A Different World (1987–1993)

A group of students at a historically Black university struggle to make it through college.

Creator:

Bill Cosby

Stars:

Jasmine Guy, Kadeem Hardison, Darryl M. Bell

Nominated for 3 Primetime Emmys. Another 16 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Jasmine Guy	...	Whitley Gilbert (136 episodes, 1987-1993)
Kadeem Hardison	...	Dwayne Cleophus Wayne (132 episodes, 1987-1993)
Darryl M. Bell	...	Ronald 'Ron' Johnson (103 episodes, 1987-1993)
Charnele Brown	...	Kimberly 'Kim' Reese (90 episodes, 1988-1993)
Dawnn Lewis	...	Jaleesa Vinson Taylor (89 episodes, 1987-1992)
Cree Summer	...	Winifred 'Freddie' Brooks (87 episodes, 1988-1993)
Lou Myers	...	Vernon Gaines (65 episodes, 1988-1993)

Storyline

A group of students at a historically Black university struggle to make it through college.

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Plot Keywords:

university | college | african american | teenage girl | historically black college | 

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Taglines:

Big laughs on campus.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 September 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Campus show

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bill Cosby, Carsey-Werner Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min 30 min (142 episodes) 60 min (1 episode)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Spin-off of The Cosby Show, the original premise of the series was abandoned after the first season due to Lisa Bonet's exiting the show.

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Quotes

Whitley Marion Gilbert Wayne: [after being sexually harassed by her employee] It's so nice to know women have a place in business. Too bad it's horizontal.

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Connections

Referenced in TV in Black: The First Fifty Years (2004)

User Reviews

Became most interesting after people stopped paying attention

Most people remember this show as the spinoff of The Cosby Show built around Lisa Bonet's Denise character. After she (and Marisa Tomei) left the show, it was generally dismissed as a failure that was left on the air because of Cosby's influence. Oddly enough, it was at that point that this series got interesting. The "traditionally black college" setting provided a unique forum for exploring the topics that have arisen at the cultural crossroads that is Modern America. Metaracial politics informed both explicitly sociological stories and more traditional sitcom plots. It finally became the show they had probably intended to produce in the first place. That's not to say that "A Different World" became the greatest show in the history of Television. It never managed to settle on who the main characters were. The romance of Whitley and Dwayne was probably most prominent, but Ron, Freddie, Jaleesa, Kimberly, and, eventually, another generation of students took center stage from time to time too. I think medical student Kimberly best embodied the "entry point" or audience viewpoint. She was the character most likely to balance the materialism of Whitley, activist politics of Freddie, and more personal concerns of the other characters and achieve some kind of moral synthesis which the producers seemed to be aiming for.