A Very Special Episode...

[Ryan Chamberlain]

My favorite VSE. Is "The Bicycle Man" from Different Strokes.

Dudley almost gets molested!

[SFK]

Oh my God yes! How did I forget this one! God, sitcoms used to be SO GOOD! That nasty Gina taking about moving to a new dorm room, and here she'd have a VSE of her own when her boyfriend was whooping her ass.

[DRW50]

I should give a mention to the 1976 or so (!) episode of Alice where Mel's old football pal, now a spaghetti Western actor, visited, and quickly befriended Alice and her son Tommy. When Mel learned that his friend was gay, he was disgusted, especially since the guy and Tommy were going on a camping trip. For a moment, even Alice was concerned, but quickly stopped herself, realizing that nothing was going to happen. This was an extremely brave episode, especially for that time.

There was also an episode that would not ever be made today where Tommy wanted to go out hunting with Mel, couldn't wait to go, and was then traumatized over killing a deer.

[Khan]

People see the final season of "A Different World" as a disaster? That's incredible to me, because I felt like the producers had done a good job transitioning to newer characters in case the show had gone any further.

Meanwhile, remember the VSE of ADW that had Gina and her rapper boyfriend who beat her and made her wear ugly-ass shoes?

[DRW50]

I've heard that sometimes, that people didn't like the change in tone, or the new characters. I enjoyed most of the last season and thought most of the changes were necessary but I've always sort of felt in the minority there.

I do remember that one.

They also had that first season episode with the woman who attended classes but wasn't actually a student. I remember it mostly because the woman had played on something else, but now I've blanked it out.

[SFK]

Wow, never saw that first ep you mention. As for the second one, the same thing happened on Silver Spoons. Rick went hunting with grandfather and was traumatized when he shot the deer... And they really freaking fell a deer! As the credits rolled, RS did a vo saying that the deer had not been harmed, just a tranquilizer... Yikes, but still...

[London]

Ugh.... I know. I just loved when Mr. Gaines gave it to them telling Gina and Terrance that they were more a danger to Josie than she was to them. I loved that show like no other.

[London]

Here ya go Khan... that ep. was titled Love Taps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pywKh5O3Rs0

[Khan]

It's official: "A Different World" owns this thread. Lock, stock, and PSA barrels.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZDQajHbG3M

[SFK]

Oh yeah, that ep is classic! Special guest star, Ernie Sabella!

By the way, I'm with the racists... I never liked Dawnn Lewis' singing voice.

[London]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3HsmF6TXOo&list=PLA6E823B49FF9C68B&index=13&feature=plpp_video

Here's the ep. someone mentioned earlier about Whitley finding out her ancestors owned slaves... it was titled "Mammy Dearest."

[DRW50]

That's it, yes.

I also liked the episode they had in the last season which was a tribute to Lena Horne, although I don't know if that was a VSE or not.

[Khan]

Never mind.

[London]

My other favorite ADW ep. was the two-part Honeymoon In L.A. which touched on the L.A. riots after the police officers walked/were found not guilty for what had happened to Rodney King.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8Gw3so9XBA

I so look forward to the day they release the rest of the seasons on DVD.

[Eric83]

Mammy Dearest is my favorite episode of ADW.

I really liked ADW in the last season, but I would have preferred giving Whitley/Dwayne their own show and leaving the original to the college kids plus Freddie/Ron/Kim, etc.(but considering how bad the show tanked after TCS left the air I guess neither would have worked. Also didn't like Jada Pinkett's character getting all the shine, I preferred Gina and her VSE was another fave.

Hate and I mean HATE the episode of Good Times episode with Florida as a bus driver and having a hearing impaired student. That cliffhanger was corny as hell.