"A Different World" (1987-1993)

This show was originally intended as a spin-off vehicle to spotlight Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet), one of the kids on "The Cosby Show". Denise had enrolled at fictional Hillman College, a predominately African-American school located somewhere in the south. The first season, Denise roomed with Maggie Lauren (Marisa Tomei), who appeared to be one of very few white students on campus. Her other roomate was Jaleesa Vinson (Dawnn Lewis), a 26 year old freshman who had already been married and divorced. The first season was rather slow. It was missing something. A promise of interesting times surfaced when Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison) showed an interest in Denise.

The romance was cut off at the knees when the second season began and Denise was gone, having dropped out of school. Maggie disappeared as well. The plots then shifted to include other students, namely snooty Southern belle Whitley Gilbert (Jasmine Guy), would-be player Ron Johnson (Darryl Bell), pre-med student Kim Reese (Charnele Brown), bubbly Gina Devereaux (Ajai Sanders) and New Age flower child Winifred "Freddie" Brooks (Cree Summer). A few of the college staff were featured too, including Col. Clayton "Dr. War" Taylor (Glynn Turman); sports coach Walter Oakes (Sinbad), who had a relationship with Jaleesa; and Lettie Bostic (Mary Alice) and Stevie Rallen (Loretta Devine) who ran the girls' dorm. Vernon Gaines (Lou Myers) was the crusty old guy who ran The Pit, a fast food place where everyone hung out.

There were equal mixes of serious subjects along with the usual college antics. Date rape, AIDS/HIV, sexism, classism, and interracial romances were some of the topics covered. A couple of very somber episodes stick out in my mind. One story revolved around a friend of Dwayne's who was going into the military right on the cusp of what would turn into the Gulf War. Reactions to the friend ranged from respect to out and out hostility. Another episode involved Dwayne and Ron's run-in with a group of racists, which landed all a few hours in jail. Nothing was solved at the end. All of the guys involved were given community service sentences, and Ron discovered someone had painted a racial slur across his sports car.

Eventually, the students had to graduate, but the series continued to follow the new grads as they entered a "different world" of careers and other adult responsibilities. Some new students were introduced, including feisty Lena James (Jada Pinkett-Smith). However, the series couldn't keep putting one foot in the adult world while attempting to keep the student storylines going at the same time.

NBC gave audiences the impression that an episode that had math whiz Dwayne taking a job with a computer corporation in Japan, and his wife Whitley (they had married by this time) finding out she was expecting, would be the series' finale. Several more episodes ran focusing totally on the new students, but the magic was gone by the summer of 1993.

While the series was running, Jasmine Guy had a minor hit called "Try Me". Jada Pinkett-Smith went on to appear in movies and marry rapper/actor Will Smith ("The Fresh Prince of Bel Air"). Gary Dourdan, who played Shazza Zulu, a militant boyfriend of Freddie's, now appears on the crime series "CSI".