She’s rude, entitled, and every interaction underscores her inability to relate to peers of other socioeconomic backgrounds (read: all of her peers). Season One Whitley is at best unnerving, at worst, peak levels of insufferable. And it does so with the gregarious Jasmine Guy’s Whitley Gilbert now at the forefront. During these visits, ideas for several of the episodes emerged from meetings with students and faculty.Ī survivor of multiple cast and crew changes, script re-writes, and general helter-skelter, A Different World finally delivers the real deal.
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Moreover, Allen instituted a yearly spring trip to Atlanta where series writers visited three of the nation’s leading black colleges, Clark Atlanta, Morehouse and Spelman. According to the Museum of Broadcast Communications, Debbie Allen:Ī 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. A show now tasked with providing an honest portrayal of the HBCU experience.
For how many seasons could an audience possibly bear to watch the girl flail through life, flunking all her classes? It turns out, just one.Īfter a bland first season-Debbie Allen comes through with the revamp of the century and cable television is gifted with the new-and-improved A Different World. Debbie Allen takes over the reins and the characters begin coming into their own rather than continuing to serve as Denise’s flunkeys. While it is unquestionable that Denise was a crowd favorite on The Cosby Show with her effortless style and special brand of charisma, Lisa Bonet’s bowing out of A Different World makes for a pivotal moment in the series. But with an assist from Lenny Kravitz, she became pregnant with daughter Zoë and Bill Cosby, who was still running the show at the time, didn’t jive with the idea of tackling a pregnancy plotline despite Debbie Allen’s insistence that it could be compelling. A spin-off of The Cosby Show, A Different World was meant to be a series that followed Denise Huxtable’s college years at her parents’ alma mater. Underdeveloped characters that only exist to serve the purpose of spitting a sassy line or supporting the white protagonist in their endeavors-aka the Magical Negro-don’t count.Īt first, it was black America’s-let’s be real, all of America’s-sweetheart Lisa Bonet who was on the roster as the show’s leading lady. It’s unfortunate that this distinction is considered nuanced when we live in a world brimming with white college student focused shows, like Felicity and Undeclared, but it’s not everyday that we get to witness black kids going to school on television. The black college student’s experience, that is. It’s no coincidence that she shares a name with her new dorm assignment Whitley is a legacy child of red bottom pump and Louis Vuitton luggage-level proportions and we become privy to this right away.Ī Different World is a six season series that encapsulates the black experience. More specifically, she has arrived at Gilbert Hall. Whitley has arrived for her sophomore year at fictional Virginia-based HBCU, Hillman College and she’s come down to the common room to greet classmate, Denise Huxtable. Have you ever spent a summer in Richmond? You can fry an egg on a Jaguar!” Whitley Gilbert’s voice is grating as she cascades down the stairs of her new dormitory in a glaring red blouse, printed blazer, black pencil skirt, and hair slicked back, secured by an oversized leather bowtie.
How was your summer? I just worked my little tail off interning in daddy’s chambers. Entering from stage left: a svelte, 5’2’’ young woman resplendent with the archetypal accouterments of a Southern Belle: “Denise, welcome back.
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