Do you think Dwayne and Whitley would hook up anyway? Or would Denise and Dwayne eventually get married instead? I just have a feeling if Denise stayed on the show, it wouldn't have lasted as long as it did. Plus if it did stay, I think Dwanye and Denise would hook up eventually.. meaning there would have been no Olivia or that husband of hers on the Cosby show & we could have gotten visits with her and Dwayne on the Cosby Show instead. Jasmine Guy's role wouldn't have been as large either I don't think...

Do you think Dwayne and Whitley would hook up anyway? Or would Denise and Dwayne eventually get married instead? I just have a feeling if Denise stayed on the show, it wouldn't have lasted as long as it did. Plus if it did stay, I think Dwanye and Denise would hook up eventually.. meaning there would have been no Olivia or that husband of hers on the Cosby show & we could have gotten visits with her and Dwayne on the Cosby Show instead. Jasmine Guy's role wouldn't have been as large either I don't think...


And why do you feel it wouldn;t have lasted? Finished the 1st season at #2 and if it stayed in the same time slot with denise on the show for 6 season why wouldn't the show have lasted???

And why do you feel it wouldn;t have lasted? Finished the 1st season at #2 and if it stayed in the same time slot with denise on the show for 6 season why wouldn't the show have lasted???


I remember hearing that DW was going to be cancelled but Bill Cosby had to fight to keep the show on. So, in the second season he hired Debbie Allen and hired new writers.

I do not know if it would have lasted as long as it did if Denise would have stayed. I don't think that Lisa had that much Chemistry with the other cast members.

But I do think that Dwayne and Denise would have hooked up and gotten married the same way Whitley and Dwayne did.

Lisa didn't have chemistry with the others, I agree with that. Something abt how her character was, didn't seem right. The Whitley character was too much of a stereotype (rich, princess-like, southern belle type of girl), she mellowed out by the time Lisa Bonet was no longer on the show. Debbie Allen did wonders with this show.

I remember hearing that DW was going to be cancelled but Bill Cosby had to fight to keep the show on. So, in the second season he hired Debbie Allen and hired new writers.

I do not know if it would have lasted as long as it did if Denise would have stayed. I don't think that Lisa had that much Chemistry with the other cast members.

But I do think that Dwayne and Denise would have hooked up and gotten married the same way Whitley and Dwayne did.


That has to be false since after 87-88 the Top 5 shows looked like this


cosby show
ADW
Cheers
GOlden girls
growing pains


Also after Lisa Bonet left the show, the show never ranked #2 again

88-89-#3
89-90-#4
90-91-#4
91-92-#17
92-93-????

LOL, numbers don't lie

ADW aired right after the Cosby Show during its first season right?

Where was it scheduled AFTER Lisa left?

Numbers don't lie, but they also don't tell the whole story. Solomon, I am surprised at you. You should know that ratings don't mean squat a lot of the times. Schedule plays a major part in that as well. Remember how ALICE was moved around constantly and the numbers reflected that? The Jeffersons were moved around so much too.

ADW aired right after the Cosby Show during its first season right?

Where was it scheduled AFTER Lisa left?

Numbers don't lie, but they also don't tell the whole story. Solomon, I am surprised at you. You should know that ratings don't mean squat a lot of the times. Schedule plays a major part in that as well. Remember how ALICE was moved around constantly and the numbers reflected that? The Jeffersons were moved around so much too.


