History YMMV / ADifferentWorld

* CrowningMomentOfFunny: Whitley's crush on Creator/DenzelWashington was a running gag and was promptly lampshaded [[https://youtu.be/oRZoEC5cu6E out-universe.]]

* LaserGuidedKarma: Whitley kisses Dwayne while he's still dating Kinu (among her other attempts to split them apart) and this leads to them breaking up. Much later, Dwayne goes on a dinner date with another girl after he and Whitley have a falling out, leading to her calling off their engagement and eventually becoming engaged to Byron. And then she cheats on Byron by sleeping with Dwayne, which, in part, leads to her calling off her wedding to Byron and marrying Dwayne immediately after instead.

** Creator/MarisaTomei was a member of the main cast of Season 1 as TokenWhite Maggie Lauten, five years before winning an Oscar for ''Film/MyCousinVinny''.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Is Dwayne a [[HenpeckedHusband henpecked boyfriend or a borderline emotionally abusive jerk? Granted, Whitley could be very bitchy and annoying, but nearly all of the things he did to break her out of that were downright cruel--forcing her to not speak for a whole day because he's tired of her incessant yammering? The first thing she said when she could talk again should have been, "It's over." Let's not forget cheating on her the night before their engagement party and in all subsequent arguments, blaming '''''her''''' for it and acting like she was the one in the wrong for daring to be upset about it and breaking up with him.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Dwayne comes across as a borderline abusive jerk. Granted, Whitley could be very bitchy and annoying, but nearly all of the things he did to break her out of that were downright cruel--forcing her to not speak for a whole day because he's tired of her incessant yammering? The first thing she said when she could talk again should have been, "It's over."

* CrowningMomentOfFunny: Whitley's crush on Creator/DenzelWashington was a running gag and was promptly lampshades [[https://youtu.be/oRZoEC5cu6E out-universe.]]

* LaserGuidedKarma: Whitley kisses Dwayne while he's still dating Kinu (among her other attempts to split them apart) and this leads to them breaking up. Much later, Dwayne goes on a dinner date with another girl after he and Whitley have a falling out, leading to her calling off their engagement.

* CompositeCharacter: Freddie combines Denise's free-spirited worldliness and lackadaisical nature with Maggie's gabbiness and more serious attitude towards academics and social/political matters. Ironically, she's bi-racial and joined the cast almost immediately after both Lisa Bonet and Marisa Tomei left.

** Were Dwayne and Whitley really that conflicted over each other that they couldn't admit their still very much alive love until the wedding was taking place? Or were they just playing "chicken" with each other's hearts the whole time to see who would break down first, with poor Byron caught in the middle?

* 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 {{Casanova}} and [[AllMenArePerverts pervert]].

** Were Dwayne and Whitley really that conflicted over each other that they couldn't admit their still very much alive love until the wedding was taking place? Or were they just playing "chicken" with each other's hearts the whole time to see who would break down first, with poor Byron caught in the middle?

* 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 sexist [[TheCassanova Cassanova]] and [[ThePervert pervert]].

* 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 sexist, womanizing playboy who likes to spy on his female co-tenants...when they're getting in or out of the shower/bathtub.

** She also inherits Jaleesa as a dorm mate and Whitley as a pain-in-the-butt.

* TookALevelInJerkass: Dwayne and Ron started out as couple of goofy, somewhat weird, but all-around nice guys; 3 seasons in sees Dwayne treating Whitley far worse than he ever would have treated Denise Huxtable after they become an OfficialCouple while Ron becomes a sexist, womanizing playboy.

** "Dwhitley" shippers see Kinu as jealous and clingy during her relationship with Dwayne, while others would say she's just reacting to the fact that Whitley can't take a hint and leave them be. To be fair to the latter argument, Whitley didn't start taking Dwayne's feelings for her anywhere near seriously until after he'd gotten over her nonsense and started dating Kinu, while Julian, Whitley's other love interest at the time, didn't reciprocate her affections as much as she'd hoped.

** "Dwhitley" shippers see Kinu as jealous and clingy during her relationship with Dwayne, while others would say she's just reacting to the fact that Whitley can't take a hint and leave them be. To be fair to the latter argument, Whitley didn't start taking Dwayne's feelings for her anywhere near seriously until after he'd gotten over her nonsense and started dating Kinu, and her love interest at the time, Julian, didn't reciprocate her affections as she'd hoped.

** "Dwhitley" shippers see Kinu as jealous and clingy during her relationship with Dwayne, while others would say she's just reacting to the fact that Whitley can't take a hint and leave them be. To be fair to the latter argument, Whitley didn't start taking Dwayne's feelings for her anywhere near seriously until after he'd gotten over her nonsense and started dating Kinu, and her love interest at the time, Julian, didn't reciprocate her affections as she'd hoped.

** Debbie Allen directed 83 episodes and served as a producer. Allen is best known for playing Lydia Grant in ''Film/{{Fame}}''.

* CompositeCharacter: Freddie combines Denise's free-spirited worldliness with Maggie's more serious attitude towards academics and social/political matters. Ironically, she's bi-racial and joined the cast almost immediately after both Lisa Bonet and Marisa Tomei left.