During 2024 , Netflix added many classic sitcoms from the 1990s , includingMartin , The Jamie Foxx Show , andReba . That ’s given those display a chance to feel a new interview in the streaming era . This calendar month , the streamer is doing it again withA Different World , and it ’s our plectron for the one Netflix show that you have to watch in February .
This is meaning becauseA Different Worldhasn’t been readily available to stream or buy on digital release . It ’s also been unjustly dragged down by the controversy surround Bill Cosby and the sexual assault allegations against him that has relegatedThe Cosby Showto streaming purgatory . A Different Worldis a spinoff fromThe Cosby Show , and fictional character from the latter did show up in the former . However , A Different Worldalso established its own identity as a comedy , especially once Lisa Bonet , the original lead story of the series , leave the show .
Cosby createdA dissimilar World , but showrunner Debbie Allen take a breather new lifespan into the series in season 2 through the end of the show ’s scat . The series was originally envisioned as a comedy revolve around on Denise Huxtable ( Bonet ) as she attended a historically Black college called Hillman College . Bonet left the series because she was significant , and she ultimately rejoinedThe Cosby Show . That could have been the kiss of death for this serial , but or else , it forcedA Different Worldto reinvent itself as something more than just a spinoff .
The series was extremely well-cast
One of the reason why Bonet landed the leading role inA unlike Worldis that she was one of the breakout performers fromThe Cosby Show . It made sensory faculty to give her a new show to offer the Cosby brand , and the molding of her indorse player was speckless . Marisa Tomeico - starred in the first season as Maggie Lauten , one of the few Caucasoid students at Hillman and Denise ’s dependable champion . And the show really hit gold with two of its other leads , Jasmine Guy and Kadeem Hardison .
Guy ’s screw up Whitley Gilbert and Hardison ’s nerdy Dwayne Wayne were only supposed to be friends of Denise . Once Bonet allow for , Whitley and Dwayne moved to the forefront as the fresh main characters . It ’s a will to the problem they did that the series ran for another five seasons after Bonet leave behind .
The residual of the casting , including Sinbad , Dawnn Lewis , and Darryl M. Bell — as well as later addition Cree Summer , Glynn Turman , and Jada Pinkett Smith — prove to be a great comedic ensemble . The show was never just about any undivided character , and that finally became it ’s strength .
It has a slow-burn love story
Dwayne was originally romantically interested in Denise . But without her character around , the show slowly shifted to a new quixotic bow between Dwayne and Whitley , both of whom were diametrically opposed . This prove to be good for both characters , as the writers fleshed them out to be more fully realized . Whitley in particular became a more rounded character and less superficial than she was in season 1 .
The show also easy brought Whitley and Dwayne together in a committed relationship . It was always obvious that this was the serial publication ’ romantic endgame , but there were in spades times when it seemed like that proverbial ship had navigate for both of them .
The show was built for its moment
A Different Worldis first and foremost a comedy , but it was n’t antipathetic to addressing some sensitive subject . While Cosby refused to lease the series depict Denise as a meaning young woman , the show did n’t shy away from stories about racial discrimination and classism . liveliness on campus was n’t the same as life-time alfresco , as demonstrated during the season 6 premiere that found Dwayne and Whitley caught up in the Rodney King carouse in Los Angeles .
Some installment may seem tame by modern standards , but this was a innovational comedy for its time . That ’s one of the reasons why the show ’s association with Bill Cosby has n’t diminished the impingement it had .
The story isn’t over yet
It ’s not a coincidence thatA dissimilar Worldis coming toNetflix , because the streamer is already form on a sequel series set at Hillman . The new show will reportedly keep up Dwayne and Whitley ’s girl as she voyage life at college , but it ’s currently unknown which original cast members will return and when the series will premiere . Until then , A Different Worldis going to keep the lights on at Hillman and innovate a new contemporaries to one of the good comedies of the ’ eighty and ’ 90s .
WatchA Different WorldonNetflixon Friday , February 7 .