88-89 aired after TCS
89-90-aired after TCS
90-91-aired after TCS
91-92-aired after TCS
92-93-THE LEAD IN


anymore questions?-lol

Oh big deal, the show never ranked number 2 again, but it was #3, #4 for two seasons and then #17 (top 20). Those are great numbers. You are a researcher, but you criticize a show because it is NOT #1 all the time??? :crazy: Go find your mind and put it back in your head. :lol:

Oh big deal, the show never ranked number 2 again, but it was #3, #4 for two seasons and then #17 (top 20). Those are great numbers. You are a researcher, but you criticize a show because it is NOT #1 all the time??? :crazy: Go find your mind and put it back in your head. :lol:


Ask any network executive, #1 is all that matters-lol They will accept #2 or #3 but they really don't like it

WTF does that mean? :crazy: :lol: ^^^^ You are going waaaay off topic. The show was not good with Lisa. It became better after she left and when Debbie Allen came on board. THAT is the topic. The show remained on the air because fans tuned in and Debbie made it an interesting show by changing the Whitley character and bringing in great storylines. The show was CRAP with Lisa in it. I can't put all the blame on Lisa, but she didn't help matters either.

WTF does that mean? :crazy: :lol: ^^^^ You are going waaaay off topic. The show was not good with Lisa. It became better after she left and when Debbie Allen came on board. THAT is the topic. The show remained on the air because fans tuned in and Debbie made it an interesting show by changing the Whitley character and bringing in great storylines. The show was CRAP with Lisa in it. I can't put all the blame on Lisa, but she didn't help matters either.


You mean the show wasn't good to YOU, BRIEANNA, and my COUSIN with Lisa-lol But the other 25 million people in 1987 felt differently-lol

Number of Viewers after Lisa

88-23 million
89-21 million
90-17 million
91-15 million
92-??????

LOL-LOL-LOL Talk to me Irene,

That has to be false since after 87-88 the Top 5 shows looked like this


cosby show
ADW
Cheers
GOlden girls
growing pains


Also after Lisa Bonet left the show, the show never ranked #2 again

88-89-#3
89-90-#4
90-91-#4
91-92-#17
92-93-????

LOL, numbers don't lie

What did I say that was false?????? Point it out

What did I say that was false?????? Point it out


You said Bill Cosby had to beg to kep the show on the air, how can that be the case if it was the 2nd highest rated show in the country?-lol

You said Bill Cosby had to beg to kep the show on the air, how can that be the case if it was the 2nd highest rated show in the country?-lol


Which he did, If you are such a tv reseacher you would have known that. Do your homework. Why do you think he hired Debbie? Why do you think he hired a new writing staff. Just because it was number 2 in the ratings wasn't going to stop the network from cancelling the show. Research that and get back to me.

I went to notationmachine.com and saw those same rating numbers. I'm going on what I heard and saw.

Which he did, If you are such a tv reseacher you would have known that. Do your homework. Why do you think he hired Debbie? Why do you think he hired a new writing staff. Just because it was number 2 in the ratings wasn't going to stop the network from cancelling the show. Research that and get back to me.

I went to notationmachine.com and saw those same rating numbers. I'm going on what I heard and saw.


Well just tell me why it was going to be yanked

Well just tell me why it was going to be yanked


When A Different World (1987-93)--the spin-off series from The Cosby Show that portrayed life on the fictional Hillman College campus--floundered during its first year on the air, Cosby hired director and choreographer Debbie Allen to lend her expertise to focus and give direction to writers and actors.

So apparently it wasn't doing well in it's first season.

When A Different World (1987-93)--the spin-off series from The Cosby Show that portrayed life on the fictional Hillman College campus--floundered during its first year on the air, Cosby hired director and choreographer Debbie Allen to lend her expertise to focus and give direction to writers and actors.

So apparently it wasn't doing well in it's first season.


I'm going to have to look into it myself because floundered means low ratings. So it's not making sense to me

I'm going to have to look into it myself because floundered means low ratings. So it's not making sense to me


Look it up :lol:

From a New York Times article. This article talks abt how ADW was the WORST SITCOM IN HISTORY TO DO SO WELL RATINGS WISE...however, before you go smiling Solomon, read the WHOLE article and see how it discusses the changes that were made to the show because the show was not up to par, Lisa's pregnancy, etc. The show was not good. Ratings-wise, it did great, but it was not going to last. Which is why Debbie Allen was brought in and an overhaul was done to the show. Also, the show was fit in between THE COSBY SHOW and CHEERS. So, it is understandable that was a great time slot for any show, even one as bad as ADW:

NEW YORK TIMES
Did 'Cosby' Do Better in College?
By EMILY NUSSBAUM


Most spinoffs are little more than brand extensions, faded copies of a crisp original. There are exceptions — "Angel,""Frasier" — but few that outstrip the original series. When "A Different World" appeared in 1987, it looked like just another lame copycat: the most languorous "Cosby" kid, Denise (Lisa Bonet), was drifting off to college, leaving the Huxtable fold for a whole new empowering franchise.

