80s TV Ladies - Episode 234: “Exploring A Different World | Writer Niceole Levy”

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https://www.80stvladies.com/episode/...r-niceole-levy

Sharon and Susan begin an all-new series of episodes looking at the groundbreaking 80s sitcom A Different World (1987-1993). This Cosby Show spin-off starred Lisa Bonet, Kadeem Hardison, Jasmine Guy, Charnele Brown, Dawn Lewis and Marissa Tomei.

• 80s TV made marriage look easy and fun -- cuz the couples were usually crime-solving millionaires!
• How watching every syndicated show on TV -- Perry Mason, I Love Lucy, Marcus Welby, Dick Van Dyke Show, Ironside -- prepares you for a life of TV writing.
• Everything retro is new again: Getting that first gig -- with Blair Underwood -- on the 2013 re-boot of Ironside!
• Niceole’s advice for getting into TV and film -- DON’T GO TO FILM SCHOOL!
• For Niceole -- and so many others -- A Different World’s Hillman College was her first exposure to an HBCU.
• RUN THE NUMBERS: 20 of the 47 writers on ADW were women!
• SEASON 2 RE-SET: How the addition of show-runner Debbie Allen re-ignited the series with a new sense of excitement and vitality.
• A DIFFERENT LOOK -- How A Different World achieved a bigger, more expansive look than other sitcoms of the time.

So, join Susan, Sharon -- and Niceole -- as they talk Miami Vice, watching 1,000 television shows, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,keeping a TV journal, Boyz II Men, dancing with Kamala Harris, scheduling your life around a TV show -- and the importance of not messing up the lunch order!

EPISODE 235: “A DIFFERENT WORLD | SHOWRUNNER, WRITER SUSAN FALES-HILL”

[quote]“You can be anything you want in this world, darling. But if you become an actress or a nun, I’ll kill myself.” -- legendary actress Josephine Premice to her daughter, Susan Fales-Hill. Content Warning: Sexual Assault/Child Sexual Abuse. At approx. 53:00 - 58:00 short discussion of date rape and child sexual assault.

• Being Whitley Gilbert’s alter ego: “She said a lot of the things I wanted to say -- but was too polite!"
• FINDING YOUR VOICE: Susan reflects on learning how to speak up in a writer’s room even though she was the youngest, newest writer -- and a woman.
• GO WEST YOUNG WOMAN: The “Big Move” from The Cosby Show in New York to A Different World in Los Angeles.
• THE IMPORTANCE OF A NEW POT: Sometimes you have to "re-plant" yourself to grow.
• HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE MARISA? The challenge of featuring a white character attending an HBCU.
• JUST A TIME SLOT SUCCESS? Some people grumbled that ADW only succeeded because it followed the massive hit The Cosby Show.
• How Debbie Allen insisted the show be topical -- and the surprise when Bill Cosby agreed.
• The story of how Susan personally got Diahann Carroll to be on the show.
• Being told by her agents after running a Top Ten show: “We can’t get you on a white show.”
• On the joy of casting your own mom -- singer, dancer, actress Josephine Premice.
• Susan reflects on which “issue” episodes worked -- and which ones maybe missed the mark (looking at you, Los Angeles Uprising…)
• The network was adamantly opposed to the “Los Angeles Uprising” episodes -- and some believe it signed the shows death warrant.

So, join Susan, Sharon -- and Susan -- as they talk pig noses, possible spin-offs, Billy Dee Williams, The Amistad, “Benevolent Karens”, Jennifer Lewis… and the danger of saying “shut up” to your mom!