A Different World

The TV series A Different World has loomed large in the culture since ending in the ‘90s, and now school is back in session in a new sequel series on Netflix. The show welcomes a new generation of students to the fictional HBCU Hillman College, and brings back notable alumni like Whitley Gilbert (Jasmine Guy) and Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison). And while the world is a lot different than it was 30-plus years ago, in a lot of ways, it’s also kind of the same. If you’re looking for more nostalgia, Check out these episodes: ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ is a comfy nostalgia trip https://www.npr.org/2026/05/01/nx-s1-5805826/the-devil-wears-prada-2-is-a-comfy-nostalgia-trip ‘Practical Magic 2’ wants to cast a spell of '90s nostalgia https://www.npr.org/2026/09/11/nx-s1-5965548/practical-magic-2-wants-to-cast-a-spell-of-90s-nostalgia How you feel about 'Bel-Air' may depend upon how you feel about CW dramas https://www.npr.org/2022/03/07/1084988011/how-you-feel-about-bel-air-may-depend-upon-how-you-feel-about-cw-dramas Connect with Pop Culture Happy Hour: Letterboxd https://letterboxd.com/nprpopculture/ / Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pchh Our weekly newsletter https://www.npr.org/newsletter/pop-culture Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org http://plus.npr.org/. See pcm.adswizz.com https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy

• 0:00Speaker 00

  This message comes from Capella University. That spark you feel, that's your drive for more. Capella University's FlexPath learning format lets you earn your degree at your pace without putting life on pause. Learn more at capella.edu.

• 0:15Speaker 01

  If you saw the original, as much as I saw the original, there will be notable lines that come back. There are notable references to-

• 0:25Speaker 02

  Please, baby, please, baby, please.

• 0:27Speaker 01

  Yes, OK. Dang dang dang dang dang. You know.

• 0:35Speaker 00

  A Different World has loomed large in the culture since ending in the 90s. It's been endlessly memed, referenced, and streamed. So it was probably inevitable that school would find its way back in session in a new spin on Netflix. In this version, the next generation of future Hillman grads includes the offspring of notable alumni Whitley Gilbert, Dwayne Wayne, and Ron Johnson. And while the world's a lot different than it was 30-plus years ago, in a lot of ways, it's also kind of the same. I'm Aisha Harris, and joining me today on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour is journalist and host of the movie review podcast Seated, Trevel Anderson. Hello, Trevel.

• 1:12Speaker 01

  Hello, hello.

• 1:14Speaker 00

  And also with us is entertainment journalist and contributor Shar Jossel. Welcome back, Shar. It's great to have you.

• 1:20Speaker 03

  Thank you for having me, Ayesha.

• 1:22Speaker 00

  Oh, I am so happy to have you both here to talk about this. This is, you're the perfect people to talk about this with. So, so excited. A Different World is a sequel to the original series, which aired from 1987 to 1993 and was a spinoff of The Cosby Show. In A Different World 2.0, Hillman's fictional HBCU campus welcomes a new batch of students, including Deborah, played by Malia Joy Moon.

• 1:48Speaker 02

  This is a great school, and I am going to make the best of it. Prove to Nina Whitely that, you know, I can crush it and enter my full studious season. I'm talking full rebrand.

• 2:00Speaker 01

  Mm.

• 2:01Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm. She's privileged, a little flighty, but determined to carve her own path. She's also the youngest daughter of college sweethearts Whitley and Dwayne, played by Jasmine Guy and Kadeem Hardison.

• 2:13Speaker 04

  We agreed to loosen the reins on Deborah. Give her some space, so we gonna honor that, right? OK, there we go, team. With my dead body. I heard that.

• 2:25Speaker 00

  I love hearing their voices again. Deborah and her peers deal with the trials of early adulthood, and meanwhile, Hillman College is facing hefty budget cuts. Dwayne steps in as interim president in the wake of an administrative scandal. A Different World is streaming on Netflix. And Trevel, I'm gonna start with you. Look, if anyone's listened to me or followed me for some time now, they all know that I have strong feelings about reboots and sequels that don't feel necessary. So I'm curious, what was your anticipation for the show? And give us your first impressions.