And true to form, the first season of "A Different World" was just plain bad. Ms. Bonet's Denise was a protagonist so diffident she seemed barely there. The scripts toggled between syrup and shtick. But the show won an audience anyway, because of its plum slot between "The Cosby Show" and "Cheers"; TV Guide called it "the worst sitcom in recent memory to do so well in the ratings."

Then, in its second season, "A Different World" experienced the opposite of a sophomore slump. A pregnant Ms. Bonet left the show, as did the sole white cast member, the giggly pre-Oscar Marisa Tomei. In their absence, the ensemble took center stage. There was the slick nerd, Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison); the snooty princess, Whitley Gilbert (Jasmine Guy); the divorced toughie, Jaleesa (Dawnn Lewis); the lady's man, Ron (Darryl Bell); the hippie chick, Freddie (Cree Summer); the pragmatic pre-med, Kimberly (Charnele Brown); and the mouthy street kid, Lena (Jada Pinkett, who first appeared in Season 4.) The show was still sitcom-silly. But it had forged something more groundbreaking than "Cosby" ever had: a diversity of black perspectives.

For all its importance, "The Cosby Show" had a top-down ideology: there was plenty of bickering, but no debate. Bill Cosby's Cliff Huxtable was quite deliberately father-knows-best in blackface: he was there to teach, and in reruns, he seems less wise than smug, the Great Santini wrapped in a cardigan. In contrast, "A Different World" had no one moral perspective, no character hogging the role model mike. The students of Hillman College (based on Spelman College, a major charitable cause for Bill Cosby) could be lazy and snobby and sexy and bossy and kind and cruel — a development that shouldn't have been a breakthrough, but was. Because they weren't there simply as model minorities, they could be villains, they could be fools, they could be romantic heroes. For all its corn and bombast (not to mention blinding 80's fashions), this was truly groundbreaking television.

In Hillman's all-black world, dissent could bubble up. Characters mocked one another's Afrocentrism or buppie pretensions. They examined insider issues, like skin color preference and black macho. Despite its broad mainstream audience, the show even began to take oddball stylistic risks right out of experimental theater, incorporating blackface and minstrel-style performance art. In an episode from Season 6, Dwayne and Whitley bicker about gender politics after a Halloween party; Dwayne passes out and has a florid, episode-long dream in which Ms. Guy plays a swaggering "Jill Blinton" and Mr. Hardison plays a mighty freaked-out black male Hillary.

In episodes like that, the show gave preachiness a daring spin. This week on Oxygen, two episodes show "A Different World" at its edutainment best. The less impressive outing is "Cat's in the Cradle" (Wednesday, 5:30 p.m. Eastern), with Dean Cain as a racist bully. Dwayne and Ron butt heads with white college students at a football game; righteous speechifying ensues. But because the plot centers on Ron and Dwayne, not their antagonists, there's a shift in sitcom perspective: Ron taunts the racist frat boys nearly as much as they taunt him, and there's a hilarious sequence in which both sides present themselves as total victims. The subject is less "racism is bad" — the lesson of a thousand white sitcoms — than an internal debate over whether black people should respond with their own self-protective bigotries.

