CNN, How Does A Show About 90's TV NOT Discuss 'A Different World'?

As a huge history buff, I have enjoyed watching the CNN documentary series that chronicles the events of the Sixties, the Seventies and the Eighties.

Last night the Nineties had its premiere and spent this initial two hour episode discussing nineties television.  It discussed not only the late night wars, the tabloidization of the news, Will and Grace, Ellen's coming out episode and the rise of cable TV.

It also talked about the golden era of Black TV shows and the use of the Black oriented shows by the fledgling FOX and WB networks to build their audience and networks, then kicking Black viewers to the curb for white ones once their survival was assured.

That's a two hour documentary by itself, but let me continue discussing the Nineties.  

There was however, one glaring omission in last night's CNN show discussing 90's television that bugged me as I watched the initial episode of the Nineties to its conclusion.

It didn't talk about A Different World.

CNN, how are you going to talk about 90's television and not talk about the groundbreaking television show that was credited with being   responsible for the increase in HBCU enrollment during the decade of the nineties?

A Different World may have started in 1987 as a Cosby show spinoff, but was on the air until 1993.   The show starting in its second season after Debbie Allen took over as producer of it realistically depicted HBCU life on the fictional Hillman College campus,   It also delved into subjects that HBCU college students of the late 80's- early 90's were dealing with.

It not only discussed colorism, but discussed racism, sexism, date rape, pledging, South African divestment, the LA Riots, interracial relationships, the 1992 presidential election, the Sharazad Ali controversy and Desert Storm just to name a few of the issues the show tackled during its six season run. .

It also was the first show to tackle HIV/AIDS with the 'If I Should Die Before I Wake' episode that starred Tisha Campbell and Whoopi Goldberg.

A Different World also had a long list of people who did guest starring roles on that show who became major stars in their own right like Marisa Tomei, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Damon Wayans, Kristoff St John, Tupac Shakur, Eriq LaSalle, Jada Pinkett  Smith, Jenifer Lewis, and Halle Berry

So CNN, how does a show that spends two hours discussing 90's television totally whiff on not discussing one of the groundbreaking shows of that early part of the 90's in A Different World?

It was a glaring omission, and one that spoiled the opening episode of the Nineties for me.

Hope the Nineties is better in the next six subsequent episodes due to air than it was in this initial one..

The Second Annual TransGriot 'A Different World Trivia Quiz-The Answers

Okay TransGriot readers, did you have fun racking your brains trying to find the answers to this year's edition of the TransGriot A Different World Quiz or did you wimp out and wait for me to post the answers?  If you did, shame on you.

Here's the answers to those questions I posted Monday as promised. 

1. Name the artists who sang the theme songs for 'A Different World'.
Phoebe Snow, Aretha Franklin, and Boys II Men

2.What was the name of Whitley and Kim's sorority on the show?
Alpha Delta Rho 

3.What year did Kim pledge under Whitley?
1991

4. What state was Jaleesa from?
New Jersey

5. What was the name of Whitley's therapist who always urged her clients to 'Relax, relate & release? (extra credit point if you can name who played her).
Dr. Langhorne and Debbie Allen played her

6.How long did Kinu and Dwayne date before their break up?
six months

7.True or False. Colonel Taylor was chairman of the math department at Hillman
True

8.What were the nicknames Adele Wayne had for her husband and son Dwayne?
Woodchuck and Chipmunk

9 What was the name of the dream man Dwayne created for his radio shows leading up to Valentine's Day?
Darrell Walker

10. True or False.  Before Ron O'Neal began playing Whitley's father Judge Mercer Gilbert, he played a dean in season one. 
True

11.Who was the Gilbert Hall dorm director in Season 1?
 Stevie Rallen

12.Dwayne spent the summer working as an intern for Kinishewa Electronics in what Canadian cities?
Toronto and Montreal  

13.What city was Lena James from?
A Philadelphia B New York  C Washington DC  D Baltimore

14. True or False.  Whitley won the Miss Hillman title.
False

15.Which one of these is NOT a Hillman college dorm?
A Libbey Hall, B Gilbert Hall, C Douglass Hall, D Height Hall

16. What was the name of Ron Johnson's baby sister?
Rachel, played by Senait Ashenafi

17.True or False.  A Different World was the number one rated show among African-American viewers in the 1990-91 and 1991-92 television seasons.
True

18. What was the name of Walter's charitable foundation that he founded? 
Operation Outreach
 
19.  Which one of these actors or actresses did NOT play a Hillman College professor on the show? 
A Whoopi Goldberg    B. Keenen Ivory Wayans    C. Leslie Uggams   D. Clifton Davis

20  What was the full name of the club that Ron and Mr. Gaines co-owned?
The Place Where The Blues Shall Be Played.

21. What was Terrence's line name when he pledged Kappa Lambda Nu under Ron?
Little Brother No Play

22. What political office was Byron Douglas running for in Virginia? 
state senator

23. What historical event coincided with Whitley and Dwayne's honeymoon?
The 1992 LA riots

24  In addition to his son Terrence, Colonel Taylor had another child who attended Hillman.  Who was she?.
His daughter Suzanne

25  What was Adele Wayne's favorite dessert she loved to cook for Dwayne?
prune cobbler

Now that you've taken the test, how did you do?

