Pop Culture Happy Hour - A Different World

Episode Date: September 30, 2026

The TV series A Different World has loomed large in the culture since ending in the ‘90s, and now school is back in session in a new sequel series on Netflix. The show welcomes a new generation of students to the fictional HBCU Hillman College, and brings back notable alumni like Whitley Gilbert (Jasmine Guy) and Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison). And while the world is a lot different than it was 30-plus years ago, in a lot of ways, it’s also kind of the same.If you’re looking for more nostalgia, Check out these episodes:‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ is a comfy nostalgia trip‘Practical Magic 2’ wants to cast a spell of '90s nostalgiaHow you feel about 'Bel-Air' may depend upon how you feel about CW dramasConnect with Pop Culture Happy Hour:Letterboxd / FacebookOur weekly newsletterSupport public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

If you saw the original, as much as I saw the original, there will be notable lines that come back. There are notable references to... Baby, please, baby, please. Yes, okay. Dang, dang, dang to dang, dang. You know? A different world has loomed large in the culture since ending in the 90s. It's been endlessly memed, reference, and streamed.

So it was probably inevitable that school would find its way back in session in a new spin on Netflix. In this version, the next generation of future Helman grads includes the offspring of notable alumni Whitney Gilbert, Dwayne Wayne, and Ron Johnson. And while the world is a lot different than it was 30-plus years ago, in a lot of ways, it's also kind of the same. I'm Aisha Harris, and joining me today on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour is journalist and host of the movie review podcast seated, Trayvall Anderson.

Hello, Treval. Hello, hello. And also with us is entertainment journalist and contributor, Shara Jocel, Welcome back, Sharr. It's great to have you. Thank you for having me, Aisha. Oh, I am so happy to have you both here to talk about this. This is, you're in a perfect people to talk about this with, so, so excited. A Different World is a sequel to the original series, which aired from 1987 to 1993,

and was a spinoff of The Cosby Show. In a different world, 2.0, Holman's fictional HBCU campus welcomes a new batch of students, including Deborah, played by Malia Joy Moon. This is a great school, and I am going to make the best of it. Prove to Dwayne and Whitley that, you know, I can crush it. And enter my full studio season. I'm talking full rebrand. Mm.

Mm-hmm. She's privileged, a little flighty, but determined to carve her own path. She's also the youngest daughter of college sweethearts Whitley and Dwayne, played by Jasmine Guy and Kadim Hardison. We agreed to loosen the reins on Deborah. Give us some space, so we're going to honor that. Right. Okay. There we go, team. My dead body. I heard that.

I love hearing their voices again. DeBora and her peers deal with the trials of early adulthood. And meanwhile, Hillman College is facing hefty budget cuts. Dwayne steps in as interim president in the wake of an administrative scandal. A different world is streaming on Netflix. And Trevelle, I'm going to start with you. Look, if anyone's listened to me or followed me for some time now, They all know that I have strong feelings about reboots and sequels that don't feel necessary.

So I'm curious, what was your anticipation for this show and give us your first impressions? Listen, Aisha and Shar, I have been waiting for Whitley Gilbert Wynne to be back on my television for so long. Okay. I have seen this show entirely too many times. I was teething for this, you know, fiending for this show. I really enjoyed it. I think it has high replay value in particular. I'm excited to tell people about it.

As an HBCU graduate, I think that it, you know, it is interesting, you know, to see things rendered on screen that feel super familiar, but also feel super fresh, right? Beyond, you know, my experience in school 20 years ago, right? I really enjoyed it. It was a great time for me seeing these characters, you know, evolve, talking about the parent characters, right, of all of these young folks. And then also seeing the young kids kind of, you know, take evolutions on their parents' characters in really interesting ways. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

I assume that you, when you were first watching a different world, you had not gone to HBCU yet. And so I want to hear more about the like what it's like to be kind of sandwiched in between that era and this era. But first, Sharr. Yeah, you know, I was apprehensive when this was first announced that they were going to be doing this. I was like, do we really need this? And I'm, I'm tired of reboot culture as well. Like, I'm ready for some fresh ideas. But I must say, I found this show incredibly charming. I'm also HBCU alone. And I always say that HBCUs are, are some of the most diverse campuses you'll ever step onto. People tend to think that, you know, we're kind of like monolithic in blackness, but no, no, no, no, no.

