I went to college because of this show. Attended Howard University and now I've been a professor at Howard for 23 years. I'm now a full professor and only 2% of women of color achieve this status. Thank you to the entire team from A Different World!
I am obsessed with the cast til this day, I actually met Debbie Allen a few times at a Whole Foods I worked at, baby....she was so petite, so light on her feet, and I could tell she shopped there regularly, knew where everything was and she was like a fucking ninja!!! The first time she got in my line was when I first met her, I looked over and understood who was in front of me, it took ALL of me not to go berserk! (A week after War Machines ass walked into my line) I'm not from Los Angeles so I was incredibly star struck and wasn't expecting that at all. Ms.Allen was classy as hell she introduced herself to me and shook my hand, I told her what a huge fan I was and thanked her, packed her shit and sent her and her tall ass husband twirling out of the store. They are awesome people! Black, smart, rich as fuck I have never had that privilege,it's inspiring.
I met Norm at Lindbergh nutrition store in the 80’s when he was a Laker. Your experience vibes with me totally. They are genuine peeps and a class act.
I’m a first generation college student because of this show!❤ My parents said I used to jump in the air and scream at the end of the theme song when she says “and where you come from” 😂 man this show is so meaningful to our culture, I can’t even put it into words! ✨🥰
Jasmine Guy is FUNNY naturally, she was lit on that other radio show TBC, I was very entertained and it was exactly what I needed to go to bed listening to.
Bill Cosby had his issues, and I definitely don"t condone his behavior, but when I tell you. The education, images, and cultural references he gave us with The Cosby Show and A Different World is undeniable, impactful, and historical and can never be denied or erase. Love, love love A Different World. Karen can get Oprah on the show??
Yeah,when A Different World was on,I thought Jasmine Guy was one of the most GORGEOUS women on tv.Dawn Lewis & Gina Devereaux were FINE !!! Love me some chocolate-caramel sisters !!!! LOL.
Lots of my College friends in the 80s were having conversations regarding that 1st season of a Different World. Talented cast, but the storylines, look and vibe of the show was unrelatable to many of us. SO glad Debbie Allen was able to bring the needed authenticity to the Series.😊
That's the word... "authenticity" I remember the 1st season in real time and were caught up in it by the wide range of blackness on TV but compared to the 2nd season on, the show really took off! Debbie Allen introduced Alot of social topics, real world issues on race, aids, single parenthood, sexual activity, voter registration, racial profiling etc. ADW spoke out and reached us on those Thursday nights!
Heather TEA, lots of my college friends LOVED the show in the first season and we felt the show was very relatable. Black doesn't just look one way. That's stereotypical.
@@renealexander2703 You're a hundred percent right that blackness isn't one way but that has nothing to do with what we're talking about. The problem with the first season was that it was just bland and lacking substance as well as not being authentic to what HBCU life was actually like. Hell half the time I would swear they were in high school not college. An Egg?.... Seriously? But when Debbie came in and Jasmine replaced Lisa as the lead the show really became hilarious and something special. It repped HBCUs so well that the enrollment numbers skyrocketed across the country.
@@kendallrivers1119 , not to me. The first season is my favorite. I don't think it's bland nor did it lack substance. HBCU life is also like the first season. There is no one way to be. It was special due to the first season.
All of the characters, actors and actresses in the show saved it. They need to do a reboot of this ASAP and bring them back as teachers or something. Believe it or not this show was very important to a lot of people and they knew it and that’s probably why it was canceled
I always appreciated Ms.Guy on "Dead like Me." Because I didn't expect to see a Black character let alone see her. She was like my favorite character. No, it's not a show that she needed to do, but it just made it 100% better for me. I wish they had kept it on for longer but you know that's just a part of life.
Oh yeah, Jasmine was broke, nearly destitute! So I'm happy to hear she's getting work. She was my least favorite character on Different World, nevertheless my favorite show. Cosby was as complicated as any man but he really loved Black people and presented us in positive images, illuminating us as the beautiful, smart, charismatic, classy and dignified people that has always existed in our community. We know those characters actually exist in Black communities all over America. Yet those that do not know us, think that we're all functionally illiterate, ignorant, lazy, hypersexual, poor, thuggish, whorish and uncouth based on the nightly news, tv and movies that tell stories about us from a narrow lens. But Cosby knew that we are everyone shown on the Crosby and Different World.
After Phylicia Rashad guess starred on "A Different World" she told Cosby the show was missing something, so he told her to go ask her sister Debbie Allen to come and start helping with production/directing...AND THAT'S WHEN THE MAGIC STARTED.
Phylicia Rashad did not guest start until season 2 once Debbie Allen had taken over. Denise’s character was gone by then. Tempest Bledsoe was on that episode as well.
