History Series / ADifferentWorld

*** There's also her learning that her family ''owned slaves'' in the 19th century.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Dwayne can be absolutely terrifying when he's pissed off. [[BerserkButton Messing with his computer or his girl]] have been shown to bring it out of him. Even Whitley herself isn't immune to it if she's done something incredibly stupid or has worked his last nerve.

** 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 does give Kim a hard time for dating Matthew in one episode, though.

* BunnyEarsLawyers: Freddie's a loopy flake, but dialogue indicates that she's a very good student.

* LaterInstallmentWeirdness: The sixth and final season put the heavy focus on incoming students at Hillman, ([[{{transplant}} including one recurring character]] from the recently ended ''[[Series/TheCosbyShow Cosby Show]]'') after the main characters graduated, and Dwayne and Whitley married, in the previous season; Jalessa vanished from the series; the theme song was redone (again), and now sung by Boyz II Men, replacing Aretha Franklin. Freddie does a complete 180 from her hippie/flower child persona to wearing French twists and suits when she enrolls in law school (after showing no interest in this before) and she and Ron suddenly can't keep their hands off each other, despite hating each other's guts for years before.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Shazza makes a snide comment about Kim dating a white guy. Aside from the fact that that's none of his business, given his "green eyes" that Kim herself snidely points out, he likely has white ancestry himself.

* LaterInstallmentWeirdness: The sixth and final season put the heavy focus on incoming students at Hillman, ([[{{transplant}} including one recurring character]] from the recently ended ''[[Series/TheCosbyShow Cosby Show]]'') after the main characters graduated, and Dwayne and Whitley married, in the previous season; Jalessa vanished from the series; the theme song was redone (again), and now sung by Boyz II Men, replacing Aretha Franklin.

* SweetPollyOliver: In one episode, Whitley disguises herself as a guy and makes some sexist comments about her and other girls' assets in an attempt to bag Dwayne for cheating or at least for entertaining the thought. He [[PaperThinDisguise sees through it]] but goes along with it just to mess with her.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Dwayne can be absolutely terrifying when he's pissed off. [[BerserkButton Messing with his computer or his girl]] have been shown to bring it out of him. When he recounts TheRashomon episode:
-->'''Dwayne(to Terell):''' "Last year, me and Ron got into it with some locals at a football game. They wanted static, we gave it to them. If I'd been packing heat that day, I would have wasted all of them, even the nice ones!"

** In the series's 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 pre-The Pit cafeteria.

-->'''Dwayne(to Terell):''' "Last year, me and Ron got into it with some locals at a football game. If I'd been packing that day, I know for a fact I would have wasted all of them, even the nice ones!"

* DerailingLoveInterests: Kinu starts out perfectly nice, but gets bitchier as time goes on.

* {{Brideszilla}}: Whitley becomes this as preparations for her's and Dwayne's wedding get underway, likely contributing to his cold feet and slight infidelity. She avoids this while planning her wedding to Byron and the role is taken on more by her cousin as bridesmaidzilla and mother as momzilla.

* WhamEpisode: One episode had Kim's detective father (played by [[Film/{{Shaft}} Richard Roundtree]]) 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.

* DoesNotLikeMen: Following her unrequited Dwayne-crush (and conidentally, her averted DateRape), Freddie has varying degrees of this trope but it's mostly directed at Ron. Averted if the man in question is one Shazza Zulu, however.

* IHaveNoSon: Dwayne's mom sends a ''funeral wreath'', complete with a note saying "Call me when you divorce" to show her displeasure at him and Whitley getting hitched and refuses to speak to him or take his calls. She gets better by the end, though.

* KarmaHoudini: The art director Whitley reports to hits on her and when she attempts to report him for sexual harassment, he turns it around and accuses her of making all the advances. This nearly get her fired and she's only able to get any recompense by threatening to go above the director and his boss's heads for not investigating her allegation. Not only is this implied to have been a drawn-out and stressful process, but the ending narration states that all he got was a reprimand and [[DownerEnding she still has to report to him.]]

** There's also the woman who outconned Ron out of car sale and got him fired and the used car sales manager from the same episode; both get off Scotch free.

* AscendedExtra: Both Ron and Walter were recurring characters in Season 1, but the ReTool in Season 2 saw them promoted to main cast.

* DeathGlare: Whitley gives these out like a college professor gives pop quizzes whenever someone annoys her.

** Dorian and 5'0" Lena.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Dwayne can be absolutely terrifying when he's pissed off. [[BerserkButton Messing with his computer or his girl]] have been shown to bring it out of him.

* ClingyJealousGirlfriend: Whitley