You go to HBCU, you see everybody's a little different. And so I found it to be just incredibly charming. I don't know if I was just going through it when I was binging this, but it made me, I got so emotional seeing of, you know, the characters back. Yes, like, I was shutting a little tear seeing like Dwayne and Whitley and everybody come back and these evolved characters. And so I thought that it was just really part of the course. They kept the spirit and the heart of the original series

with tackling some of like the social issues of the day. And I loved it. Yeah, yeah. Oh, okay, this is fun. I love that we have two HBCU grads here. I am not an HBCU grad. But I grew up watching this show. I loved it.

I still love it. And I was also kind of skeptical because I was like, I don't know. Do we need this? like, what are we going to do here? Why can't we just have a brand new show that doesn't have a connection, but that's still set at HBCU, whatever. It's fine. I was engaged by, like, the fourth episode.

I was like, okay, I'm into it. Like, it won me over. I do agree with you, Shar, that, like, it maintains the spirit of the show while updating and still feeling current and relevant in many ways. I do wonder, like, how do we feel about the transition from multi-cam sitcom, sitcom, to single cam. Like, this is something that Bel Air also did. Although Bel Air was kind of, like,

completely sort of reimagining the show. It's like, it wasn't really a comedy anymore. It was more of a sort of, you know, young adult drama. Whereas here, this is still very comical. Like, there are still moments. Was it easy for you to shift from that mode to this one for the show? You know, I think for me, it wasn't too much of a challenge. And because it wasn't that distracting,

because the entire cast is fresh faces. And so it felt like a new show, because it is, but it was not a distraction enough for me to be salty about it, you know, because I think I've just grown accustomed to the format of single cam now. The new format did not take me out of the story at all. Like, it wasn't distracting. Me either. Yeah. And maybe because we've just seen so many, you know, single cam shows. But I do think that it looks like a show today.

which I think will be very important for the new folks who are introduced to this series, this world, these characters. I also think it's the kind of show that's written in a way to where if you saw the original, as much as I saw the original, there will be, you know, notable lines that come back. There are notable references to, you know, you know. Yes. Okay. Dang, dang, dang, dang. and I love that for us, but I don't think it takes away or that if you're not familiar with it, that it will take you out of the experience of what this world at Hillman College is.

Yeah. Well, okay, let's get into these new characters because there's a lot. I think for me it was sometimes hard to juggle all of them. We've got Deborah and there's a fun sort of running gag about how people don't know how to pronounce her name. Thank you. God. You saved my life here and go. Also, it's Deborah. Okay. Three syllables. Beyonce. We get it. I'll be honest. I haven't met too many Deboras or any ever. I know. I'm sure they exist. But Whitley Gilbert Wayne's daughter would be a Deborra. Deborra. Absolutely. Deborra Wayne.

Yeah, yeah. Well, okay, so we've got DeBora and then we've also got Shaquille, played by Cornell Young the fourth and, you know, they had their little on again, off again relationship. But then you also got Rashida, who's played by Elijah Kai. And she becomes Deborah's roommate. I feel like she's kind of the analog of like Kimberly Reese, who is who was played by Charlenele Brown. You've got Amir. And actually, this is where it feels very modern, right? Because Amir is one of the queer characters on this show. And he's played by Jordan Aaron Hall. Let's talk about him and how they kind of incorporate that. Let's. Yeah, yeah, let's. I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

Well, I will start by saying one of the things that I feel like is somewhat missing from the original Hillman College is, you know, an exploration of the experiences of the queer LGBTQ characters and people that would be part of this collegiate space. Right. I really love that for this reboot, this continuation, Amir is one of the main characters. He's openly gay and queer. He's sleeping around with everybody just like, you know what I mean? Like, listen, he's having a regular kind of collegiate experience. And we don't often see that. You know what I mean?

Particularly in a black college context. I love the character. And I think it takes so many twist. and turns throughout the season in a really interesting way for this co-ed space. But very still part of the course for HBCUs. If you know, you know. Absolutely. I think that Amir, I knew Amir was like queer-coded as soon as I saw that damn septum piercing. I said, wait a minute.

But I do love that he's a part of the main cast. You know, college can be a very binary experience. There's the women's dorms. There's the men's dorms. But I enjoyed watching his brotherhood unfold with, with the boys in the men's dorm. My DMs runneth over, but all eggplants and no effort. I think I need to get off of HBCU up.

So what we need to do is get you out in these streets. So you just want me to go out and approach somebody IRL? That's suggestive of your lack of social boundaries. I will be your wingman. It was one of those things where you can tell the conversation has shifted generationally, where it's not a big deal for Amir to be gay. It's not a big deal, even though there was one scene where he mentions his sex life and people like, pause, pause.