@@rerebrook5057 WRONG. Phylicia's first appearance was season 1 episode 19 with Denise. That episode was called "Clair's Last Stand". That is when she told Debbie to come help with the show. And actually she had a few episodes where she appeared with Denise. I've seen all episodes Phylicia appeared on. You might wanna do your research. 😊
The story goes Phylicia Rashad told Bill what was going on behind the scenes on set of A Different World, because there was chaos. She told him this is your legacy, you don't want your legacy to be broken, because the show was amuck. So Bill called Debbie and told her to get her broom. Debbie meet with Lisa, found out she was pregnant. Debbie said we gotta tell Bill. Debbie gave Bill many stories about how Denise's baby could be in the story. Bill said Lisa Bonet pregnant not Denise Huxtable. So Denise comes back to the Cosby Show [ what spin off series where the main character goes back to the original show and not on the spin off series?] Debbie brought in HBC flava- not having hotsauce on the tables.
@@skmmmonae9323 That not what I heard, because Phylicia guest starred on A different World and went back to Bill. Bill called Debbie because this was Bill spin off series.
The Cosby Show came out in 1984 and I graduated high school the following year and went to a PWI. I was one of those kids who took my black family and our blackness for granted and didn't understand what I would be facing outside of that cocoon because I was in Chicago and in many ways the middle class could pretend it was all about trying to make integration work. I always wondered when did my consciousness awaken?? A Different World came out in 1987 while I was in the midst of that PWI. There you go 👊🏽
I don't know your experience but as someone whose been to a PWI and known a few other folks of color who went there I wouldn't say it's a bad thing at all. Education is education and while HBCUs growth has been amazing it doesn't mean you're not black or not intuned with your blackness if you just didn't attend an HBCU. Doesn't make you a sell out or a bad person or whatever.
A Different World premiered on my 14th birthday. I loved The Cosby Show and was excited to see A Different World. I entered Morgan State University in 1991 and watching A Different World helped to prepare me for that HBCU experience. ❤ I'll admit that when I binge watch the show now I skip over the first season.
When I was in college at NC A&T SU, the whole school would shut down on Thursday nights to watch A Different World...that's how powerful this show was.
Same for Clark, Morris Brown Morehouse/Spelman. It was damn near surreal because many of the cut-in shots were filmed in the Atlanta University Center. Now that I think of it… it was fiction positively imitating our lived experience. Great point! BTW, I this Morehouse Man is proudly married to Brilliant, Bold and Beautiful Aggie! I love being a part of #AggiePrideNation
@@owenlawson8660 Hi...it certainly was a depiction of our lives. My cousin and few of my closest friend went to the Morehouse. Tell my aggie sister hello and AGGIE Pride. What year did she graduate? 💙💛
I think Debbie Allen is the biggest reason for A Different World’s strong appeal after that first season. Whitley and Duane definitely was a huge draw without question, but Debbie’s input and interaction put that show on the map forever.
Listening to Kadeem talk about watching that first episode without him & Jasmine; thinking it would last only a few episodes even as a 'Cosby Show' spinoff, it hits you... How lucky are we A Different World was given that opportunity to find it's legs? Unlike today where shows get the axe even when they're critically acclaimed, trending on social media every week, & racking up award nominations (* cough! * Lovecraft Country) Not only that but to have someone like Debbie Allen, who truly understood that HBCU experience, as the ship's captain? C'MON. The stars & planets were in alignment for ADW How many working, black professionals that have impacted their fields would we have missed out on if that show didn't do what it did? Crazy to think about.
I remember an interview that Mario Van Peebles saying that Hollywood decision makers preferred to see the unwed pregnant Black girl and the the Black boy on drugs. Cosby was right to not have an unwed mother on the show. It would have been just another stereotype rather reality or not.
I can see why he dint want to put in the show but it could have also been another thing they could have done to show how hard it is to be a unwed mom. It though sounds like even before that the producers disrespected Lisa bonet
Wonderful interview, Profesor Hunter. I love how relaxed and engaging they were while talking to you. Please write that script for them. I would watch that film.
In 1987, a pregnant "wild" child from 'The Cosby Show,' was NOT gonna fly. Why has NO ONE stated this simple Black Fact when speaking on the 'A Different World' journey. Place and time matters
It definitely wasn't!. At that time and place single parenthood was very taboo in the black community ( and still is to an extent). I can see Jasmine & Kadeem's take on Denise being a college student and a Mom and how that could have worked on the show (I went to college and high school with a few friends in that situation) but... It still wasn't condoned! Most of us looked at them like outcasts, thinking why would you make it any harder on yourself. Remember being a college student is more than books, it's the overall campus experience with friends and classmates, parties, going to ball games etc. It ain't as fun when you have to find a babysitter or try to get one of your friends on the yard to babysit so you can kick it for a minute but I digress
agreed. Cosby was trying to dispell some of the 'negative' stereotypes about black families. if Denise wasn't tied to the Cosby Show and the idea of a family that he wanted us to see maybe she could have been the representation on a Different World. since Denise was pregnant in real life there was no real way to present that idea in the show without the media coming for Cosby for not using her as the representation. but the idea of morality and respectability, which is quite real in the black community , is lost in white media. i for one know too many black families with both parents who don't curse, whore around, who love and support each other, haven't gone to prison, and have ambition and drive to be something other than rappers and ball players. the Cosby show and a Different World helped inspire a generation of educated black women who are now entrepreneurs.