0-5     Hillman freshman
6-10   Hillman sophomore
11-14 Hillman junior
15-18 Hillman senior
19-21 Hillman BA
22-23 Hillman Masters
24-25 Hillman PhD

The Second Annual TransGriot 'A Different World' Trivia Quiz

Today is the 25th anniversary of the first broadcast of A Different World on this date in 1987.   Some interesting news is developing about this groundbreaking show in terms of the fact that Debbie Allen is interested in rebooting it and putting it back on the air.  

And naw Carsey-Werner, I still haven't forgotten along with the legions of fans of this show that you haven't released Seasons 2-6 of A Different World to DVD.   What's up with that?

While we're waiting for the outcome of that and Debbie Allen's effort to revive the show, I'm going to give you loyal TransGriot readers an opportunity to tackle the second annual edition of my TransGriot 'A Different World' Trivia Quiz.   If you want to try to tackle last year's quiz, here it is.   I'll give y'all three days like last year to ponder it before I publish the answers in a separate blog post.

Have fun and note it's an open book Internet test.

1. Name the artists who sang the theme song for 'A Different World'.


2.What was the name of Whitley and Kim's sorority on the show?


3.What year did Kim pledge under Whitley?


4. What state was Jaleesa from?


5. What was the name of Whitley's therapist who always urged her clients to 'Relax, relate & release? (extra credit point if you can name who played her).


6.How long did Kinu and Dwayne date before their break up?

7.True or False. Colonel Taylor was chairman of the math department at Hillman


8.What were the nicknames Adele Wayne had for her husband and son Dwayne?


9 What was the name of the dream man Dwayne created for his radio shows leading up to Valentine's Day?


10. True or False.  Before Ron O'Neal began playing Whitley's father Judge Mercer Gilbert, he played a dean in season one. 


11.Who was the Gilbert Hall dorm director in Season 1?

12.Dwayne spent the summer working in an internship for Kinishewa Electronics in what Canadian cities?


13.What city was Lena James from?
A Philadelphia B. New York  C. Washington DC  D. Baltimore

14. True or False.  Whitley won the Miss Hillman title.


15.Which one of these is NOT a Hillman college dorm?
A Libbey Hall, B Gilbert Hall, C. Douglass Hall, D. Height Hall

16. What was the name of Ron Johnson's baby sister?


17.True or False.  A Different World was the number one rated show among African-American viewers in the 1990-91 and 1991-92 television seasons.


18. What was the name of Walter's charitable foundation that he founded? 


19.  Which one of these actors or actresses did NOT play a Hillman College professor on the show? 

A Whoopi Goldberg    B. Keenen Ivory Wayans    C. Leslie Uggams   D. Clifton Davis

20  What was the full name of the club that Ron and Mr. Gaines co-owned?


21. What was Terrence's line name when he pledged Kappa Lambda Nu under Ron?

22. What political office was Byron Douglas running for in Virginia? 


23. What historical event coincided with Whitley and Dwayne's honeymoon?


24  In addition to his son Terrence, Colonel Taylor had another child who attended Hillman.  Who was she?.


25  What was Adele Wayne's favorite dessert she loved to cook for Dwayne?
.

****

You may start the quiz.  I'll give y'all until midnight CDT on the 27th to come up with the answers on your own..


.

Debbie Allen Wants To Reboot 'A Different World'

A Different World broadcast its first episode 25 years ago this month.  I have been griping for more than a few years on these TransGriot electronic pages about Carsey-Werner not releasing Seasons 2-6 of the show on DVD or even considering doing a reunion episode in light of the fact the anniversary of the September 24, 1987 airing of its first episode is rapidly approaching.

I not only compiled a trivia quiz for the show for last year's anniversary, I even wrote a May 7 post entitled 'Imagining A Different World 2K12' , imagined what that show would look like, and ended that post with this comment.

So will we see A Different World 2K12?    Probably only in our dreams.  

Well, somebody must have sent that post to my Houston homegirl Debbie Allen, because there was a series of tweets starting on August 23 on her Twitter page stating she was interested in bringing back a rebooted A Different World back to television

If that's true, pinch me and make sure I'm wide awake.   Big Amen coming from me. 

I love this show like many other people of my generation and would love to see Dwayne, Whitley, Freddie, Ron and the Hillman College gang blended in with some 21st century Hillman students as I demonstrated in the May 7 post I wrote. 

The successful reboot of Dallas shows it can be done.  Seeing how well it did ratings wise and how it mixed the old characters we were familiar with the new generation of Ewings and Barnes', I have no doubt that a remixed for the 2K10's A Different World would be just as successful.

Debbie Allen at the helm of it would ensure A Different World would be 'keeping it real' and it stayed as close to having that HBCU experience we all loved about the original show.

I say that because in the current TV landscape we are chock full of mindless fare and tawdry reality TV shows aimed at African American audiences.

We would love a smart, well written ensemble cast show with topical storylines like A Different World successfully pulled off from 1987-1993.   

So Debbie and 'errbody' else in Hollywood, please make the A Different World reboot happen.  If you do, I'll happily write the 'I was wrong' post as I eagerly await the return of Hillman College to my television screen.   If you're looking for script writers for the new show, where do I put in my application for it?

And oh yeah, here are the answers to last year's A Different World trivia quiz.