Yes. But I do feel like that's part of the collegiate experience. Absolutely. It is. You know? Well, I didn't realize pause had come back as a phrase. I was like, I haven't heard this in a minute. Are you kidding me?

The men that live in the Northeast region, it never went away. Okay. The men in New York and New Jersey, it never went away. I guess this is my circle, my bubble I live in. I was like, I had not heard anyone say pause in a good minute. I loved Amir. Amir was probably my favorite. favorite character, to be honest.

I feel like he... Really? He's up there. I feel like of the new ones... Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. He seemed the most interesting to me in terms of how he was navigating his love life, but then also, you know, he has a past that he's on parole, basically, for something that he did before he got to campus.

He just says, like, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time or something like that. So it's following him, and I would love if there were to be season two, and as of this taping, they haven't officially announced that there will be, but like, I was. I would love to see a little bit more exploration of, like, what that means to be a student on campus who's also dealing with legal issues. Like, that's a very real thing that people deal with. I did, though, question about halfway through the show, is like, does he have any other queer friends? Like, I love seeing him completely, like, integrated with everyone else. But also, I was just like, it seems strange that there would not be any other queer people that he would have in his life in the same way.

Now, it does kind of come up with Jalen, Elijah J. Rappert's character, who. there's like a love triangle there between him and then Hazel, who's another member of the friend group, who's played by Kennedy Reese. But it's like romantic, right? Like, I would love to see like just like queer friendship integrated into the show in a way. And particularly on an HBCU campus, okay? I'm going to let you know, okay?

You're not walking around by yourself and I'll leave it at that. You find each other. You're not an anomaly, but also I think that it speaks to year one. Sure. I feel like, at least in my experience, very much your freshman year, I feel like you either gravitate towards people that are like you or you're the singular character in a cast of cis-hete people. Yeah. Yeah. Fair point.

Fair point. I also think there is, you know, because his character is the houseless character, right? And is navigating that piece of the experience as well. I'm okay giving a little grace. okay for season one. But Felicia Pride, y'all know what y'all need to do for season two. Okay.

Yes, yes. Well, we've got a lot more to talk about. We'll be right back after this break. We are back. I also want to talk about sort of how the show tackles social issues because that was part of what made a different world so special.

And many of the episodes remember are the big, like, Dean Cain popping up as like a racist white guy and discussing racism the episode with the LA riots and all of that stuff and this show I think like it kind of sprinkles it in a little bit more and this is also again talking about format

when you think of the original series that was an era where it was like situational comedy and yes there is continuity but not quite in the same way that this show this show is way more like a like a typical show we would see today. But it does have at least, I would say, one very special episode

where Hillman is one of several HBCU schools that have been threatened with bomb threats. And so a bunch of students have to hunker down in the pit. I love seeing the new version of the pit now. It's like, which is the, you know, the place where everyone hangs out, they get their food. I think this is where the show where I think it was trying to pay homage to that era of very special episodes

that didn't quite flow for. me, it felt like the most didactic episode. Maybe I'm being particular about it, but it just felt like, oh man, I feel like it's 1993 again and not in the best way. But let's hear a little moment of it. It's crazy how much tuition we pay for death threats. This was the one place we could be protected from racism. Hey man, I don't mean to puncture the collective chakra, but context matters. Black learning spaces have always been seen as dangerous, not just because of what students do, but because of who you might become. That last voice was, of course, Cree Summer, who returns as Freddie.

The legend and icon. The legend and icon, she is still woo-woo, and we love her. We love her for it. But as soon as that score started dropping in when she's dropping on, like, boom, black people have been. I was just like, oh, this feels, I don't know. That's my opinion. I'm curious how the show weave the social interactions into it.

Like, how did that work for you? Does it translate in a way? For me, it did. I mean, and even speaking to the comedic point that you made, for me, I know you mentioned that Amir was your fave. For me, the breakout star was Rashida. Oh, yes. Tashina Arnold's real-life daughter.

Like, they have so. Oh, my goodness, I did. Okay. That's a tiny Tashina if I ever seen one. A tiny Tashina. I mean, I knew they looked the same. I knew they looked the same. But I was like, I don't want to assume.

I did not even bother to look that up. No. That is her real-life daughter. It's funny that Tashina plays her mother in the show. They have some of the same similar cadences and they speak the same, like, but she's still her own person. So for me, she was the breakout. I think that beyond the bomb threat episode, because that was, of course, very important. It speaks to, I immediately thought of when Charlie Kirk was murdered by a white man, how white supremacists started harassing HVCU campuses, like in retaliation, which was very strange.