@@xoacatl All three of you are absolutely right. Kadeem and Jasmine sound painfully naive when they say putting Denise on the show pregnant would have been a good idea. I think the worst part is that it would have glamorized being an unwed teen mother. I don't know how any rational person could think that would have been right.
@@joeb267382 good point. It would have been a fine line to walk as far as a storyline about a single parent being in college on the show. Remember the episode with Theresa Randal playing a single mom (the Heavy D and The Boyz show) and Ron was really feeling her. She was interested too but knew that she had to look at the bigger picture what was best for them. I was hoping they would have brought her back to see how her and Ron would have worked but it was only a "one off" episode with her
Great interview!! Love Different World!! Had my eldest daughter watching it and she’s a Spelman Grad now (Summa Cum Laude) It was the only show along with the Cosby show I was allowed to watch!! 70’s baby!! I remember asking my mom why they had white people on the black shows but we weren’t on their shows and her telling me that was the way it goes!!
I've always liked these two! I liked them more after meeting them when I used to photograph celeb events in and around Los Angeles. They were always kind and down to earth. 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤
AUC Classes: 87-92 was a phenomenal time to be a student at Morehouse College and see our experience literally reflected on the television. I’m grateful to God for the impact that this ART has had in my community. Thank you for keeping this excellence in our consciousness Karen. Be blessed. Be GREAT today! OneLOVE!!! Family
A Different World is a very iconic show without question. I just can't get enough of the show. Debbie Allen really took A Different World to much higher levels when she took over as the producer in the show's second season. I also enjoyed listening to Aretha Franklin's voice singing the show's theme song.
Definitely inspired me to go to college and was the first one in my family and neighborhood to go. Last week, I caught my 18 year old son watching your show and got emotional. He just started his freshman year last month and is the first male in my family to go to college! You inspired black excellence across the board!!! Whitley made me realize that there was a black upper class! Dwayne Wayne was the first time I saw a young black teacher and my degree is in education. I'm glad y'all know your impact. I'm so happy that you're getting your flowers even tho the networks didn't see your value at the time. Truth be told, if they knew what y'all were giving to the community, they may have stopped the show a lot sooner...
Peace! Excellent interview Karen; “A Different World”; made most of us want to leave predominantly Eurocentric University’s. Yo Spike is mad short; I ran into him at a Starbucks in North Jersey. His wife is like 8 inches taller than him😊lololol lol..shout-out to the School of Performing Arts!
Top five shows with predominantly black casts that owned the 90s: Martin, A Different World, Living Single, In Living Color and New York Undercover. Whitley and Dwayne as well as Debbie Allen, New writers, theme song, casting additions of Charnelle Brown, Sinbad, Cree Summer, Darryl M. Bell, Glynn Turman and Lou Meyers etc. And all the other big influences the show had on television and culture in general all made this show forever iconic!
Outstanding video post and interview. Let's not forget also the key role that both Jasmine Guy and Kadeem Hardison had in the Spike Lee movie "School Daze." In my opinion that showed them as trusted and ready for the center stage. I recently purchased that movie on Blu-ray and can't wait to watch it in February.
Great interview. I only watched their show intermittently back then, so hearing some of the behind the scenes stuff was great. Also, hearing about "School Daze" makes me want to rewatch that too. Shout out to the Queen of Soul too-- definitely need her pic on your wall!
Oh my, prof Karen this is my absolute favorite show from the best that I look at everyday here on The island country of Bermuda. Hearing these two being heard on so many different platforms. This gives me great joy.
Sister Jasmine helped me to see the finer details in Black Women's faces, to name only one of the things she inspired in me. I guess I gauged beauty by Sister Jasmine's beauty, I have a feeling she would be shaking her head no but that's what it is. 🕯✌🏾
One of the best shows ever ok... taped it on my VCR to show u how bck this goes... but it was awesome all seasons.... the last episode 😢 I was like no dont end but Whit and Dwayne omg esp how she called his name...... loved both their moms like major stars 🌟 lol. Nothing can compare to this
@@renealexander2703 True, Lisa Bonet open the door, I like her and wish she had more success on ADW, but the show's success was because of the other cast members.
ADW debuted when I first started college, so this show spoke to me (especially beginning with season 2), and I LOVED IT! Great interview Prof. Hunter! And I think I've watched 11:31 about fifty-eleven times! 😂
But for real, though… we don’t EEEEEVER get any word on a RE. BOOT! All the mess they bringing back, we have got to get this show BACK on the air, maybe even with a “BEL-AIR” treatment? Wouldn’t be hard.
