Back to Hillman: A DIFFERENT WORLD
Netflix is taking us back to Hillman College, and Black social media already has the new class on academic probation.
The new A Different World premieres September 24, exactly 39 years after the original show debuted. Let me clear this up first. This is a sequel, not a remake. The story follows Deborah Wayne, the youngest daughter of Dwayne Wayne and Whitley Gilbert, as she begins her freshman year at Hillman.
Deborah wants to make her own name, but that will not be easy when her parents are two of the most famous graduates in Hillman history.
Netflix brought back Jasmine Guy as Whitley and Kadeem Hardison as Dwayne. Darryl M. Bell returns as Ron Johnson. Cree Summer, Dawnn Lewis, Glynn Turman, Jada Pinkett Smith, Charnele Brown, Karen Malina White, Ajai Sanders and Jenifer Lewis are also returning.
Debbie Allen is back behind the scenes and in front of the camera. Method Man plays the football coach, and Summer Walker makes an appearance. The first season will have ten half hour episodes.
Then there is the theme song. Brandy recorded a new version using the familiar lyrics. Some fans love the choice. Others say her smooth version does not have the same energy as the one Aretha Franklin sang.
The trailer has people divided too. Some viewers say it looks too polished, too young and too much like a regular Netflix teen show. They want the warmth, humor and cultural weight that made the original special. Other folks are saying everybody needs to calm down and give the new cast a chance.
I am with that second group.
We are judging ten episodes from a trailer that lasts about two minutes. People forget that the original A Different World had to find its way too. The show changed after its first season and grew into a television classic that inspired generations of Black students to consider college and HBCUs.
The returning cast and Debbie Allen’s involvement tell me the legacy is being respected. Now the new writers and actors have to deliver.
Nostalgia will get us through the door, but strong stories will make us stay.
Check out Dropping Jewels with The Madd Hatta weekday afternoons at 5:26 on Majic 102.1.
Check out a sneak peek of the all new, A Different World on Netflix.