The second episode — "Mammy Dearest" (Tuesday, 5 p.m. Eastern) — is more outrageous, more didactic and yet more poignant. Whitley plans a black history presentation, including a picture of a grinning slave mammy. A fight breaks out, with characters debating the notion of reclaiming stereotypes, the history of black slaveowners, even the origins of "you mama" jokes. The plump, dark-skinned Kimberly finally confesses what's on her mind. As a child, she explains, she once dressed up as a Nubian princess for Halloween, and when the school principal awarded her the prize for best costume, he described her outfit as "Aunt Jemima." She swallowed her humiliation, took the prize and smiled. "That's how people see me."

The final scene features a performance by Kimberly straight out of 70's agitprop: she strides onstage in an exaggerated Aunt Jemima costume, crooning "Dixie." From under her hoop skirt pop a cartoonish pickaninny and an African dancer. At the dance's climax, Kimberly reappears as Mother Africa, chanting a poem by Nikki Giovanni. The sequence is absurd; it's queasy; it's giggle-inducing. But it's also startling and even glorious. Sitcoms today are more sharply written, its true. But few would dare to be so powerfully sincere.

From a New York Times article. This article talks abt how ADW was the WORST SITCOM IN HISTORY TO DO SO WELL RATINGS WISE...however, before you go smiling Solomon, read the WHOLE article and see how it discusses the changes that were made to the show because the show was not up to par, Lisa's pregnancy, etc. The show was not good. Ratings-wise, it did great, but it was not going to last. Which is why Debbie Allen was brought in and an overhaul was done to the show. Also, the show was fit in between THE COSBY SHOW and CHEERS. So, it is understandable that was a great time slot for any show, even one as bad as ADW:

NEW YORK TIMES
Did 'Cosby' Do Better in College?
By EMILY NUSSBAUM


Most spinoffs are little more than brand extensions, faded copies of a crisp original. There are exceptions — "Angel,""Frasier" — but few that outstrip the original series. When "A Different World" appeared in 1987, it looked like just another lame copycat: the most languorous "Cosby" kid, Denise (Lisa Bonet), was drifting off to college, leaving the Huxtable fold for a whole new empowering franchise.

And true to form, the first season of "A Different World" was just plain bad. Ms. Bonet's Denise was a protagonist so diffident she seemed barely there. The scripts toggled between syrup and shtick. But the show won an audience anyway, because of its plum slot between "The Cosby Show" and "Cheers"; TV Guide called it "the worst sitcom in recent memory to do so well in the ratings."

Then, in its second season, "A Different World" experienced the opposite of a sophomore slump. A pregnant Ms. Bonet left the show, as did the sole white cast member, the giggly pre-Oscar Marisa Tomei. In their absence, the ensemble took center stage. There was the slick nerd, Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison); the snooty princess, Whitley Gilbert (Jasmine Guy); the divorced toughie, Jaleesa (Dawnn Lewis); the lady's man, Ron (Darryl Bell); the hippie chick, Freddie (Cree Summer); the pragmatic pre-med, Kimberly (Charnele Brown); and the mouthy street kid, Lena (Jada Pinkett, who first appeared in Season 4.) The show was still sitcom-silly. But it had forged something more groundbreaking than "Cosby" ever had: a diversity of black perspectives.

For all its importance, "The Cosby Show" had a top-down ideology: there was plenty of bickering, but no debate. Bill Cosby's Cliff Huxtable was quite deliberately father-knows-best in blackface: he was there to teach, and in reruns, he seems less wise than smug, the Great Santini wrapped in a cardigan. In contrast, "A Different World" had no one moral perspective, no character hogging the role model mike. The students of Hillman College (based on Spelman College, a major charitable cause for Bill Cosby) could be lazy and snobby and sexy and bossy and kind and cruel — a development that shouldn't have been a breakthrough, but was. Because they weren't there simply as model minorities, they could be villains, they could be fools, they could be romantic heroes. For all its corn and bombast (not to mention blinding 80's fashions), this was truly groundbreaking television.

