History Series / ADifferentWorld

* TookALevelInJerkass: Dwayne and Ron started out as couple of goofy, somewhat weird, but all-around nice guys and while they pretty much remain decent throughout the entire series, 3 seasons in sees Dwayne treating Whitley far worse than he ever would have treated Denise Huxtable, even after they become an OfficialCouple, while Ron becomes a {{Casanova}} and [[AllMenArePerverts pervert]] with only minimal CharacterDevelopment in the final two seasons.

%%* {{Casanova}}: Ron

* ButNotTooBlack: Averted. The show featured African-Americans of varying skin tones and despite each person having various flaws and qualities, no particular shade was depicted as more desirable/intelligent/successful than the other. If anything, it may have been inverted--the dark-skinned Kim and Dwayne were among the smartest.
** Possibly played with regarding Whitley; she's a light-skinned RichBitch who's descended from affluence and expects everything to be handed to her while darker-skinned Kim and Jaleesa are hard-working, come from working-class families, and actively earn their success.
** No issues are made over Freddie being bi-racial (besides an offhand comment by one of her AA studies classmates) or Maggie and Matthew (who are white) mingling with the general student body either. Ron and Shazza Zulu briefly give Kim a hard time for dating Matthew in one episode, though.

** When Whitley hits Mr. Gaines' car, she has to take a job slinging hash at The Pit in order to pay it off.

** In the series' very first BrokeEpisode, Denise, due to her account being overdrawn, is unable to pay her dorm fees and rather than ask Cliff for more money, she takes on a work study job alongside Jaleesa in the Pit.

* ButNotTooBlack: Averted. The show featured African-Americans of varying skin tones and despite each person having various flaws and qualities, no particular shade was depicted as more desirable/intelligent/successful than the other. If anything, it may have been inverted--the dark-skinned Kim and Dwayne, were among the smartest.
** Possibly played with regarding Whitley; she's a light-skinned RichBitch who's descended from affluence and expects everything to be handed to her while darker skinned Kim and Jaleesa are hard-working, come from working-class families, and actively earn their success.

** Maggie (Marisa Tomei) and Whitley's sidekick, Millie, along with the first and second dorm moms Stevie (Loretta Devine) (season 1), and Lettie (seasons 1-2), respectively, and post season 5, Jaleesa.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The show centered around Denise Huxtable and her roommates Maggie and Jaleesa. A woman named Stevie was their dorm director and Whitley was the central ''antagonist''. She had a minion named Millie who followed her every demand. Dwayne was a nerd whose time was mainly spent hanging around Gilbert Hall hoping for a date with ''any'' of the ladies there, but who found Whitley as annoying as everyone else did. Ron and Walter were there, but not as full-time cast members, and Kim, Freddie, Col. Taylor and Mr. Gaines are nowhere to be seen. The theme song was a slow, blues-y number sung by Phoebe Snow. Come the second season, Denise, Maggie, Stevie and Millie are gone, Jaleesa is a supporting character and voice of reason to the younger students, Whitley is now the ''protagonist'' and she and Dwayne, now a cool guy, are dating. The theme song is now much more Motown-inspired and sung by Aretha Franklin.

* FakeHigh: In Season 2 episode, "If You Like Pilgrim Coladas", Whitley and Kim go to a bar with a fake ID and are found out when they act drunk after several of the eponymous drink, which contains no alcohol.
* FamilyThemeNaming: The Wayne family. In addition to Dwayne, the one ChristmasEpisode discusses several relatives coming to visit him, Whitley and his parents, cousin, Aunts and Uncles named Elaine, Shane, Dane and even a relative has a dog named ''Tulane.''

** Whitley has quite a few outright goofy moments in the later seasons, examples including dressing up as a maid, donning a kimono in order to impress an interviewer from a Japanese-based company, and spending an ''entire episode'' without saying anything. This from a girl who started out as a RichBitch antagonist.
** Freddie goes from being a bubbly CompositeCharacter of Denise and Maggie in her introduction to a full on CloudCuckoolander in later episodes.

* FreudianCouch: Stressed-out therapist Dr. Langhorne (played by Creator/DebbieAllen) has one. Whitley lies on it during her sessions. Dr. Langhorne lies on the couch herself during a session with Col. Taylor, Jaleesa and Terrence.

* FurAndLoathing: Freddie would freak out when she saw one. Whitley learned about this the hard way when she started dating a politician and offended one of his potential supporters by wearing a fur.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Kinu's a complete bitch by the time she leaves the show, but her reason is completely legitimate--she's fed up with Whitley's constant interference in hers and Dwayne's relationship and Dwayne's refusal to do anything about it.
* JustAStupidAccent: In real life, Jasmine Guy sounds nothing like Whitley Gilbert. She has stated in interviews that she based the accent off of her third grade teacher to emphasize the character's [[DeepSouth southern]] roots and affluence.