I saw them in A Christmas Pact. Kyla Pratt played their daughter. And there's a scene where the daughter says u cant fall in love with your best friend. And Jasmine's character said "your daddy used to be my best friend." #thenod2Adifferentworld
Actually people in California did know about and attended HBCU's. I grew up in Oakland and went to Howard Univ, while Debbie Allen was a student in Fine Arts. I graduated in Summer 1971, returned to Oakland and was active in the Alumni Association, which represented many graduates of Howard University before and after me...I also know younger generations of California Folk who also attended HBCU's.
I read Jasmine's book as well and just found it when I closed out my storage, one that I will definitely re read. Karen aka Charmine is in the new disturbing Dahmer series. Her episode is very said. She still looks the same & have the same hairdo 😎
It seems like the first season was a test run then they started to get serious. The Dwayne and Whitley story line was brilliant because at the beginning there was no way you could see them together.
thank you for this interview with Mr. Kadeem Hardison and also ms Guy amazing, they are so talented and learned so much. They inspire me to keep learning too and keep reaching for the stars.
Interesting that Jasmine Guy mentions there are no HBCUs on the West Coast and that is true. Most HBCUs began before the Great Migration of Blacks from the South. This makes sense. Most Blacks were concentrated in the South. I went to an HBCU in Washington DC where I met Debbie Allen and a then unknown Phylicia Ayers. Tthere were many kids attending from the West Coast who were amazed with the number of HBCUs. One of our professors had to school this one girl from California on the fact that NC, considered totally backwards at the time, boasts the 2nd largest number of HBCUs in the country.
![POLYCAT - ข้อความรูปยิ้ม :) [Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/lBhIgPGCgbI/mqdefault.jpg)
I went to college because of this show. Attended Howard University and now I've been a professor at Howard for 23 years. I'm now a full professor and only 2% of women of color achieve this status. Thank you to the entire team from A Different World!
But it was Bill Cosby's vision that created Different World.
@@paulhester489 And?
@Thrifty DIY Design with Den that is so cool. I love your story. You are now inspiring others! 💕💚💕💚🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
@@rroberts7073 thank you!!
I read that Black college enrollment skyrocketed during that series.
Kadeem Hardison, Jasmine Guy and Debbie Allen saved that show and made it iconic 👏🏿 🙌🏿 🌷⚘️💐
The show was a hit with Lisa Bonet. Lisa Bonet is the reason the show was created. She deserves credit too.
Lisa Bonet wasn’t afforded the opportunity to work with Debbie Allen in this show. She’s the reason behind the whole idea of the show.
Lisa Bonet wasn’t afforded the opportunity to work with Debbie Allen in this show. She’s the reason behind the whole idea of the show.
1988 peoples choice award without debbie Allen, stop the bullshit. Season 1 was not bad at all.
I Loved A Different World!! As an HBCU grad, the show reflected alot of my experiences. All the actors were phenomenal. Mrs Debbie Allen made it great
Jasmine cracks me up. She for real real
I loved a ‘Different World’. I watched with my parents and siblings every week. 🥰
I am obsessed with the cast til this day, I actually met Debbie Allen a few times at a Whole Foods I worked at, baby....she was so petite, so light on her feet, and I could tell she shopped there regularly, knew where everything was and she was like a fucking ninja!!!
The first time she got in my line was when I first met her, I looked over and understood who was in front of me, it took ALL of me not to go berserk! (A week after War Machines ass walked into my line) I'm not from Los Angeles so I was incredibly star struck and wasn't expecting that at all. Ms.Allen was classy as hell she introduced herself to me and shook my hand, I told her what a huge fan I was and thanked her, packed her shit and sent her and her tall ass husband twirling out of the store. They are awesome people! Black, smart, rich as fuck I have never had that privilege,it's inspiring.
I met Norm at Lindbergh nutrition store in the 80’s when he was a Laker. Your experience vibes with me totally. They are genuine peeps and a class act.
@@dhahransdadwoods5193 he y'all AF! A dancer and a athlete. Smh
I’m a first generation college student because of this show!❤ My parents said I used to jump in the air and scream at the end of the theme song when she says “and where you come from” 😂 man this show is so meaningful to our culture, I can’t even put it into words! ✨🥰
Kadeem & Jasmine have such great chemistry!!! So good to see them together again.
The youth of today would benefit from a "Different World" so appreciate and loved the show. Alumni of HBCU - UMES!
Jasmine Guy is FUNNY naturally, she was lit on that other radio show TBC, I was very entertained and it was exactly what I needed to go to bed listening to.
Bill Cosby had his issues, and I definitely don"t condone his behavior, but when I tell you. The education, images, and cultural references he gave us with The Cosby Show and A Different World is undeniable, impactful, and historical and can never be denied or erase. Love, love love A Different World. Karen can get Oprah on the show??
She has an open seat at my table...
Entertainers are paid to be BiPolar. Sadly some people worship celebrity sociopaths...🙄
Jasmine Guy made an outstanding point about the West Coast Black Community not being in tuned with HBCUs.
These two are pioneers period. Jasmine Guy such as pillar to the culture and gorgeous woman.
Yeah,when A Different World was on,I thought Jasmine Guy was one of the most GORGEOUS women on tv.Dawn Lewis & Gina Devereaux were FINE !!! Love me some chocolate-caramel sisters !!!! LOL.