In Hillman's all-black world, dissent could bubble up. Characters mocked one another's Afrocentrism or buppie pretensions. They examined insider issues, like skin color preference and black macho. Despite its broad mainstream audience, the show even began to take oddball stylistic risks right out of experimental theater, incorporating blackface and minstrel-style performance art. In an episode from Season 6, Dwayne and Whitley bicker about gender politics after a Halloween party; Dwayne passes out and has a florid, episode-long dream in which Ms. Guy plays a swaggering "Jill Blinton" and Mr. Hardison plays a mighty freaked-out black male Hillary.

In episodes like that, the show gave preachiness a daring spin. This week on Oxygen, two episodes show "A Different World" at its edutainment best. The less impressive outing is "Cat's in the Cradle" (Wednesday, 5:30 p.m. Eastern), with Dean Cain as a racist bully. Dwayne and Ron butt heads with white college students at a football game; righteous speechifying ensues. But because the plot centers on Ron and Dwayne, not their antagonists, there's a shift in sitcom perspective: Ron taunts the racist frat boys nearly as much as they taunt him, and there's a hilarious sequence in which both sides present themselves as total victims. The subject is less "racism is bad" — the lesson of a thousand white sitcoms — than an internal debate over whether black people should respond with their own self-protective bigotries.

The second episode — "Mammy Dearest" (Tuesday, 5 p.m. Eastern) — is more outrageous, more didactic and yet more poignant. Whitley plans a black history presentation, including a picture of a grinning slave mammy. A fight breaks out, with characters debating the notion of reclaiming stereotypes, the history of black slaveowners, even the origins of "you mama" jokes. The plump, dark-skinned Kimberly finally confesses what's on her mind. As a child, she explains, she once dressed up as a Nubian princess for Halloween, and when the school principal awarded her the prize for best costume, he described her outfit as "Aunt Jemima." She swallowed her humiliation, took the prize and smiled. "That's how people see me."

The final scene features a performance by Kimberly straight out of 70's agitprop: she strides onstage in an exaggerated Aunt Jemima costume, crooning "Dixie." From under her hoop skirt pop a cartoonish pickaninny and an African dancer. At the dance's climax, Kimberly reappears as Mother Africa, chanting a poem by Nikki Giovanni. The sequence is absurd; it's queasy; it's giggle-inducing. But it's also startling and even glorious. Sitcoms today are more sharply written, its true. But few would dare to be so powerfully sincere.


What year was the article written

What year was the article written
Why? What difference does that make?

Lisa Bonet may have been the "star" but she brought the least to the table. She was WAY overshadowed by Jasmine Guy, Dawnn Lewis and the rest. Denise just never fit in. I don't know what the show would've been like had she stayed, but I don't think it would've run nearly as long as it did.

Why? What difference does that make?


just curious that's all

Lisa Bonet may have been the "star" but she brought the least to the table. She was WAY overshadowed by Jasmine Guy, Dawnn Lewis and the rest. Denise just never fit in. I don't know what the show would've been like had she stayed, but I don't think it would've run nearly as long as it did.
I know I would not have continued watching it. They were lucky I watched some of the episodes. Ugh, and the ones with Claire and the Grandfather...forget it. Those are worthless. :crazy:


Solomon, the date of the article above does not change what it says.

What year was the article written


You know ding dang well (by YOUR standards) that if it wasn't written in 1987/88, you'll say that it wasn't reliable. I'm still waiting on the results of your research.

Here is another article from ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY which talks abt the show and how it was a mess in the beginning and how it had to change its format, formula, or whatever you want to call it. Basically, saying the show was no good during season 1 and needed an overhaul:

Cover Story
As 'A Different World' Turns
The evolution of ''A Different World'' -- How Debbie Allen, Jasmine Guy, and Kadeem Hardison brought new life to the ''Cosby Show'' spin-off

By Mark Harris
Mark Harris is a writer and executive editor of EW.

Jasmine Guy veers across the set of NBC's A Different World like a car about to spin off a racetrack, and everyone else stands clear. Guy is having a monster tantrum, bellowing, ''I'm Big Sister Gorgeous One! I'm Big Sister Gorgeous One! I am Big Sister Gorgeous One!'' to every flinching colleague within earshot.

