold. Pure gold. This episode was really the culmination of what we had been waiting for for years, and it was done brilliantly. We really didn't know what was going to happen until the very end, and, frankly, it was kind of a nail biter. It had everything, and that is why it is number one.
So there they are. I must say, I still watch these episodes to this day. The laughs have never gotten old and neither have the lessons. This show went from being simply a spin-off to having its own identity. It's been twenty years since it ended, but, really, it hasn't aged a day. It is just as good as it originally was and I doubt that will ever change.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