• 2:59Speaker 01

  Listen, Ayesha and Shar, I have been waiting for Whitley Gilbert Wayne to be back on my television for so long, OK? I have seen this show entirely too many times. I was teething for this, you know, feening for this show. I really enjoyed it. I think it has high replay value in particular. I'm excited to tell people about it. As an HBCU graduate, I think that it, you know, it is interesting, you know, to see things rendered on screen that feel super familiar, but also feel super fresh, right?

• 3:44Speaker 01

  Beyond, you know, my experience in school 20 some years ago, right? I really enjoyed it. It was a great time for me, seeing these characters, you know, evolve, talking about the parent characters, right, of all of these young folks. And then also seeing the young kids kind of, you know, take evolutions on their parents' characters in really interesting ways.

• 4:08Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I assume that you, when you were first watching A Different World, you had not gone to an HBCU yet. And so I want to hear more about the, like, what it's like to be kind of sandwiched in between that era and this era. But first, Shar.

• 4:24Speaker 03

  Yeah, you know, I was apprehensive when this was first announced, that they were gonna be doing this. I was like, do we really need this? And I'm tired of reboot culture as well. Like, I'm ready for some fresh ideas. But I must say, I found this show incredibly charming. I'm also HBCU alum.

• 4:40Speaker 00

  OK.

• 4:41Speaker 03

  And I always say that HBCUs are some of the most diverse campuses you'll ever step onto. People tend to think that, you know, we're kind of like monolithic in blackness, but no, no, no, no, no. You go to HBCU, you see everybody's a little different. And so I found it to be just incredibly charming. I don't know if I was just going through it when I was binging this, but it made me, I got so emotional seeing of-

• 5:05Speaker 01

  Same, girl.

• 5:06Speaker 03

  You know, the characters back. Yes, like, I was, I was shedding a little tear seeing, like, Dwayne and Whitley and everybody come back and these evolved characters. And so I thought that it was just really part of the course. They kept the spirit and the heart of the original series while, you know, with tackling some of, like, the social issues of the day. And I loved it.

• 5:26Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah. Ooh, OK, this is, this is fun. I love that we have two HBCU grads here. I am not an HBCU grad, but I grew up watching this show. I loved it. I still love it. And I was also kind of skeptical because I was like, I don't know, do we need this? Like, what are we gonna do here? Why can't we just have a brand-new show that doesn't have a connection, but that's still set at HBCU? Whatever, it's fine. I was engaged by, like, the fourth episode. I was like, OK, I'm into it. Like, it won me over. I do agree with you, Shar, that, like, it maintains the spirit of the show while updating and still feeling current and relevant in many ways.

• 6:06Speaker 00

  I do wonder, like, how do we feel about the transition from multi-cam sitcom to single cam? Like, this is something that Belair also did, although Belair was kind of, like, completely sort of reimagining the show. It's like, it wasn't really a comedy anymore. It was more of a sort of, you know, young adult drama. Whereas here, this is still very comical. Like, there are still moments. Was it easy for you to shift from that mood to this one for the show?

• 6:33Speaker 03

  You know, I think for me, it wasn't too much of a challenge and because it wasn't that distracting, because the entire cast is fresh faces. And so it felt like a new show, because it is, but it was not a distraction enough for me to be salty about it, you know? Because I think I've just grown accustomed to the format of single cam now. The new format did not take me out of, of the story at all. Like, it wasn't distracting.

• 7:00Speaker 01

  Me either, yeah. And maybe because we've just seen so many, you know, single cam shows. But I do think that it looks like a show today, which I think will be very important for the new folks who are introduced to this series, this world, these characters. I also think it's the kind of show that's written in a way to where, if you saw the original, as much as I saw the original, there will be, you know, notable lines that come back. There are notable references to-

• 7:37Speaker 02

  Please, baby, please, baby, please.

• 7:39Speaker 01

  Yes, OK. Dang dang dang dang dang. You know?

• 7:45Speaker 01

  And I love that for us, but I don't think it takes away, or that if you're not familiar with it, that it will take you out of the experience of what this world at Hillman College is.

• 7:58Speaker 00

  Yeah. Well, OK, let's get into these new characters, because there's, there's a lot. I think for me, it was sometimes hard to juggle all of them.