Lots of my College friends in the 80s were having conversations regarding that 1st season of a
Different World.
Talented cast, but the storylines, look and vibe of the show was unrelatable to many of us.
SO glad Debbie Allen was able to bring the needed authenticity to the Series.😊
That's the word... "authenticity" I remember the 1st season in real time and were caught up in it by the wide range of blackness on TV but compared to the 2nd season on, the show really took off! Debbie Allen introduced Alot of social topics, real world issues on race, aids, single parenthood, sexual activity, voter registration, racial profiling etc. ADW spoke out and reached us on those Thursday nights!
Heather TEA, lots of my college friends LOVED the show in the first season and we felt the show was very relatable. Black doesn't just look one way. That's stereotypical.
@@renealexander2703 You're a hundred percent right that blackness isn't one way but that has nothing to do with what we're talking about. The problem with the first season was that it was just bland and lacking substance as well as not being authentic to what HBCU life was actually like. Hell half the time I would swear they were in high school not college. An Egg?.... Seriously? But when Debbie came in and Jasmine replaced Lisa as the lead the show really became hilarious and something special. It repped HBCUs so well that the enrollment numbers skyrocketed across the country.
@@kendallrivers1119 , not to me. The first season is my favorite. I don't think it's bland nor did it lack substance. HBCU life is also like the first season. There is no one way to be. It was special due to the first season.
All of the characters, actors and actresses in the show saved it. They need to do a reboot of this ASAP and bring them back as teachers or something. Believe it or not this show was very important to a lot of people and they knew it and that’s probably why it was canceled
I agree. Credit should be given to everyone, not just a few.
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
I always appreciated Ms.Guy on "Dead like Me." Because I didn't expect to see a Black character let alone see her. She was like my favorite character. No, it's not a show that she needed to do, but it just made it 100% better for me. I wish they had kept it on for longer but you know that's just a part of life.
That use to be my show because of her 😅
Oh yeah, Jasmine was broke, nearly destitute! So I'm happy to hear she's getting work. She was my least favorite character on Different World, nevertheless my favorite show. Cosby was as complicated as any man but he really loved Black people and presented us in positive images, illuminating us as the beautiful, smart, charismatic, classy and dignified people that has always existed in our community. We know those characters actually exist in Black communities all over America. Yet those that do not know us, think that we're all functionally illiterate, ignorant, lazy, hypersexual, poor, thuggish, whorish and uncouth based on the nightly news, tv and movies that tell stories about us from a narrow lens. But Cosby knew that we are everyone shown on the Crosby and Different World.
After Phylicia Rashad guess starred on "A Different World" she told Cosby the show was missing something, so he told her to go ask her sister Debbie Allen to come and start helping with production/directing...AND THAT'S WHEN THE MAGIC STARTED.
Phylicia Rashad did not guest start until season 2 once Debbie Allen had taken over. Denise’s character was gone by then. Tempest Bledsoe was on that episode as well.
@@rerebrook5057 WRONG. Phylicia's first appearance was season 1 episode 19 with Denise. That episode was called "Clair's Last Stand". That is when she told Debbie to come help with the show. And actually she had a few episodes where she appeared with Denise. I've seen all episodes Phylicia appeared on. You might wanna do your research. 😊
The story goes Phylicia Rashad told Bill what was going on behind the scenes on set of A Different World, because there was chaos. She told him this is your legacy, you don't want your legacy to be broken, because the show was amuck. So Bill called Debbie and told her to get her broom. Debbie meet with Lisa, found out she was pregnant. Debbie said we gotta tell Bill. Debbie gave Bill many stories about how Denise's baby could be in the story. Bill said Lisa Bonet pregnant not Denise Huxtable. So Denise comes back to the Cosby Show [ what spin off series where the main character goes back to the original show and not on the spin off series?] Debbie brought in HBC flava- not having hotsauce on the tables.
@@1thetvzone It was Phylicia that actually told Debbie to come to the show...Bill and Debbie spoke after Phylicia convinced her to do it.
@@skmmmonae9323 That not what I heard, because Phylicia guest starred on A different World and went back to Bill. Bill called Debbie because this was Bill spin off series.
Kadeem Harrison was my first childhood role model outside of the family. He is the reason I pursued a career as an engineer.
The Cosby Show came out in 1984 and I graduated high school the following year and went to a PWI. I was one of those kids who took my black family and our blackness for granted and didn't understand what I would be facing outside of that cocoon because I was in Chicago and in many ways the middle class could pretend it was all about trying to make integration work. I always wondered when did my consciousness awaken?? A Different World came out in 1987 while I was in the midst of that PWI. There you go 👊🏽
Karen what H.S. did you attend in the Chi?
I'm from the Chi...I graduated from Hyde Park Career Acad in 1987...where did you go to school?
