A Different World (TV Series)

[Eric83]

Did anyone else want Ron/Whitley at one point?

I sure did.

[dragonflies]

Ron/Whitley? Not even in an alternate universe

[Cheap21]

maybe for a minute. I remember them briefly dating when they lived in that apartment building with Jaleesa and Dwayne

Who else LOVED Jada Pinkett's character, Lena? She really helped revitalize the show in the 5th season. I loved her relationship with Whitley and those two were fun togetehr

[DeeeDee]

Which is a reality & didn't happen in the last season.

Also a reality, didn't happen in the last season & was counterbalanced by Ernie Sabella's character.

Again a reality & counterbalanced by Tom/Roseanne & the homeless guy.

Which is "anti white how?

Kim's dad getting shot?

Whitley being robbed at Christmas?

Josie having HIV?

Novian being homeless?

Kim's pregnancy scare?

Them almost getting killed at the beach?

Freddie almost being raped?

Ron not graduating?

Kim turning down her scholarship?

Zelmer going to war?

Frank being injured in war?

Kim & Matthew?

Alex's adoption?

Brad being a token?

Kim passing out?

ALL 2-4.

Edited April 25, 2010 by DeeeDee

[Eric83]

Hated seson 6 Lena but she was ok in season 5. I did like those episodes where she was making chili from her dorm room, and it set off a fire and when her friends from Baltimore came to visit.

Her relationship with Dorian was SO dull.

[DRW50]

Did they ever have any plans to put Erika Alexander on ADW? I liked her a lot on The Cosby Show, although I know some didn't. She seemed like she might have fit in on ADW.

At least she got to play that hilarious role on Living Single.

[SFK]

Gosh, Bumper Robinson was in so much stuff during the '80s. I didn't really like Dorian. Wasn't he very religious or something? That's not why I didn't like him, I'm a church boy myself, but I found his character a little annoying, something about his line delivery. Felt the same way when he was on Amen. Going OT for a split second, but when he was still a kid, he was in this TV movie we watched one Sunday night, it was about freed slaves. I don't remember much about it, but I remember that when he and his family were at some white family's house he was offered some food on a tray and when he went to reach for it the bratty little bitch daughter shrieked, "Gitchore dirty black hands off! " That has stuck with me all these years. And at the end of the movie, he and his family were trying to board an all white train or something so they could make it up north (? details foggy) and their white charge made them all up in white foundation so they could "pass". This was before Phil Morris on Y&R and Ingrid Rogers on AMC.

[SFK]

I'm guessing she and TPTB were uninterested in that, of course we got Charmaine instead. But I also think that coming off of TCS, there wasn't really room for her on ADW, she would have been expected to have a pretty large role on the show and we already had Whitley, Jaleesa, Kim, Freddie, I don't know if Pam would have been bunched with all of those other new generation girls like Lena and Gina who got the supporting stuff.

Okay, another favorite episode is when Jasmine Guy played the dual role of her buck-toothed cousin. I always crack the bleep up when Ron says affectionately to her, "Oh Bucky... "

[All My Shadows]

I wasn't big on ADW when I was younger but I loved TCS, and now that I'm older, I can do without TCS but I've warmed up to ADW a little more. Dawnn Lewis is soooo underrated and was awesome in everything she did (the first season of Hangin' with Mr. Cooper was great, and she was a big reason why). It's a shame that her workload now includes shaking a can that has "SAVE" printed on it for a commercial.

I love the Aretha theme, but there's something about the first season one that makes me like it better. I always thought it was creepy the way they showed them all washing a car in slow motion. It was like porn.

[DRW50]

I had forgotten about that double episode. Jasmine was so hilarious in that role, especially when she went from sweet to "seductive". I loved that lisp she used in the role.

Yes, Dorian was religious, he was saving himself for marriage. The main times I didn't care for him was when he would try to use some sort of sexy voice, as the audience would do the early 90s/late 80s "OOOO!!!!" sound. I wanted to hear him start reading some Velvet Jones or something.

[Eric83]

Never mind. I never said they were only preachy and showing racist whites in the last season anyway. Just about everytime a white person was brought on, it was just to show how racist they were, but we should just agree to disagree.

And I also never said the show was anti-white, I said that I felt like they were painting a picture of blacks being opressed upon by whites all the time. (pro black, anti white) Which may be the case, but not every white person is racist.

I am not a racist, that is just how I feel. Nothing was wrong with the show putting a spotlight on the struggles in the black community, but this was a sitcom not the evening news.

You see it your way, and I see it mine. I really don't feel like continuing to debate this. All in all, I still love the show, and will respect it for what it tried to do, by having these social issue episodes.

I still stand by what I said that in Season 5 & 6 they were preachy throwing social issues at us almost every week. Some of these examples aren't even doom and gloom/social issues.

[Eric83]

I don't think so. They did plan on bringing Charmaine's boyfriend Lance to ADW. The actor's name escapes me right now, but he turned down the offer to pursue a movie career.

Charmaine and Lance appeared in a Season 5 episode as well. I guess it was to test out how they work on the show the next year.

[Eric83]

Does anyone remember when En Vogue appeared as Mr. Gaines' quiet, church going nieces? Love that episode too.

And well I did like Ron/Freddie I hated that they ended up together at the end. I always thought it would be Ron/Kim, but she ended getting engaged to some random nobody, whose name I can't even remember.

[SFK]

AMS, I loved that first season of HWMC. That En Vogue theme was the BEST. Holly Robinson-Pete is bff with Terry from En Vogue. En Vogue! Here come the nostalgia monster to swallow me up. Aww, and I just remembered that the late Roxie Roker played Vanessa's mom. Gone too soon.

LOL @the carwash/porn ADW opening. Actually, I used to think that the lady singing the theme was Mary Alice (Nettie). Aretha was my favorite, and the final version felt fresh and "about time" when it first aired, but now it's like the final "Diff'rent Strokes" theme to me, that need to freshen things up on your way out, just reminds me that the show is winding down. I don't like that moment when the show comes on in syndication and my first thought is, "Oh, this is the last season. " I probably sound like such a weirdo.

Carl, TOTALLY on that trying to sound sexy voice and audience "WOOOOHHHH!" stuff. Shazza used to get that too. Both Shazza and Millie are examples of actors who I didn't connect the dots to until years later, Gary Dourdain and MAR.

Allen Payne who now stars in Tyler Perry's "House of Paynefully Unfunny". He and Jada did Jason's Lyric.

[SFK]

I DO remember that! The Boys also guest starred in an ep I caught on TVOne just last week, they beat Ron's band in a competition. Do you remember when Ja'Net DuBois (Willona, "Good Times") guest starred and had the hots for Mr. Gaines? Excuse me, Vernon.