''Nice,'' says actor-director Glynn Turman. As the scene ends, Guy, a petite, gregarious whirlwind who can shrug out of her performance as steel magnolia Whitley Gilbert in a second, assumes her human-scale off-camera persona. Chuckles erupt from crew members, their bellies shaking over their tool belts. Guy wheels and she's suddenly transformed back into leather-lunged Whitley. ''Hey!'' she yells. ''Save your laughter for the show.''

She doesn't have to worry. Something funny has been happening on A Different World, which is more than anyone who remembers the show's resolutely laughless first season might have expected. Conceived as a spin-off from NBC's The Cosby Show, the new series was to take teenager Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet) from Brooklyn to a new life at Hillman, a black college in the South. Despite that pedigree, World began its run in 1987 as an ugly duckling sheltered only by the wide wing of creator Bill Cosby. Though its post-Cosby time slot guaranteed high ratings (the show was No. 2 its first year), World's on-screen dreariness and backstage chaos were public embarrassments for NBC, Cosby, and executive producers Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner (The Cosby Show, Roseanne).

Three years later, however, viewers are seeing a truly different World: an ensemble comedy about black college life that's brightly acted, politically and socially attuned, idiosyncratic, and yes, even funny. This season, the series has silenced those who claimed it was only a coattail ratings success by passing The Cosby Show in the Nielsens (broadcast at 8:30 Thursdays, World ranks fifth, while Cosby has dropped to seventh). And, in a development that's even more surprising, black artists behind and on-camera have assumed control of the series and helped it gain respect as well as viewers.

But even on this Monday morning in late March, as the cast and crew gather on a Studio City soundstage to rehearse a spring episode, they admit that a long shadow is cast by that first season, which drew one of the most concentrated doses of critical vituperation ever to greet an instant ratings hit. ''A stiff,'' snapped one review. ''Bland and unfunny,'' said another. ''Awful.'' ''Calamitously drab.'' ''A big yawn.''

The verdict from those on the show was almost as harsh. ''We tried to follow the Cosby model: Pretend it's timeless. Make no references to current events. Make no references to race,'' says Susan Fales, a first-season staff writer who now serves as co-executive producer. ''And we were under orders from NBC to stay away from anything academic — they felt that was alienating. So we had a show about a black college that wasn't about college and couldn't be black.''

''It was a nightmare,'' says Dawnn Lewis, the indestructible actress whose character, Hillman alumna Jaleesa Vinson, is the only one to have survived all of World's regimes since the pilot. ''I've never seen so many people come and go.''

The gaffes were innumerable. A white roommate for Denise appeared without explanation. The sets and costumes looked musty and anachronistic. And Bonet proved hollow as the center of a sitcom. (''She's taken a lot of blame,'' says Fales, ''but the character was far more at fault. Denise was not very interesting, and we were asked to make her into Mary Tyler Moore or Tinkerbell, always bringing everyone together. We couldn't.'')

''The show took a particularly long time to find its way,'' says Carsey. A couple of changes worked well: The now-integral characters of Whitley and Dwayne Wayne (Jasmine Guy and Kadeem Hardison) were created after the pilot and frantically spliced into already-completed episodes. But misery ruled. ''There was an Alexander Haig complex,'' says Darryl M. Bell, who plays student and self-described ''campus tramp'' Ron Johnson. ''Everybody wanted to be the boss.''

''Coming from Broadway certainly gave me no credibility,'' says Guy. ''The attitude was 'Well, you don't know sitcoms.' Even if we dared to suggest something wasn't funny or realistic, it was discounted. And people we worked with one week were gone the next. It was very tense and frightening.''

When Bonet became pregnant at the end of the first season, World faced another crisis. ''We'd never even written her a boyfriend,'' recalls Fales. Rather than contend with an unwanted plot twist, the producers wrote her out.