I graduated from Kenwood Academy 85
I don't know your experience but as someone whose been to a PWI and known a few other folks of color who went there I wouldn't say it's a bad thing at all. Education is education and while HBCUs growth has been amazing it doesn't mean you're not black or not intuned with your blackness if you just didn't attend an HBCU. Doesn't make you a sell out or a bad person or whatever.
I could listen to them all day.
I love everything about this interview. Thank you Dr. Hunter for asking different questions than everyone else.
A Different World premiered on my 14th birthday. I loved The Cosby Show and was excited to see A Different World. I entered Morgan State University in 1991 and watching A Different World helped to prepare me for that HBCU experience. ❤ I'll admit that when I binge watch the show now I skip over the first season.
Sonja Easley, why? Why the extreme reaction the first season?
I watch them almost everyday at 4PM - 6PM everyday on TV ONE. Thanks for the marathon last Saturday 24 September 2022 ❤🎉
I loved this show!!! Actually I still watch the episodes 🥰💪🏾💪🏾
Me too
Where ??? What station or streaming service ???
When I was in college at NC A&T SU, the whole school would shut down on Thursday nights to watch A Different World...that's how powerful this show was.
I love this!
Same for Clark, Morris Brown Morehouse/Spelman.
It was damn near surreal because many of the cut-in shots were filmed in the Atlanta University Center.
Now that I think of it… it was fiction positively imitating our lived experience.
Great point!
BTW, I this Morehouse Man is proudly married to Brilliant, Bold and Beautiful Aggie!
I love being a part of #AggiePrideNation
@@owenlawson8660 Hi...it certainly was a depiction of our lives. My cousin and few of my closest friend went to the Morehouse.
Tell my aggie sister hello and AGGIE Pride. What year did she graduate? 💙💛
@@KarenHunterShow thanks Karen 😊
1994 Lisa.
I think Debbie Allen is the biggest reason for A Different World’s strong appeal after that first season. Whitley and Duane definitely was a huge draw without question, but Debbie’s input and interaction put that show on the map forever.
Listening to Kadeem talk about watching that first episode without him & Jasmine; thinking it would last only a few episodes even as a 'Cosby Show' spinoff, it hits you...
How lucky are we A Different World was given that opportunity to find it's legs? Unlike today where shows get the axe even when they're critically acclaimed, trending on social media every week, & racking up award nominations (* cough! * Lovecraft Country) Not only that but to have someone like Debbie Allen, who truly understood that HBCU experience, as the ship's captain? C'MON. The stars & planets were in alignment for ADW
How many working, black professionals that have impacted their fields would we have missed out on if that show didn't do what it did? Crazy to think about.
Great point
I remember an interview that Mario Van Peebles saying that Hollywood decision makers preferred to see the unwed pregnant Black girl and the the Black boy on drugs. Cosby was right to not have an unwed mother on the show. It would have been just another stereotype rather reality or not.
I can see why he dint want to put in the show but it could have also been another thing they could have done to show how hard it is to be a unwed mom. It though sounds like even before that the producers disrespected Lisa bonet
So so so true!!!!!
Beautiful ♥️. I still watch a Different World today, I love the show ❤ 💙.
Wonderful interview, Profesor Hunter. I love how relaxed and engaging they were while talking to you. Please write that script for them. I would watch that film.
Hilarious, old friends. 🤣 When Sheryl Lee Ralph had her iconic moment, I thought about Jasmine Guy. 💐
I grew up on this show, Different World has a heavy influence and its still relevant today.
With all the rich Black people in the US today. There’s no need for this show to be sitting on the shelf.
The years have been kind to Jasmine 🙂 she still looks incredible!
In 1987, a pregnant "wild" child from 'The Cosby Show,' was NOT gonna fly. Why has NO ONE stated this simple Black Fact when speaking on the 'A Different World' journey. Place and time matters
It definitely wasn't!. At that time and place single parenthood was very taboo in the black community ( and still is to an extent). I can see Jasmine & Kadeem's take on Denise being a college student and a Mom and how that could have worked on the show (I went to college and high school with a few friends in that situation) but... It still wasn't condoned! Most of us looked at them like outcasts, thinking why would you make it any harder on yourself. Remember being a college student is more than books, it's the overall campus experience with friends and classmates, parties, going to ball games etc. It ain't as fun when you have to find a babysitter or try to get one of your friends on the yard to babysit so you can kick it for a minute but I digress
I said it.
agreed. Cosby was trying to dispell some of the 'negative' stereotypes about black families. if Denise wasn't tied to the Cosby Show and the idea of a family that he wanted us to see maybe she could have been the representation on a Different World. since Denise was pregnant in real life there was no real way to present that idea in the show without the media coming for Cosby for not using her as the representation. but the idea of morality and respectability, which is quite real in the black community , is lost in white media. i for one know too many black families with both parents who don't curse, whore around, who love and support each other, haven't gone to prison, and have ambition and drive to be something other than rappers and ball players. the Cosby show and a Different World helped inspire a generation of educated black women who are now entrepreneurs.
