Did A Different World want to have its cake and eat it too - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

TMC · 09-07-2020, 04:13 AM

What I mean is that in the later seasons, they brought in new students, but did not want to let go of the core cast from Season 2. So the cast was too big to really spend enough time on the new characters to flesh them out. You could say that A Different World suffered a similar problem as Glee, trying to do at least two shows under one title. You had the Dwayne & Whitley show, plus the show about college kids.

TMC · 08-14-2021, 03:03 AM

I wonder if it would've been for the best had the series actually ended with Whitely and Dwyane's marriage? Instead, we had the awkward format in the final season of having the older crew still hanging out at Hillman along with the younger crew. So having them all around made the cast too big to really develop the new characters.

Old School · 09-06-2021, 02:23 PM

Keeping some of the older cast around working in the school, at graduate school as to keep a connection with the fans of the show as the next group of students were introduced to the viewing audience.

I can also see where you are coming from saying it made the series a bit discombobulated with all the different storylines merged into each episode.

I thought the Billy Dee Williams character (ex Negro League baseball player) was a very interesting storyline as the news kids moved into his house off campus while he enrolled at Hillman that could have made for some good episodes if they had another season or two.

09-07-2020, 04:13 AM	#1
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 124,387	Did A Different World want to have its cake and eat it too What I mean is that in the later seasons, they brought in new students, but did not want to let go of the core cast from Season 2. So the cast was too big to really spend enough time on the new characters to flesh them out. You could say that A Different World suffered a similar problem as Glee, trying to do at least two shows under one title. You had the Dwayne & Whitley show, plus the show about college kids.

08-14-2021, 03:03 AM	#2
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 124,387	I wonder if it would've been for the best had the series actually ended with Whitely and Dwyane's marriage? Instead, we had the awkward format in the final season of having the older crew still hanging out at Hillman along with the younger crew. So having them all around made the cast too big to really develop the new characters.