* MySisterIsOffLimits: Ron to everyone, Dwayne included, when his sister visits Hillman. A later episode has him dating Walter's niece, which Walter is none to enthused about.
* NotSoForgottenBirthday: They run this plot with Whitley three times (technically.) The first season, she's surprised with a cake by the main cast. Then, on her 21st b-day, she assumes everyone forgot, gets drunk and nearly makes out with a photo of Creator/DenzelWashington, but is given a "spinster" dinner by her dorm mates, and receives some sentimental gifts from Dwayne and Julian. While not exactly the same, special mention has to go to her first birthday as Dwayne's wife, where she gets paranoid and PLANS HER OWN SURPRISE PARTY, Dwayne finds out and cancels it, gives her a crappy dinner at a diner, and bluffs her all the way home where a roomful of people surprise the crap out of her with a cake and gifts.

* PutOnABus: When Season 2 begins it's explained that Denise isn't coming back to Hillman for another term.

* TheTwelveSpoofsOfChristmas: In the season three ChristmasEpisode, the gang (minus Whitley, who is experiencing YetAnotherChristmasCarol) all gathered together in the forum and sang their own parody of the song including only five verses:

* WhamEpisode: One episode had Kim's detective father (played by Creator/RichardRoundtree) coming down hard on her after she defied him to go to a concert in DC. The next episode? Kim, Whitley, Dwayne and Freddie drive from Virginia to Ohio after finding out he was shot and possibly paralyzed.

* {{Tsundere}}: Whitley to Dwayne (and she also starts getting [[{{Yandere}} yanderish]] towards him in the later seasons) and both her and Freddie to Ron--although with him, it's almost completely tsun-tsun.* TheTwelveSpoofsOfChristmas: In the season three ChristmasEpisode, the gang (minus Whitley, who is experiencing YetAnotherChristmasCarol) all gathered together in the forum and sang their own parody of the song including only five verses:

* TheLastDJ: Ron, especially in "Just Another Four Letter Word". He's so obsessed with his shaky music career and his wannabe love life, that he barely cares about getting a "real" job. This is perhaps lampshaded in the final season's opening credits; whereas they all have their careers, he's seen dancing with various women.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The show centered around Denise Huxtable and her roommates Maggie and Jaleesa. A woman named Stevie was their dorm director and Whitley was the central ''antagonist''. She had a minion named Millie who followed her every demand. Dwayne was a {{Nerd}} whose time was mainly spent hanging around Gilbert Hall hoping for a date with ''any'' of the ladies there, but who found Whitley as annoying as everyone else did. Ron and Walter were there, but not as full-time cast members, and Kim, Freddie, Col. Taylor and Mr. Gaines are nowhere to be seen. The theme song was a slow, blues-y number sung by Phoebe Snow. Come the second season, Denise, Maggie, Stevie and Millie are gone, Jaleesa is a supporting character and voice of reason to the younger students, Whitley is now the ''protagonist'' and she and Dwayne, now a cool guy, are dating. The theme song is now much more Motown-inspired and sung by Aretha Franklin.

* CelebrityParadox: One scene has three students, including Dwayne, impersonating Bill Cosby while plating poker. Cosby, obviously, already exists in this reality as Cliff Huxtable so the gag doesn't make much sense. An argument could be made that they're impersonating Cliff but that's a stretch since none of these characters have ever met him.

The show was set at fictional, historically-black Hillman College in Virginia. Two of the supporting cast, Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison) and Whitley Gilbert (Creator/JasmineGuy), proved to be {{Ensemble Darkhorse}}s. In the second season, Lisa Bonet was let go because she and then-husband Music/LennyKravitz were having a [[Creator/ZoeKravitz baby]] and [[ContractualPurity the producers were concerned about Denise appearing to be an unwed mother]]. This led to Dwayne and Whitley becoming the new leads. Despite all the odds working against them, this actually changed the show into a hit and altered the formula from being a mere spin-off to an entity of its own.

* AgonyOfTheFeet: Whitley doesn't exactly wear the most comfortable shoes and in some episodes she's either complaining about her aching tootsies or asking the nearest person for a foot massage.

* TheBGrade: Maggie, Kim, and Dwayne are classic overachievers, and proud of it. So is Freddie, if it's something pertaining to creative writing, African-American studies, or law.

