7/25/2006


'Different World' making comeback

By Kevin D. Thompson
Palm Beach Post Television Writer


PASADENA, Calif. — It ran for six successful seasons on NBC. The show never fell out of the Top 20 during its entire run. It made you laugh and think while tackling such prickly issues as AIDS, apartheid, politics and date rape — topics that were rarely explored on lighthearted TV comedies.

Yet, A Different World, a progressive sitcom about dorm life at a fictitious historically black college, never got the respect it deserved after fading off the air in 1993. Unlike such NBC hits as Cheers, Seinfeld, Frasier and Will & Grace, The Cosby Show spinoff just limped away without any fanfare or splashy farewell promotion.

There were no one-hour retrospectives or big magazine cover stories lamenting the end of a great series.

"It was like an insult or a slap," recalls Sinbad, who played a wisecracking dorm director and gym teacher. "They ended the show on a Saturday night when nobody would see it. (The network) said, 'Let's just put you away and put you on the shelf.' "

But 13 years after A Different World ended, the series is enjoying a welcomed renaissance. The series has enjoyed a successful run on Oxygen. And starting today (10 p.m.) with a four-hour marathon, World joins Nickelodeon's Nick at Nite lineup. The show will air in its regularly scheduled weeknight 10 p.m. timeslot starting Monday.

Despite the new-found attention, it's obvious that the sting of being overlooked for so long hasn't gone away for the show's cast.

"This show was never ever given the accolades it should have had," says Sinbad.

"It's a lie that young African-Americans can't star on a network television show and be a Top 5 show," observes Darryl Bell, who played the hip Ron Johnson. "Everyone tries to ignore that fact and say that it can't happen (again) or that it was a fluke and it wasn't."

That World lasted as long as it did was a surprise. Initial reviews were dismal. The show's original intent was to make a star out of Lisa Bonet — or as most viewers knew her, Denise Huxtable on The Cosby Show.

World was to follow Denise's adjustment to college and her new roommates after she had lived in her parents' upper-middle-class nest her entire life. But Bonet left the show after one season due to her real-life pregnancy.

Bonet's departure, however, was something of a blessing.

Enter Debbie Allen, the actress/dancer/producer/director, who took over the reins after the show's first season. Allen, a graduate of Howard University, quickly put her stamp on World by adding several new cast members and instituting an annual trip to such real black colleges as Spelman and Morehouse to meet with students and faculty so the writers could come up with story ideas.

Moreover, Aretha Franklin — The Queen of Soul — was hired to replace Phoebe Snow and sing the show's new theme song. The series also wasn't afraid to showcase African-American history, fashion, dance and music even if white viewers didn't get it — or like it.

Critics noticed the radical changes — as did viewers.

The Hollywood Reporter, for instance, noted that A Different World, which launched the careers of such actresses as Jasmine Guy, Marisa Tomei and Jada Pinkett Smith, was transformed "from a bland Cosby spinoff into a lively, socially responsible, ensemble situation comedy."

Says Allen: "We tripled enrollment of historically black colleges. And that's a huge, huge legacy."

Allen believes such shows as Living Single, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and even Friends owe a partial debt to A Different World.

"They were certainly inspired by the work we did," she says.

Sinbad says he'll always remember how the tenacious Allen fought to make World a socially relevant sitcom and not just a funny one.

"We ran from no subject," he recalls. "When Debbie came on the show, there was no subject that could not be dealt with and that was a testament to this lady who also catches hell in the business."

For instance, Allen wanted to showcase Tomei's character, the only white student on campus.

"I thought that she and Dwayne Wayne (played by Kadeem Hardison) would be friends and we could do an episode where she actually goes home with him for Thanksgiving and it would be 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner,' and his momma would not like him coming home with a little white girl," Allen remembers. "Well, they did not like that idea. I thought it was very progressive. I said, 'How can you have one white character in an all-black dorm and you don't deal with that?"

The final result: Tomei's character was dumped. But she went on to win an Oscar for her role in My Cousin Vinny.

The main reason why World was often overlooked was because it was a Cosby spinoff. The show never really stepped out of that sizable shadow.

"We were always looked at as a show that succeeded just because it followed Cosby," says Bell. "When we look at our success in syndication now, people still find the show topical. The shows still (resonate) the same way they did then. That's our reward."



1/2/2006


The following article appeared in the November 2005 issue of Essence Magazine