• 8:06Speaker 01

  Oh, yes.

• 8:07Speaker 00

  We've got Deborah, and there's a fun sort of running gag about how people don't know how to pronounce her name.

• 8:12Speaker 02

  Thank you, God, you saved my life. Here you go. Also, it's Deborah.

• 8:16Speaker 04

  Oh, OK, three syllables, Beyonce, we get it.

• 8:20Speaker 00

  I'll be honest, I haven't met too many Deborahs or any, ever. I know, I'm sure they exist.

• 8:25Speaker 01

  But Whitley Gilbert Wayne's daughter would be a Deborah.

• 8:29Speaker 03

  Absolutely. Deborah Wayne.

• 8:31Speaker 00

  Yeah. Yeah.

• 8:34Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah. Well, OK, so we've got Deborah, and then we've also got Shaquille, played by Cornell Young IV. And, you know, they had their little on-again, off-again relationship. But then you also got Rashida, who's played by Elijah Kai. And she becomes Deborah's roommate. I feel like she's kind of the analog of Kimberly Reese, who was played by Charnell Brown. You've got Amir. And actually, this is where it feels very modern, right? Because Amir is one of the queer characters on this show. And he's played by Jordan Aaron Hall. Let's talk about him and how they kind of incorporate that. Yeah, yeah, let's. I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

• 9:17Speaker 01

  Well, I will start by saying one of the things that I feel like is somewhat missing from the original Hillman College is, you know, an exploration of the experiences of the queer LGBTQ characters and people that would be part of this collegiate space, right? I really loved that for this reboot, this continuation, Amir is one of the main characters. He's openly gay and queer. He's sleeping around with everybody, just like, you know what I mean? Like, listen, he's having a regular

• 9:57Speaker 00

  College experience.

• 9:58Speaker 01

  Kind of collegiate experience. And we don't often see that. You know what I mean? Particularly in a black college context. I love the character. And I think it takes so many twists and turns throughout the season in a really interesting way for this coed space.

• 10:17Speaker 03

  But there he's still part of the course for HBCUs. If you know, you know.

• 10:21Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 10:21Speaker 03

  I think that Amir, I knew Amir was queer-coded as soon as I saw that damn septum piercing. I said, wait a minute. But I do love that he's a part of the main cast. You know, college can be a very binary experience. There's the women's dorms, there's the men's dorms. But I enjoyed watching his brotherhood unfold with the boys in the men's dorm.

• 10:42Speaker 05

  My DMs runneth over, but all eggplants and no effort. I think I need to get off of HBCU. So what we need to do is get you out in the streets. So you just want me to go out and approach somebody IRL? That's suggestive of your lack of social boundaries. I will be your wingman.

• 10:58Speaker 03

  It was one of those things where you can tell the conversation had shifted generationaly, where it's not a big deal for Amir to be gay. It's not a big deal, even though there was one scene where he mentions his sex life. And people were like, pause, pause. But I do feel like that's part of

• 11:13Speaker 01

  The collegiate experience, absolutely.

• 11:15Speaker 03

  It is, it is.

• 11:16Speaker 00

  Well, I didn't realize pause had come back as a phrase. I was like, I haven't heard this in a minute.

• 11:21Speaker 03

  Are you kidding me? The men that live in the Northeast region, it never went away.

• 11:26Speaker 00

  Look.

• 11:26Speaker 03

  The men in New York and New Jersey, it never went away.

• 11:30Speaker 00

  I guess this is my circle, my bubble I live in. I was like, I have not heard anyone say pause in a good minute. I loved Amir. Amir was probably my favorite character, to be honest. Like, I feel like he

• 11:41Speaker 03

  Really? He's up there.