@@xoacatl All three of you are absolutely right. Kadeem and Jasmine sound painfully naive when they say putting Denise on the show pregnant would have been a good idea. I think the worst part is that it would have glamorized being an unwed teen mother. I don't know how any rational person could think that would have been right.
@@joeb267382 good point. It would have been a fine line to walk as far as a storyline about a single parent being in college on the show. Remember the episode with Theresa Randal playing a single mom (the Heavy D and The Boyz show) and Ron was really feeling her. She was interested too but knew that she had to look at the bigger picture what was best for them. I was hoping they would have brought her back to see how her and Ron would have worked but it was only a "one off" episode with her
Great interview!! Love Different World!! Had my eldest daughter watching it and she’s a Spelman Grad now (Summa Cum Laude) It was the only show along with the Cosby show I was allowed to watch!! 70’s baby!! I remember asking my mom why they had white people on the black shows but we weren’t on their shows and her telling me that was the way it goes!!
dope!!! I love this story.
@@KarenHunterShow Thank you for all you do for the community!!! 👑
DontTripISaidIt, there are black people on white shows.
Same!! I could only watch The Cosby Show and ADW in my household.
I've always liked these two! I liked them more after meeting them when I used to photograph celeb events in and around Los Angeles. They were always kind and down to earth. 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤
I loved A Different World for showing an option that many of us didn’t know was available to us
School Daze is still one of my favorite movies! I was only 6 when it was released and 12 when I 1st saw it.
It's my favorite as well.
Great interview! Please make that thriller happen. I feel it would be the watch!
AUC Classes: 87-92 was a phenomenal time to be a student at Morehouse College and see our experience literally reflected on the television. I’m grateful to God for the impact that this ART has had in my community. Thank you for keeping this excellence in our consciousness Karen.
Be blessed. Be GREAT today!
OneLOVE!!! Family
A Different World is a very iconic show without question. I just can't get enough of the show. Debbie Allen really took A Different World to much higher levels when she took over as the producer in the show's second season. I also enjoyed listening to Aretha Franklin's voice singing the show's theme song.
"He doesn't even have a cocaine body." 🤣
Just beautiful....you moved Generations, let's face it....
Definitely inspired me to go to college and was the first one in my family and neighborhood to go. Last week, I caught my 18 year old son watching your show and got emotional. He just started his freshman year last month and is the first male in my family to go to college! You inspired black excellence across the board!!! Whitley made me realize that there was a black upper class! Dwayne Wayne was the first time I saw a young black teacher and my degree is in education. I'm glad y'all know your impact. I'm so happy that you're getting your flowers even tho the networks didn't see your value at the time. Truth be told, if they knew what y'all were giving to the community, they may have stopped the show a lot sooner...
Every year I watch the entire series once. I just finished it a couple of weeks ago
After Lisa left & Debbie signed on, the show took off like a rocket ship.
Kim Bronson, the show was already popular with Lisa on the show.
@@renealexander2703 True. It did win a People's Choice Award.
Peace! Excellent interview Karen; “A Different World”; made most of us want to leave predominantly Eurocentric University’s. Yo Spike is mad short; I ran into him at a Starbucks in North Jersey. His wife is like 8 inches taller than him😊lololol lol..shout-out to the School of Performing Arts!
Jasmine and Kadeem were excellent. Great memories
Top five shows with predominantly black casts that owned the 90s: Martin, A Different World, Living Single, In Living Color and New York Undercover. Whitley and Dwayne as well as Debbie Allen, New writers, theme song, casting additions of Charnelle Brown, Sinbad, Cree Summer, Darryl M. Bell, Glynn Turman and Lou Meyers etc. And all the other big influences the show had on television and culture in general all made this show forever iconic!
I grew up with parents who went to an HBCU, and visited there often, but it was ADW that made me actually want to attend.
Outstanding video post and interview. Let's not forget also the key role that both Jasmine Guy and Kadeem Hardison had in the Spike Lee movie "School Daze." In my opinion that showed them as trusted and ready for the center stage. I recently purchased that movie on Blu-ray and can't wait to watch it in February.
Great interview. I only watched their show intermittently back then, so hearing some of the behind the scenes stuff was great. Also, hearing about "School Daze" makes me want to rewatch that too. Shout out to the Queen of Soul too-- definitely need her pic on your wall!
It became a hit when Debbie Allen took over
I can’t get enough of A Different World, and the cast members!
The whole world knows! Thank you all!
The Dwayne that wore that "lion king" leather shoulder bag was fly. I wanted other men to wear that regal bag so bad.
Oh my, prof Karen this is my absolute favorite show from the best that I look at everyday here on The island country of Bermuda. Hearing these two being heard on so many different platforms. This gives me great joy.
Sister Jasmine helped me to see the finer details in Black Women's faces, to name only one of the things she inspired in me. I guess I gauged beauty by Sister Jasmine's beauty, I have a feeling she would be shaking her head no but that's what it is. 🕯✌🏾
One of the best shows ever ok... taped it on my VCR to show u how bck this goes... but it was awesome all seasons.... the last episode 😢 I was like no dont end but Whit and Dwayne omg esp how she called his name...... loved both their moms like major stars 🌟 lol. Nothing can compare to this
Love these two relationships they had on a Different World
I love seeing this. I was / am a huge Different World fam
Great interview Karen you always bring the fire.