But these are real life issues that I think that people are dealing with, even with the money missing. And when I think about like DeBora's ADHD storyline, when I think about like the way that they wove in certain things that I feel like in particular black communities are speaking about, specifically around like millennials and Gen Z versus like boomers in Gen X. I think that they did a fairly good job. I will agree with you though, the bomb threat episode that scene that we just played was a little. It was a little preachy, but I feel like it's going to land with who it's supposed to land with. Yeah. Because it then explores, because what Freddie was saying is the absolute truth. Black learning spaces have always been viewed as, you know, as a threat.

Anywhere black people are gathered, you know, could be potentially attacked as we've seen throughout history. And so overall, when I zoom out and look at how they tackle sexuality or even the diversity on campus, like the gay guy and the super Christian girl are besties, like that's real life. HBCU type politic. And so I think that they did a great job of kind of weaving these stories together and they weren't being too finger-waggy about it, if that makes sense. Yeah. And I think that was intentional. I do think the reason why we feel like there's only one very special episode is because, you know, for example, they try to weave sexual health, right, into the RA giving some feedback, you know, to the kids. Cuffing season may have claimed a few victims.

It's okay. If you have any reason to worry, go to the Student Health Center. Get tested. Get treated if you have to. And in the meantime, I'm going to need all y'all to strap up. On cuffing season. Yeah, on cuffing season, as opposed to, right, back in the day, right? I remember Tisha Campbell and Whoopi Goldberg, right, on a very special episode talking about, you know, HIV AIDS.

And it was a little preachy, right? It was very on the nose in terms of what it was putting forward. And perhaps that style of storytelling doesn't work as much today. And I wonder if that inspired this like, we want to have an homage to the very special episode, but we don't want it to, you know, feel like we're wagging the finger, like Sharr says. But I do feel like it felt accurate and appropriate. when I think about what HBCUs are navigating today, right? Yeah, absolutely.

And there's a number, right, of other things. Now, there's some, you know, the fact that all of the old heads basically come back in various different ways. Yeah. Everybody and name Mama Aisha from the original, which I love and also. It's a bit much. Okay now. Yeah. Well, I mean, they get away with it somewhat because,

one of the episodes is centered around homecoming. And look, homecoming is when alumni will show up and show up. Absolutely. I have not gone back to the school I went to in 20 years. But you know what? There are people I know who do. If you have that connection with your alma mater, that's a thing. But yeah, it is very convenient that in the first season, they got almost everyone to come back.

Yeah. And even the roundtable scene when they're talking to President Wayne, you know, everybody is there. That was, to me, that was one of my favorites. Yeah. When they were discussing the money and, you know, and Lena's back. Lean us back. Everybody. I loved it, though.

I loved it. And the ways that they incorporated those folks, right? Yeah. Charmaine is still gossipy with Gina, Gina, maybe. Played by A.J. Sanders. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So to have them back, I did enjoy Professor Baptiste. You know, it's Debbie Allen's son in real life, Norm Nixon, Jr. Oh. The one that was canoodling with Freddie. Yeah. Okay. Like, this is just a family affair. It is kind of like a...

Is this what HBCUs are like? Is it just like everyone's... Girl, yes. Yes, sir, please. It can be. If you know, you know. Shout out to the legacies, okay? Oh, yeah.

Oh, God, yeah. We've talked about a lot of characters, but, like, I do want to kind of bring it back to Whitley and Dwayne since, like, they were sort of, like, the central couple characters of... the entire original show. And here they have a lot of screen. Like, at first it felt like they were trying to handle too many new characters and then

also incorporate Whitley and Dwayne. And then it kind of found its rhythm midway through. And Whitley and Dwayne are having marital issues. And I thought that was a very interesting way to approach this and a smart way to approach it because however many years it's been now, like these are things that couples go through if you manage to last that long. I thought they're dynamic. It still felt like true to the spirit of who they were, but also we've all aged and

we know that these things change. Like, how did that storyline play for you? And also just the way that they're incorporating the fact that Dwayne and Whitley are still like very much on campus. Like, Dwayne is the interim president because Jennifer Luce's character. Dean Davenport. Doing some shady stuff. Iconic.