• 11:43Speaker 00

  I feel like of the new ones,

• 11:44Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 11:45Speaker 00

  he seemed the most interesting to me in terms of how he was navigating his love life. But then also, you know, he has a past that he's on parole, basically, for something that he did before he got to campus. He just says, like, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time or something like that. So it's following him. And I would love if there were to be a season two. And as of this taping, they haven't officially announced that there will be. But like, I would love to see a little bit more exploration of like, what that means to be a student on campus who's also dealing with legal issues. Like, that's a very real thing that people deal with. I did, though, question about halfway through the show. It's like, does he have any other queer friends? Like, I love seeing him completely integrated with everyone else. But also, I was just like,

• 12:29Speaker 00

  it seems strange that there would not be any other queer people that he would have in his life in the same way. Now, it does kind of come up with Jalen, Elijah J. Roberts' character, who, there's like a love triangle there between him and then Hazel, who's another member of the friend group, who's played by Kennedy Reese. But it's like romantic, right? Like, I would love to see just like more queer friendship integrated into the show in a way.

• 12:54Speaker 01

  And particularly on an HBCU campus. OK, I'm gonna let you know. OK, you're not walking around by yourself. And I'll leave it at that.

• 13:02Speaker 00

  You find each other.

• 13:03Speaker 03

  You're not an anomaly. But also, I think that it speaks to year one.

• 13:08Speaker 00

  Sure.

• 13:08Speaker 03

  I feel like, at least in my experience, very much your freshman year. I feel like you either gravitate towards people that are like you or you're the singular character in a cast of cis heck people. Yeah.

• 13:21Speaker 01

  Fair point, fair point. I also think there is, you know, because his character is the houseless character, right? And is navigating that piece of the experience as well. I'm OK giving a little grace, OK, for season one. But Felicia Pride, y'all know what y'all need to do for season two, OK?

• 13:45Speaker 00

  Yes. Well, we've got a lot more to talk about. We'll be right back after this break.

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• 15:07Speaker 00

  We are back. I also want to talk about sort of how the show tackles social issues. Because that was part of what made A Different World so special. And many of the episodes, remember, are the big, like, Dean Cain popping up as like a racist

• 15:26Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 15:27Speaker 00

  white guy and discussing racism. The episode with the LA riots and all of that stuff. And this show, I think, like, it kind of sprinkles it in a little bit more. And this is also, again, talking about format. When you think of the original series, that was an era where it was like situational comedy. And yes, there is continuity, but not quite in the same way that this show. This show is way more like a typical show we would see today. But it does have at least, I would say, one very special episode where Hillman is one of several HBCU schools that have been threatened with bomb threats. And so a bunch of students have to hunker down in the pit. I love seeing the new version of the pit now.

• 16:10Speaker 00

  It's like, which is the, you know, the place where everyone hangs out. They get their food. I think this is where the show, where I think it was trying to pay homage to that era of very special episodes that didn't quite flow for me. It felt like the most didactic episode. Maybe I'm being particular about it, but it just felt like, oh, man, I feel like it's 1993 again and not in the best way. But let's hear a little moment of it.

• 16:33Speaker 02

  It's crazy how much tuition we pay for death threats.

• 16:36Speaker 08

  I thought that this was the one place we could be protected from racism.

• 16:40Speaker 09

  Hey, man, I don't mean to puncture the collective chakra, but context matters. Black learning spaces have always been seen as dangerous. Not just because of what students do, but because of who you might become.

• 16:53Speaker 00

  That last voice was, of course, Cree Summer, who returns as Freddie.

• 16:57Speaker 01

  The legend and icon, OK?

• 16:59Speaker 00

  The legend and icon. She is still woo-woo, and we love her. We love her for it. But as soon as that, like, score started dropping in, when she's dropping off, like, boom. Black people have been, I was just like, oh, this feels, I don't know. That's my opinion. I'm curious how the show weave the social interactions into it. Like, how did that work for you? Does it translate in a way?

• 17:23Speaker 03

  For me, it did. I mean, and even speaking to the comedic point that you made. For me, I know you mentioned that Amir was your fave. For me, the breakout star was Rashida.

• 17:33Speaker 01

  Oh, yes.

• 17:34Speaker 03

  Tashina Arnold's real life daughter. Like, they have so-

• 17:37Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 17:38Speaker 00

  Oh, my goodness, I did, okay.

• 17:39Speaker 01

  That's a tiny Tashina if I ever seen one.

• 17:42Speaker 03

  Tiny Tashina.

• 17:43Speaker 00

  I mean, I knew they looked the same. I knew they looked the same, but I was like, I don't want to assume. I did not even bother to look that up.