After exhausting the talents of a series of sitcom fixers who came and went, Carsey and Werner knew the show needed a savior, and they found one. Bell glances at Guy and costar Charnele Brown (who plays premed student Kim Reese) as they sit around a table on the set of the Pit, the Hillman College cafeteria. ''You want to know why we're working?'' he says. ''We can say it together.'' The actors nod.

I know I would not have continued watching it. They were lucky I watched some of the episodes. Ugh, and the ones with Claire and the Grandfather...forget it. Those are worthless. :crazy:


Solomon, the date of the article above does not change what it says.


I'm just asking a DAMM QUESTION. I enjoyed reading it, damm. Can't ask a F*CKING question without you thinking I'm trying to debate something

I'm just asking a DAMM QUESTION. I enjoyed reading it, damm. Can't ask a F*CKING question without you thinking I'm trying to debate something
Um, you do debate. You do question what we post and you tell us that unless we have a legit source, it doesn't matter. I have shown you two legit sources. It is common knowledge the show was not worthwhile during season 1. I am shocked that you, a tv researcher, doesn't know this. You of all people should know this. But since you didn't, I provided you with two great articles on the subject. You provided ratings which show that you can put a corny show between two hit shows and ratings-wise, it will look great.

Um, you do debate. You do question what we post and you tell us that unless we have a legit source, it doesn't matter. I have shown you two legit sources. It is common knowledge the show was not worthwhile during season 1. I am shocked that you, a tv researcher, doesn't know this. You of all people should know this. But since you didn't, I provided you with two great articles on the subject. You provided ratings which show that you can put a corny show between two hit shows and ratings-wise, it will look great.


Well I'm not debating, i like history so can you just tell me the year? I just hate when I can't have a discussion with you without you thinking I'm trying to start a debate. It's 12:44am and i'm just chilling.

Um, you do debate. You do question what we post and you tell us that unless we have a legit source, it doesn't matter. I have shown you two legit sources. It is common knowledge the show was not worthwhile during season 1. I am shocked that you, a tv researcher, doesn't know this. You of all people should know this. But since you didn't, I provided you with two great articles on the subject. You provided ratings which show that you can put a corny show between two hit shows and ratings-wise, it will look great.

Which brings us back to my first post, Cosby still had to FIGHT to keep ADW on the air.

The last article was great by the way.

My debating Days on here are over-lol I see that it stops me from having regular TV chat so as of Tomorrow I will change my screen name

My debating Days on here are over-lol I see that it stops me from having regular TV chat so as of Tomorrow I will change my screen name


LOL sure your dabating days are over. Just wait until I find more proof that GT was a spinoff LMAO!!

LOL sure your dabating days are over. Just wait until I find more proof that GT was a spinoff LMAO!!


Won't matter, as of tomorrow my username will be what it was when I first joined

"Solomon"

lol

Won't matter, as of tomorrow my username will be what it was when I first joined

"Solomon"

lol


LOL that was a quick name change

LOL that was a quick name change


told ya, lol

ADW was never in danger of being canceled . It's true the critics hated the show and that's why Cosby and NBC tried to fix it by bringing in Debbie Allen. The show was the #2 ranked show in the country and Cosby had so much power then that NBC wouldn't have done anything. I was even mad that ADW took FT's timeslot because that was my favorite Thursday night comedy. I used to read all the tv articles of the day...I still collect TV Guides and I never heard that the show was ever in danger. Now later you had shows like Grand which was from Carsey-Werner that really under-performed on Thursday but c'mon ADW was ranked higher than Cheers. :lol:

ADW was never in danger of being canceled . It's true the critics hated the show and that's why Cosby and NBC tried to fix it by bringing in Debbie Allen. The show was the #2 ranked show in the country and Cosby had so much power then that NBC wouldn't have done anything. I was even mad that ADW took FT's timeslot because that was my favorite Thursday night comedy. I used to read all the tv articles of the day...I still collect TV Guides and I never heard that the show was ever in danger. Now later you had shows like Grand which was from Carsey-Werner that really under-performed on Thursday but c'mon ADW was ranked higher than Cheers. :lol:


