Sitcom sets tone for new era in TV
DTHURSDAY APRIL 28 2016 O YOU remember the ’90s sitcom, World? It was
A Different one of those shows that aired when was at
The Cosby Show its peak. The success of Bill Cosby’s
The Cosby was largely due to the fact that it Show portrayed African-Americans in a way that US TV had never done before. We had a middle-class African-American family who lived, not in the projects, but the suburbs, and the adults had decent jobs. This was a welcome change to earlier sitcoms like
where Sanford & Son blacks were portrayed as poor.
The Cosby was considered Show inspirational to minorities all over the world.
Then came A Different World with a different perspective. Starring Lisa Bonet, Jasmine Guy and Marisa Tomei, the sitcom addressed issues that
shied The Cosby Show away from. These included racism, classism and the Equal Rights Amendment. In fact, in one episode, the writers went out on a limb and penned a story about HIV/ Aids.
Now, you need to remember that this was in the early ’90s, when Aids was still a taboo. It was a time when, thanks to a lack of information, people were afraid to talk about it. The LA Lakers basketball legend, Magic Johnson, discovered he had HIV around that time and had to retire because the NBA players were hesitant to play with him.
With that background, A
was Different World exactly that: a different voice, a different perspective to what was then showing on TV.
This sitcom might have been funny to the untrained eye, but if you looked closer you could see what the producers were after. Although the cast was mostly black, they thought it best to also have a white character, played by Tomei, to bring in the white-onblack (or vice versa) dynamics.
A Different World paved the way for people like Spike Lee and Lee Daniels to voice their opinions about the social injustices in the US through film.
With Cosby almost being obliterated from the history books, thanks to those sexual assault allegations, the cast of A Different get to be in the World limelight as inspiring some of the US’s influential people.
A Different World airs from May 5 at 12.10pm on Sony Channel (DStv channel 127).