• 17:49Speaker 03

  No, that is her real life daughter, and it's funny that Tashina plays her mother in the show. They have some of the same, similar cadences, and they speak the same, like, but she's still her own person. So for me, she was the breakout. I think that beyond the bomb threat episode, because that was, of course, very important. It speaks to, I immediately thought of when Charlie Kirk was murdered by a white man. How white supremacists started harassing HBCU campuses, like, in retaliation, which was very strange. But these are real life issues that I think that people are dealing with, even with the money missing. And when I think about, like, DeBora's ADHD storyline, when I think about, like,

• 18:30Speaker 03

  the way that they wove in certain things that I feel like, in particular, black communities are speaking about, specifically around, like, millennials and Gen Z versus, like, boomers and Gen X. I think that they did a fairly good job. I will agree with you, though, the bomb threat episode, that scene that we just played was a little, it was a little preachy, but I feel like it's gonna land with who it's supposed to land with.

• 18:54Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 18:55Speaker 03

  Because it then explores, because what Freddie was saying is the absolute truth. Black learning spaces have always been viewed as, you know, as a threat. Anywhere black people are gathered, you know, could be potentially attacked, as we've seen throughout history. And so, overall, when I zoom out and look at how they tackle sexuality, or even the diversity on campus, like, the gay guy and the super Christian girl are besties. Like, that's real life HBCU-

• 19:21Speaker 01

  It sure is.

• 19:22Speaker 03

  -type politic. And so I think that they did a great job of kind of weaving these stories together, and they weren't being too finger waggy about it, if that makes sense.

• 19:31Speaker 01

  Yeah, and I think that was intentional. I do think the reason why we feel like there's only one very special episode is because, you know, for example, they tried to weave sexual health, right, into the RA giving some feedback, you know, to the kids.

• 19:50Speaker 10

  Cuffing season may have claimed a few victims. It's okay. If you have any reason to worry, go to the student health center. Get tested. Get treated if you have to. All right? And in the meantime, I'm gonna need all y'all to strap up.

• 20:02Speaker 00

  On cuffing season.

• 20:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, on cuffing season, as opposed to, right, back in the day, right? I remember Tisha Campbell and Whoopi Goldberg, right? On a very special episode, talking about, you know, HIV/AIDS. And it was a little preachy, right? It was very on the nose in terms of what it was putting forward. And perhaps that style of storytelling doesn't work as much today. And I wonder if that inspired this, like, we want to have an homage to the very special episode, but we don't want it to, you know, feel like we're wagging the finger, like Char says.

• 20:45Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 20:45Speaker 01

  But I do feel like it felt accurate and appropriate when I think about what HBCUs are navigating today, right?

• 20:55Speaker 00

  Yeah, absolutely.

• 20:55Speaker 01

  And there's a number, right, of other, other things. Now, there is some, you know, the fact that all of the old heads basically come back in various different ways.

• 21:07Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 21:08Speaker 01

  Everybody and their mama, Ayesha, from the original, which I love, and also-

• 21:14Speaker 00

  It's a bit much.

• 21:15Speaker 01

  Okay, now.

• 21:16Speaker 00

  Yeah, well, I mean, they get away with it somewhat because one of the episodes is centered around homecoming. And look, homecoming is when alumni will show up and show up.

• 21:26Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 21:27Speaker 00

  I have not gone back to the school I went to in 20 years, but you know what? There are people I know who do. If you have that connection with your alma mater, that's a thing. But yeah, it is, it is very convenient that in the first season, they got almost everyone to come back.

• 21:42Speaker 03

  Yeah, and even the roundtable scene, when they're talking to President Wayne, you know, everybody is there. That was, to me, that was one of my favorite scenes. When they were discussing the money and, you know, and Lena's back.

• 21:56Speaker 00

  Lena's back.

• 21:56Speaker 01

  Everybody. I loved it, though. I loved it. And the ways that they incorporated those folks, right? Yeah.

• 22:03Speaker 03

  Yeah, Charmaine is still gossipy with Gina. Gina, maybe-

• 22:06Speaker 00

  Played by A.J. Sanders, yeah, yeah.

