“Different World” reboot captures HBCU joy

As a different “Different World” arrives, it’s time to return to college life.
It’s time for “the HBCU experience, the immersiveness of it,” said writer-producer Felicia Pride.
That vibe (for historically Black colleges and universities) ripples through the “A Different World” reboot, arriving Thursday (Sept. 24) on Netflix, starring Maleah Jai Moon (shown here). It ranges from music, dance and romance to discussions of authors and philosophy.
That could invoke envy from some viewers … and maybe one of the actors. For a while, Darryl M. Bell, now 63, was in an opposite world.
Bell went to an all-boys prep boarding school, run by Benedictine monks. “Out of 420 students, four of (us) were Black,” he told the Television Critics Association. “So that is the complete antithesis of an HBCU experience.”
He went on to Syracuse University, which was only six percent Black, but that was enough to make a difference. “You couldn’t tell us we didn’t have an HBCU experience …. We traveled to all of the other schools for step shows and what-not … It was a lot of fun.”
And then he went straight from a real college to the pretend Hillman College, playing Ron Johnson, a party guy and so-so student. Now Ron is back in the reboot; he’s a wealthy widower bringing his son, a freshman football star.
Other people from the original also return. There’s:
— Freddie Brooks (Cree Summer), once a serious love interest for Ron. Now she’s a professor, teaching literature and more.
— Several people in brief (but sometimes splashy) roles — Dawnn Lewis as Jaleesa Vinson-Taylor, Glynn Turman as her husband Col. Taylor, Jenifer Lewis as Professor Davenport and Jada Pinkett Smith as Lena James.
— And two with key roles: Kadeem Hardison and Jasmine Guy are back as Dwane Wayne and Whitley Gilbert-Wayne, whose youngest daughter Deborah, a freshman, is the central figure.
They “took great care of us,” said Maleah Joi Moon, who plays Deborah, adding: “I’ve been on the phone with them on-set, off-set, in the van, just having lots of conversations about what the show meant ….
“Two weeks ago, (Jasmine) was telling me about some vegetables she was making at home …. We just kind of sat on the phone for two hours.”
Another key factor, Pride said, is Debbie Allen. “Debbie is a force. She brought a vision, especially moving from multi-cam to single-cam.”
As a spin-off of “The Cosby Show,” the original had the standard situation-comedy approach, filmed with multi-cameras in front of an audience. It also had sitcom-style writing, but without Bill Cosby to make it work.
Critics said the show wasn’t funny; HBCU alumni said it wasn’t authentic. After the first season, Allen was put in charge. Already a successful actor and dancer, she had attended Howard University (an HBCU school) with her older sister Phylicia Rashad, the “Cosby Show” co-star.
The transformation was impressive. According to the Rotten Tomatoes tabulation, the first season was approved by only 11 percent of critics; for the sixth and final season, that was 100 percent.
“A Different World” ended in 1993, but never quite died.
“Someone has always said, ‘Let’s do a reboot,'” Bell said. “Debbie has tried to do it. I’ve tried to do it. Jasmine has tried to do it.”
That finally clicked, was delayed by the pandemic, then proceeded. Pride — a novelist who had helped lead “Bel Air” (another streaming variation on an NBC sitcom) — is the creator and showrunner; Allen, 76, is an executive producer and adirected the first episode.
Allen took Pride to a casting session at Howard; that’s where they found Kennedy Reese, who plays Hazel. She also was key to casting Moon.
“Debbie had seen Maleah on Broadway in ‘Hell’s Kitchen,” and she was very adamant that we had found our Deborah,” Pride said.
Moon, 23, had won the best-actress Tony for starring in the Alicia Keys musical. Now — with only one previous film role (a Hallmark movie, “Mystic
Christmas”) — she’s the star.
Allen also had another impact, Pride said. “Debbie talks about Howard and how she was part of protests …. HBCU’s are hotbeds of youth activism, so we wanted to be true to that as well. We are in a moment where it is important for us to be … activists in our own way.”
The times are different, but in some ways, “A Different World” isn’t.