Spun off from The Cosby Show, A Different World began as a sitcom about Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet) going off to college, then quickly evolved into a show about all the characters (and issues) that went down at fictional HBCU Hillman College.  As critically acclaimed as it was popular, A Different World was nearly as popular as the show it was spun off of.

On to the tale of the tape…

Relevance: I will go out on a limb and say this will be the only network television show ever that will be take place at a Historically Black College or University.  When the show debuted, future Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei was part of the cast as Denise’s roommate Maggie, but once Debbie Allen (an HBCU grad) took charge, one of her first moves was to replace the white roommate with a pair of black roomies.  Hard to say it wasn’t authentic.

Legacy:  There is statistical evidence that enrollment in HBCUs went up while this program was on the air.  Beyond that, the number of names who passed through Hillman for an episode or a season is a who’s who of 90s black culture (Sinbad, Jada Pinkett, Tupac, Jesse Jackson to name a few).

Craft:  Over the course of the show’s run, A Different World was always very good for hitting us with the ‘A Very Special Episode’ at least once a season.  Whether it was Jesse Jackson’s visit, the date rape episode, the domestic violence episode, or any of the numerous episodes that dealt directly or indirectly with race and class, A Different World was able to tackle issues that were probably very important to Dr. Cosby, but would have felt ‘forced’ or otherwise inauthentic in an episode of The Cosby Show.

Crossover:  Thanks to its incredible lead in program, A Different World was always respected by the mainstream, even if it didn’t receive the same amount of overwhelming praise.  It’s hard to call it a crossover smash, but to have the run it had on NBC; it’s hard to imagine another show with a such a pronounced African-American backdrop getting that kind of play (sadly).

Apollo:  I think the entire Whitley-Dwayne Wayne relationship was kind of an Apollo moment.  I actually remember watching with my mother the episode where Whitley was about to marry that well to do, pretty boy brotha, but Dwayne came to the wedding and was getting dragged out when he begged Whitley to marry him (and he said yes).  This isn’t the space to get on a soapbox about the whole ‘new money’ vs. ‘legacy’ kid thing that plays out inside the black community, but I think every black kid gets fully introduced to that (as I did) in college, whether you went to an HBCU or not.

#9 is another landmark show of the 90s; come back later to find out what that is…