Netflix’s ‘A Different World’ is a great remake of the classic comedy with a ton of Philly connections

Netflix’s A Different World, a reboot of the 1987 NBC original, is what I thought Bel-Air would be. It remains true to the original show’s characters: Whitley (Jasmine Guy) is still an entitled snob, Dwayne (Kadeem Hardison) remains as thoughtful as he is brilliant.

And Dwayne and Whitley’s daughter, Deborah (Maleah Joi Moon), is a delightful blend of her mom’s sense of bougieness and her dad’s altruism. It’s a stone-cold gas that her favorite accessory are flip glasses just like Dwayne Wayne. (It made me want to dig mine out)

The obvious Philly connection is North Philly’s own Bill Cosby who created this show in 1987 as spinoff to the immensely popular The Cosby Show. Cosby starred as the Huxtable patriarch Cliff Huxtable and father to Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet). In the original A Different World, Denise attended her parents’ alma mater, the storied fictional Virginia-based historically Black school, Hillman College.

But there is another more subtle Philly association in the backstory of Netflix’s version in actress Alijah Kai Haggins who plays Rashida Duvall, Deborah’s roommate. Rashida’s mother (on the show and in real life) is Tichina Arnold (Martin and The Neighborhood) and, though she grew up in Los Angeles, her dad is Carvin Haggins, the Grammy-award winning Philly area producer who worked with Jill Scott, Jazmine Sullivan, Chris Brown, and Justin Timberlake. Haggins also happens to be Scott’s cousin.

See? Without Philadelphia, we wouldn’t have the highly anticipated A Different World spinoff.

I blew through all 10 episodes of A Different World this weekend and with each installment, I cheered at the return of familiar faces: Whitley; Dwayne; Freddie Brooks (Cree Summer); Jaleesa (Dawnn Lewis); Ron (Darryl M. Bell); and Col. Taylor (Glenn Turman).

I swooned at few new characters like Coach Bryce Coles (Cliff “Method Man” Smith), a total shoutout to Gen Xers who came of age with the show. It cracks me up to think that during the original show’s run, Smith was in the New York City streets rapping about how dope it was to be M-E-T-H-O-D Man as a star member of the Wu-Tang Clan.

For a few hours, I was back in my New York bedroom as a teenager inspired by my television role models to go to college.

Where did all the time go?

Much like the original A Different World, produced by Debbie Allen — who reprises her role as the school psychologist and like her character of yesteryear urges students to “relax, relate, and release” — Netflix’s version deals with timely issues.

In the 10 episodes, Allen and showrunner Felicia Pride (Bel-Air and Gray’s Anatomy) deftly handle the current presidential administration’s attack on Black history, rampant mismanagement of funding by university administrators, and what it’s like for this generation of college students to engage with professors and each other after almost two years of COVID-19 lockdown.

The three male leads Cornel Young IV (Shaquille Johnson), Amir Rodale (Jordan Aaron Hall), and Chibuikem Uche (Kojo Achebe) are much more open about their emotions and sexuality than my peers ever were.

Men who were young in the 90s and now in their late 40s and 50s might learn a thing, or two from them. For example, Amir is a gay man who is open and honest about being gay. If we had such nuanced queer characters in the 90s, perhaps men wouldn’t have felt the need to hide their sexuality or men on the “down low” and risked their partner’s lives by exposing them to HIV.

Today’s A Different World even addresses Gen Z church girls who are firm in their own faith without judging friends who may have different relationships with God. Hazel Henry (Kennedi Reece) is as empathetic as she is passionate about religion.

It’s a great reboot. Despite the rude internet chit chat on how Guy and Summers look older — Duh, they are nearly 60 now — the Philly associations stand out the most to me.

Among others:

Hillman is based of an Historically Black college of which Cheyney University is the first in the nation. Again, no Philly, no Hillman, no A Different World.

Jada Pinkett Smith, is back in her breakthrough role as the rambunctious Lena James from Baltimore is a much more sophisticated version of her militant younger self. (No spoilers here) Smith starred in A Different World years before she made the ultimate West Philly partnership, her marriage to Will Smith.

But my greatest wish is that at some point in season two, Patti LaBelle returns as Adele Wayne, Dwayne Wayne’s mother and Deborah’s grandmother. I wonder if Deborah will have replaced Dwayne as her favorite little “chipmunk.”

“A Different World” is now airing on Netflix.