Kadeem and Jasmine, yes, loved these two and loved this show, thank God they hired these two and Debbie Allen to blow up this show.
Thank God they hired Lisa Bonet. Without her, the show would not exist and it would not be a hit.
@@renealexander2703 True, Lisa Bonet open the door, I like her and wish she had more success on ADW, but the show's success was because of the other cast members.
@@m.jackson2609 , no. The show's success was because of all the cast members, but especially Lisa Bonet. The show would not even exist without her.
It did. It became a hit. Very talented actors.
A different world I still watch reruns of it to this day in 2022, that show and The Cosby show will never get old, Bill Cosby is an absolute genius.
So glad we are having this conversations with our favorite castmate of Different World.
If they had a 7-year contract, why couldn't the show last for more than 6 seasons? Fishiness.
I agree with Cosby. Not wanting the image of a single mother promoted in the show. We are dealing with the results of too much of that
Great program, so many believe we are all poor from the projects, this gave additional side of our culture .
Eventhough it was short lived, I really loved Ms.Guy's character on "The Vampire Diaries"
Absolutely! Our entire family watched the show from my grandmother to my granddaughter (•‿•)
Thank you Ms. Hunter! One of your best shows ever!🔥
This show still has an impact to this day..
It’s weird anytime I see “It’s A Different World” title I run to it 🏃🏾♂️ ❤
I love you guys back then AND NOW!
ADW debuted when I first started college, so this show spoke to me (especially beginning with season 2), and I LOVED IT!
Great interview Prof. Hunter! And I think I've watched 11:31 about fifty-eleven times! 😂
The show spoke to me in the first season as well.
But for real, though… we don’t EEEEEVER get any word on a RE. BOOT!
All the mess they bringing back, we have got to get this show BACK on the air, maybe even with a “BEL-AIR” treatment? Wouldn’t be hard.
Hopefully not a Bel Air treatment cuz that joint is wack lol.
I saw them in A Christmas Pact. Kyla Pratt played their daughter. And there's a scene where the daughter says u cant fall in love with your best friend. And Jasmine's character said "your daddy used to be my best friend." #thenod2Adifferentworld
I really loved that show, and both kadeem and jasmine. It was very funny and dope 🙏🏾💯
Actually people in California did know about and attended HBCU's. I grew up in Oakland and went to Howard Univ, while Debbie Allen was a student in Fine Arts. I graduated in Summer 1971, returned to Oakland and was active in the Alumni Association, which represented many graduates of Howard University before and after me...I also know younger generations of California Folk who also attended HBCU's.
I read Jasmine's book as well and just found it when I closed out my storage, one that I will definitely re read. Karen aka Charmine is in the new disturbing Dahmer series. Her episode is very said. She still looks the same & have the same hairdo 😎
It seems like the first season was a test run then they started to get serious. The Dwayne and Whitley story line was brilliant because at the beginning there was no way you could see them together.
Coach Jon, they were serious in the first season as well. It's my favorite.
What a fun convo!
thank you for this interview with Mr. Kadeem Hardison and also ms Guy amazing, they are so talented and learned so much. They inspire me to keep learning too and keep reaching for the stars.
Fantastic interview!
Interesting that Jasmine Guy mentions there are no HBCUs on the West Coast and that is true. Most HBCUs began before the Great Migration of Blacks from the South. This makes sense. Most Blacks were concentrated in the South. I went to an HBCU in Washington DC where I met Debbie Allen and a then unknown Phylicia Ayers. Tthere were many kids attending from the West Coast who were amazed with the number of HBCUs. One of our professors had to school this one girl from California on the fact that NC, considered totally backwards at the time, boasts the 2nd largest number of HBCUs in the country.
Wow -
Jasmine guy - she’s a real one
I love her vibe !!
Evolution of a Revolutionary is a GREAT read..well-written and much insight on Afeni Shakur's journey.
This interview was so fun!
I wanted to see Kadeem in more movies. I was waiting for them to do a part II to Vampire in Brooklyn
Man, growing up I wanted to be Dwayne Wayne, I had the glasses and all.
@KarenHunterShow would love if you'd interview Debbie Allen and Phylicia Rashad. 💖💝
me too!
Yes! ESPECIALLY Phylicia!...I just love hearing her speak!
That would be great to see
this was golden!!! kadeem droppin insight Jasmine funny and host moved it along and kept the vibe good... subbed
I love A Different World it never gets old i just wish i could watch the reruns on Roku stick❤🙏
They going on a tour with these interviews, love it:)
I was at Morehouse, when this came out
My daughter went to a PWH, but because of ADW she chose to attend Lincoln University.
Everybody played they roll in a different world... EVERYBODY ...!
I think there is going to be a reboot of "A different World"