• 22:08Speaker 03

  Yes, so to have them back, I did enjoy Professor Baptiste. You know, it's Debbie Allen's son in real life, Norm Nixon Jr.

• 22:16Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 22:16Speaker 03

  The one that was canoodling with Freddie.

• 22:18Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, okay. Like, this is just a family affair. It is kind of like, is this what HBCUs are like? Is it just like everyone's coming out?

• 22:27Speaker 01

  Girl, yes. Yes, sir, please.

• 22:29Speaker 03

  It can be. If you know, you know.

• 22:35Speaker 01

  Shout out to the legacies, okay?

• 22:37Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah.

• 22:38Speaker 03

  Oh, God, yeah.

• 22:39Speaker 00

  We've talked about a lot of characters, but like, I do want to kind of bring it back to Whitley and Dwayne, since like, they were sort of like the central couple characters of the entire original show. And here, they have a lot of screen time. Like, at first, it felt like they were trying to handle too many new characters, and then also incorporate Whitley and Dwayne, and then it kind of found its rhythm midway through. And Whitley and Dwayne are having marital issues. And I thought that was a very interesting way to approach this, and a smart way to approach it, because however many years it's been now, like, these are things that couples go through if you manage to last that long. I thought their dynamic, it still felt like true to the spirit of who they were,

• 23:21Speaker 00

  but also, we've all aged, and we know that these things change. Like, how did that storyline play for you? And also just the way that they're incorporating the fact that Dwayne and Whitley are still, like, very much on campus. Like, Dwayne is the interim president, because Jennifer Lewis's character-

• 23:37Speaker 01

  Dean Davenport.

• 23:38Speaker 00

  -doing some shady stuff.

• 23:39Speaker 03

  Iconic, iconic Dean Davenport. And even the reference, like, you're on my list. So I thought that Dwayne and Whitley's storyline around their marriage is pretty part of the course. I feel like I've read about this, I've heard about this. When people become empty nesters, so to speak, no matter how active they are, whether it's on campus or they're at home, it's a new interrogation of the status of the relationship. Like, am I really happy with you, or was I just going along to get along to, you know, raise these babies? And so, I thought that it was realistic, and it also adds a different dynamic to the, you know, this fantasized, romanticized, never-ending love story of Whitley and Dwayne, because there is a reality that they may separate, you know?

• 24:23Speaker 03

  And that does not invalidate the love that was there 30-plus years ago or whatever.

• 24:28Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think it adds something, right, to, it shows, you know, a lot of their mess alongside the young folks' mess. And I think that that, you know, that means that this show then has something for everyone. You know what I mean? Everybody, I think, will be able to see a slice, you know, of themselves, or their lives, or their family members in what we see on the screen. That's a feat to have been able to do. It actually surprised me how much the parents and, you know, the old heads are present. But I appreciated it, you know, having the elder comparison, if you will,

• 25:14Speaker 01

  to some of the stuff that the young folks are dealing with. The elder characters dealt with it when they were on this campus, you know? And so it adds a really interesting kind of familial, you know, texture. But I can see how, like, this first season sets us up potentially for, you know, at least three other seasons, right, as these folks, they matriculate through their institution.

• 25:41Speaker 00

  Yes, yes.

• 25:42Speaker 03

  I mean, it shows the sloppiness as well, in my opinion. As soon as I saw Papa Pope on screen, I'm like, okay, yeah, the older folks can be messy too, and it's something for everyone. Like, I feel like new audiences will gravitate towards these new characters if they have no frame of reference. But those of us who have seen the show, like, I enjoyed every time the old cast was on my screen. I enjoyed every single time. It didn't feel like overkill to me. I loved it. I loved it.

• 26:07Speaker 00

  I also appreciate that they were able to keep Ron's essence as, like, a dork, and also just kind of, I never liked Ron. I never liked Ron. He was always-

• 26:17Speaker 03

  Oh, my God, I have the biggest crush on Ron. Oh, my gosh.

• 26:20Speaker 00

  Really?

• 26:20Speaker 03

  Eee, yuck.

• 26:22Speaker 00

  He was so, everything about, like, you can see how he always had trouble with, well, granted, at one point, he was juggling three women. I don't know.