* {{Casanova}}: Ron
* CelebrityStar: Music/EnVogue, Creator/BlairUnderwood, and Music/KrisKross, to name a few, get episode spotlights. And legends Music/PattiLaBelle and Diahann Carroll each recur frequently as Dwayne's and Whitley's mothers.

* ContentWarnings: Two episodes sported warnings before they aired, one dealing with date rape, and one dealing with the incipient AIDS crisis.

* DoubleStandard: When Whitley is sexually harassed by her boss, everyone treats her with compassion and understanding. But when Dwayne describes an identical experience that he went through during a summer internship, right down to his female boss taking him off a prized project when he filed a complaint, Kim and Whitley snap, "Who cares?". Had the roles been reversed, everyone would have blasted Dwayne for being cruel and insensitive, but the girls uncaring attitude is played for laughs.

* HeelRealization / HeroicBSOD: Whitley suffers both upon learning that her great, great, great grandfather was one of the few African Americans in the 19th century to ''own slaves''.

* MusicalEpisode: although several of the actors sang from time to time in the series, "The Little Mister", the episode spoofing the 1992 presidential elections, counts as one of these.
* MRSDegree: One episode has Whitley confessing to Dean Hughes that when she initially came to Hillman, this was her plan, complete with a wedding the day after graduation and using her art history degree to pick out the right paintings to decorate the living room.

* TheTwelveSpoofsOfChristmas: In the season three ChristmasEpisode, the gang (minus Whitley, who is experiencing YetAnotherChristmasCarol) all gathered together in the forum and sang their own parody of the song including only five verses:

* TokenWhite: Maggie in the first season, and Freddie's cousin Matthew later on.
* TeamMom: Stevie, Lettie, Dwayne's mom (Patti Labelle).
* {{Tsundere}}: Whitley to Dwayne (and she also starts getting [[{{Yandere}} yanderish]] towards him in the later seasons) and both her and Freddie to Ron--although with him, it's almost completely tsun-tsun.

The show was set at fictional, historically-black Hillman College in Virginia. Two of the supporting cast, Dwayne Wayne (Creator/KadeemHardison) and Whitley Gilbert (Creator/JasmineGuy), proved to be {{Ensemble Darkhorse}}s. In the second season, Lisa Bonet was let go because she and then-husband Music/LennyKravitz were having a [[Creator/ZoeKravitz baby]] and [[ContractualPurity the producers were concerned about Denise appearing to be an unwed mother]]. This led to Dwayne and Whitley becoming the new leads. Despite all the odds working against them, this actually changed the show into a hit and altered the formula from being a mere spin-off to an entity of its own.

The show was set at fictional, historically-black Hillman College in Virginia. Two of the supporting cast, Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison) and Whitley Gilbert (Creator/JasmineGuy), proved to be {{Ensemble Darkhorse}}s. In the second season, Lisa Bonet was let go because she and then-husband Music/LennyKravitz were having a [[Creator/ZoeKravitz baby]] and [[ContractualPurity the producers were concerned about Denise appearing to be an unwed mother]]. This led to Dwayne and Whitley becoming the new leads. Despite all the odds working against them, this actually changed the show into a hit and altered the formula from being a mere spin-off to an entity of its own.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The show centered around Denise Huxtable and her roommates Maggie and Jaleesa. A woman named Stevie was their dorm director and Whitley was the central ''antagonist''. She had a minion named Millie who followed her every demand. Dwayne was a HollywoodNerd whose time was mainly spent hanging around Gilbert Hall hoping for a date with ''any'' of the ladies there, but who found Whitley as annoying as everyone else did. Ron and Walter were there, but not as full-time cast members, and Kim, Freddie, Col. Taylor and Mr. Gaines are nowhere to be seen. The theme song was a slow, blues-y number sung by Phoebe Snow. Come the second season, Denise, Maggie, Stevie and Millie are gone, Jaleesa is a supporting character and voice of reason to the younger students, Whitley is now the ''protagonist'' and she and Dwayne, now a cool guy, are dating. The theme song is now much more Motown-inspired and sung by Aretha Franklin.

* ObnoxiousInLaws: Angered by Whitley mistaking her for a maid, Dwayne's mother is relentlessly nasty to Whitley throughout their relationship, despite her repeated, sincere attempts at making amends for this. It gets cranked UpToEleven after Dwayne and Whitley marry, with her sending them a ''funeral wreath'' with a note that says, "Call me when you divorce Ms. Thang", then apparently holding firm to this, as Dwayne mentions that she hangs up on him every time he calls.

Originally, this was a SpinOff of ''Series/TheCosbyShow'': Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet) goes to college. It ran on Creator/{{NBC}} from 1987 to 1993.