It didn't sound right to me either-lol

ADW was never in danger of being canceled . It's true the critics hated the show and that's why Cosby and NBC tried to fix it by bringing in Debbie Allen. The show was the #2 ranked show in the country and Cosby had so much power then that NBC wouldn't have done anything. I was even mad that ADW took FT's timeslot because that was my favorite Thursday night comedy. I used to read all the tv articles of the day...I still collect TV Guides and I never heard that the show was ever in danger. Now later you had shows like Grand which was from Carsey-Werner that really under-performed on Thursday but c'mon ADW was ranked higher than Cheers. :lol:

I saw a interview where Debbie Allen talked about the reason things changed in season 2 and why Cosby let some writers go and why the show was on the verge of cancellation.

I saw a interview where Debbie Allen talked about the reason things changed in season 2 and why Cosby let some writers go and why the show was on the verge of cancellation.


Well it's not making sense the show was #2. Not sure why a network would get rid their 2nd rated show.

Well it's not making sense the show was #2. Not sure why a network would get rid their 2nd rated show.
I know it doesn't make any sense. lol I guess anything is possible behind the scenes but I do know their was no talk at least publicily at that time that ADW was in trouble. I didn't even watch ADW that first year because I was angry at what they did to FT. If I would have heard anything like that ,I probably would have done a dance. :lol: The Ratings were very strong. It was like an hour of Cosby each week as far as ratings were concerned. Nobody could compete against it that first year. ADW did not drop off like some other shows later did ( for example Single Guy and Veronica's Closet) on the Thursday night lineup. It had better ratings than Cheers and Golden Girls which were NBC Powerhouse shows at that time.

Lisa Bonet may have been the "star" but she brought the least to the table. She was WAY overshadowed by Jasmine Guy, Dawnn Lewis and the rest. Denise just never fit in. I don't know what the show would've been like had she stayed, but I don't think it would've run nearly as long as it did.

I agree. However, what throws me every time is the fact that Lisa was my favorite of the Cosby kids hands down, but in her own show I didn't like her. I wasn't crazy about Dwayne either at times, he was much too self-righteous for me. I loved everyone else on the show, though.

I'm also just grabbing thoughts out of the dark, but I want to think that "A Different World" had one of the largest casts on TV for a sitcom. Is there any validity to that statement?

^ The first season of Facts of Life had a very large cast. In addition to the 6 or 7 girls they had before going with just 4, there was also Mrs. G, Mr. Bradley and Miss Mahoney rounding out the cast.

^ The first season of Facts of Life had a very large cast. In addition to the 6 or 7 girls they had before going with just 4, there was also Mrs. G, Mr. Bradley and Miss Mahoney rounding out the cast.

A Different World had Whitley, Dwayne, Freddie, Kim, Ron, Jaleesa, Walter, Colonel Taylor, Mr. Gaines, Terrence, Lena, Gina, Dorian, Terrell, Charmaine, and the list goes on as far as the number of people who were interspersed throughout the seasons, yet still were on 10 or more episodes.

A Different World had Whitley, Dwayne, Freddie, Kim, Ron, Jaleesa, Walter, Colonel Taylor, Mr. Gaines, Terrence, Lena, Gina, Dorian, Terrell, Charmaine, and the list goes on as far as the number of people who were interspersed throughout the seasons, yet still were on 10 or more episodes.
Soap (the ABC sitcom - 1977-81) also had a very large regular cast.

I think that the show would have been fine even if Lisa Bonet had stayed. Debbie Allen would have still done her magic and Denise would have fit in perfectly with Debbie's format. Anne Beatt's format sucked bit time and I cannot emphasize that POV enough.

I really wish Denise had of stayed on the show. I thought she fit in perfectly, and I liked the idea of her and Dwayne as a couple. I thought they have better chemistry than Dwayne and Whitley.