• 26:30Speaker 03

  That's my problem, Ayesha.

• 26:31Speaker 00

  When we're in college, we don't know better. Look, I've been there. We, like, whatever. But yeah, Ron, Ron is now like, he's a dad, dadager, I guess. Like, he's trying to- And he's just, he cares about the money. He cares about those things. And his kid, Shaquille, is just like, Dad, I want to go to an HBCU.

• 26:50Speaker 11

  Look, I'm trailblazing by coming here. Just give him a chance. We see the lady. I gave him the chance. At least four or five years, seven maybe, of my life. But you're a five-star recruit. Hillman's first, and you need to be treated like it.

• 27:05Speaker 00

  That is, of course, Daryl M. Bell, who plays Ron. I still don't like him. And they didn't try, they didn't try to change him.

• 27:14Speaker 03

  Yeah, they did not. They did not try to sanitize anyone.

• 27:16Speaker 00

  Like, I can see a clear line of Ron in that era to Ron now, and it makes all the sense in the world. That is what really makes this show work so well, is that essence that we've talked about. It's like, everything seems natural, even though we're 30 years removed now. No one has completely changed or done a, there's not been a complete retcon, so.

• 27:38Speaker 01

  Can I say one last thing?

• 27:40Speaker 00

  Yes, please, straight up.

• 27:41Speaker 01

  I was hoping that the new theme song, as recorded by Brandy, would grow on me.

• 27:48Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 27:49Speaker 01

  Because you hear it, you know, at the beginning of every episode.

• 27:53Speaker 00

  But it's not the whole song, though. It's just-

• 27:55Speaker 01

  Thankfully.

• 27:56Speaker 03

  Yes, thankfully, thankfully.

• 27:57Speaker 01

  Respectfully, but thankfully.

• 28:00Speaker 03

  No shade to Brandy, but yes.

• 28:01Speaker 01

  None at all to the legend and the icon herself. It's a little sleepy. It's a little sleepy.

• 28:06Speaker 00

  Yeah, that was what I was trying to say.

• 28:07Speaker 01

  It is a little snooze fest, unfortunately.

• 28:18Speaker 00

  I mean, the Boyz II Men version wasn't that felt kind of like a departure from the Aretha.

• 28:23Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 28:25Speaker 03

  It needed to be Aretha. They could have used, they could have used, in my opinion, they could have recycled the Queen of Soul.

• 28:32Speaker 01

  The thing, yes.

• 28:34Speaker 03

  I would have sat through it each and every, because I couldn't skip past Brandy's. But it is a little sleepy. It's a little too moody for a show that's so funny. I'm glad you touched on that because that is my first note was Brandy doing the theme song. I forgot to talk about it.

• 28:48Speaker 01

  We love you, Brandy, girl.

• 28:49Speaker 00

  We do, we do, but this was.

• 28:51Speaker 01

  It's just too breathy. It's too sleepy.

• 28:55Speaker 00

  Yeah. I also just, I would have appreciated if they kind of like redid the intro, you know, like staged it like the original.

• 29:03Speaker 03

  Ayesha, yes.

• 29:04Speaker 00

  Look at me, wanting some nostalgia.

• 29:07Speaker 03

  No, Ayesha, yes. That would have been so cute. That would have been so cute.

• 29:11Speaker 01

  They still can do it for season two, Ayesha. They can still do it.

• 29:15Speaker 00

  All right. These are our notes. These are our notes. If season two happens.

• 29:19Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 29:20Speaker 03

  I'll consult. Call me.

• 29:21Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 29:25Speaker 00

  Well, that brings us to the end of our show. Char Jocel, Tridell Anderson. Again, I'm just so happy we got to talk about this. Thank you so much for being here.

• 29:34Speaker 01

  Thank you for having us.

• 29:35Speaker 03

  Thank you, Ayesha.

• 29:36Speaker 00

  This episode was produced by Liz Metzger, Kayden Mills, and Mike Katsof, and edited by our showrunner, Jessica Reedy. And Hello, come in provides our theme music. Thanks for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. I'm Aisha Harris. We'll see you all next time.

• 29:55Speaker 07

  Stay tuned for the following announcements and messages from our sponsors.

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