Iconic. Dene. And even the reference like, you're on my list. So I thought that. Duane and Whitley's storyline around their marriage is pretty part of the course. I feel like I've read about this. I've heard about this. When people become empty nesters, so to speak, no matter how active they are, whether it's

on campus or they're at home, it's a new interrogation of the status of the relationship. Like, am I really happy with you or was I just going along to get along to, you know, raise these babies? And so I thought that it was realistic and it also adds a different dynamic to the, you know, this fantasized, romanticized, never-ending love story of Whitley and Duane because there is a reality that they may separate, you know, and that does not invalidate the love that was there 30 plus years ago or whatever. Yeah. I think it adds something, right? To, um, it shows, you know, a lot of their mess alongside the young folks' mess. And I think that that, you know,

that means that this show then has something for everyone. You know what I mean? Everybody. I think will be able to see a slice, you know, of themselves or their lives or their family members in what we see on the screen. That's a feat to have been able to do. It actually surprised me how much the parents and, you know, the old heads are present, but I appreciated it, you know, having the elder comparison, if you will, to some of the stuff that. that the young folks are dealing with, the elder characters dealt with it when they were on this campus, you know?

And so it adds a really interesting kind of familial, you know, texture. But I can see how, like, this first season sets us up potentially for, you know, at least three other seasons, right? As these folks, they matriculate through their institution. Yes, yes. I mean, it shows the sloppiness as well, in my opinion. As soon as I saw Papa Pope on screen, I'm like, okay, yeah, the older folks can be messy, too. And it's something for everyone.

Like, I feel like new audiences will gravitate towards these new characters if they have no frame of reference. But those of us who have seen the show, like, I enjoyed every time the old cast was on my screen. I enjoyed every single time. It didn't feel like overkill to me. I loved it. Yeah.

I love it. I also appreciate that they were able to keep Ron's essence as, like, a dork and also just kind of, I never liked Ron. I never liked Ron. He was always... Oh, my God, I have the biggest crush on Ron. Oh, my gosh. Really?

Yeah. He was so... Everything about... Like, you can see how he always had trouble with... Well, granted, at one point, he was juggling three women. I don't know. That's my problem. When we're in college, we don't know better.

Look, I've been there. We... Like, whatever. But, yeah, Ron is now, like... He's a dad-a-dager, I guess. He's trying to... And he's just... He cares about them.

money. He cares about those things. And his kid, Shaquille, is just like, Dad, I want to go to an HBCU. Look, I'm trailblazing by coming here. Just give him a chance. You see the lady. I gave him a chance. At least four or five years, seven maybe of my life. But you're a five star recruit. Hillman's first. And you need to be treated like it. That is, of course, Daryl M. Bell, who plays Ron. I still don't like him. And they didn't try to change him. Yeah, they did not. They did not try to sanitize anyone. I can see a clear line of Ron in that era to Ron now, and it makes all the sense of the world.

That is what really makes the show work so well, is that essence that we've talked about. It's like everything seems natural, even though we're 30 years removed now. No one has completely changed or done a, there's not been a complete retcon. Can I say one last thing? Yes, please, Trayette. I was hoping that. the new theme song as recorded by Brandy would grow on me. Yeah.

Because you hear it, you know, at the beginning of every episode. But it's not the whole song, though. It's just... Thankfully. Yes, thankfully. Thankfully. Respectfully. But thankfully.

No shade to Brandy, but yes. None at all to the legend and the icon herself. It's a little sleepy. It's a little sleepy. Yeah, that was what I was like. It is a little snooze fast, unfortunately. I mean, the boys to make. Ben version wasn't, that felt

kind of like a departure from the Aretha. Yes. It was... It needed to be Aretha. They could have used... In my opinion, they could have recycled the Queen of Soul. The same, yeah. I would have sat through it each and every, because I can skip

past Brandy's, but it is a little sleepy. It's a little too moody for a show that's so funny. I'm glad you touched on that because that is my first note was Brandy doing the theme song. I forgot to talk about it. We like you ready, girl. We do.

We do. But this was. It's just too breathy. It's too sleepy. Yeah. I also just, I would have appreciated if they kind of, like, redid the intro, you know, like the staged it, like the original. Aisha, yes. Look at me wanting some nostalgia.

No, Aisha, yes. That would have been so cute. That would have been so cute. They still can do it for season two. Aisha. They can still do it. All right. These are our notes.

These are our notes. Okay. If season two happens, okay. I'll consult. Call me. Okay. Well, that brings us to the end of our show, Char Gassel, Trayvall Anderson.

Again, I'm just so happy we got to talk about this. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having us. Thank you, Ayesha. This episode is produced by Liz Metzger, Caden Mills, and Mike Katzv, and edited by our showrunner, Jessica Reedy. And Hello, Kamin, provides our theme music.

Thanks for listening to Poppojour Happy Hour from NPR, I'm Aisha Harris. We'll see you all next time.