Thoughts on The Cosby Show and A Different World

 

via Tenor

"If you're going to spend the rest of your life trying to make your mother proud, then it sounds to me like the rest of your life is what it would take."

One of my favorite Thoughts On experiences was watching A Different World reinvent itself. We all know the folklore, right? That the show was so insipid, it might as well not have been set at a historically Black college, Hillman. As 1988 progressed, Lisa Bonet, Marisa Tomei and members of the behind the scenes staff were out, and producer-director Debbie Allen was very much in, along with Charnele Brown, Cree Summer and some simmering romances. Meanwhile, in the half-hour leading up to World, The Cosby Show had Cliff & Clair Huxtable (Bill Cosby and Phylicia Rashad) were adjusting to their own different world, of being grandparents. Sondra (Sabrina La Beauf) and Elvin (Geoffrey Owens) have a surprise for their family. She gives birth to twins, Nelson and Winnie. Imagine a show in 2021 having baby characters named Joe and Jill.

*Clair and Francine Tibideaux (Marcella Lowery) are outside the hospital nursery*

"Francine, tell the truth: didn't our grandmothers look older than we do?"

"Yes. Much older."

"See? You don't look like a grandma to me."

"And you don't look like a grandma to me."

"I looked in the mirror this morning and saw nothing of a grandma."

"Out in the parking lot, two construction workers whistled at me."

"Well, of course, they did. We're young in our lives, aren't we?"

"Very young. And I'm looking better every day."

I can't remember the exact episode, but at one point in World, an African emigrant said he had never known women like Whitley (Jasmine Guy) exist. The punchline is that Dwayne (Kadeem Hardison) says everyone else felt the same way. To me, the Cosbyverse's USP is the idea that not only do privileged, upwardly mobile Blacks exist, but there are opportunities for prominence. I kept that in mind as I watched the Huxtables and Tibideauxs share their dissatisfaction that Elvin dropped out of medical school, or earlier in "The Birth," when Cliff is impressed with A+ college student Howard (Reno Wilson), or even earlier. In "Bookworm." Theo (Malcolm Jamal-Warner), Vanessa (Tempestt Bledsoe) and Rudy (Keshia Knight Pulliam) stay over at Sondra and Elvin's apartment, complaining about things like it being on the fifth floor in a noisy building, having to use a toaster oven to make pizzas and the lousy, previously abandoned TV set. Sondra and Elvin point out that it's not like they're going to be permanently slumming, but it's still pretty clear where Cosby's sympathies lie. Elvin says Sondra must love him, since she gave up all of the Huxtable home's comforts.

While Sondra gives birth, Theo and girlfriend Justine (Michelle Thomas) study with Howard and girlfriend Julia (Naomi Campbell). Theo's attracted to Julia. Justine seethes about this, but doesn't take it out on Julia. In fact, the two young women find common ground when they complain about history failing to preserve the insight of brilliant female philosophers. The rug is also pulled out from under Cliff in "Bookworm." He's the first man to attend a meeting of Clair's book club. The other husbands, etc. were invited but didn't show up. Cliff surprises Clair by having actually read the book. His insight is impressive at first, until Cliff makes the fatal error of claiming that women have a subconscious need to be rescued. He digs the hole deeper by suggesting that women are on the same level of children. I suspect Cliff's probably not going to attend any more club meetings. Back in "The Birth," Howard reveals to Theo that Julia's attracted to intelligence. It's why he's been knocking himself out to do so well in school. Howard also admits that he's not sure if he wants to commit to Julia. Here comes the punchline: Howard's hesitancy has Theo doubting his intelligence.

Our last Cosby episode is "If the Dress Fits, Wear It," where Clair wants to lose five pounds in six days. She also wants to keep it a secret from Cliff. No such luck. Knowing what we know now, I grimaced at the sight of Cliff's excitement when he walked in on an exhausted, barely conscious Clair. He tries to tempt her with Mexican food, which is the setup for a prolonged bit with Cosby doing a stereotypical voice. Clair not only diets, she attends intense exercise classes and receives personal attention from Emma "The Bonecrusher" (Debbie Allen). While it's fun to see real-life sisters Phylicia and Debbie opposite each other, I think the latter was of more value to World. I watched two episodes from before World's big reboot and two from after. The first two included "Mr. Hillman," where Dwayne faces off against Whitley in a beauty pageant. Both lose in a landslide, but Dwayne wins respect from Denise Huxtable (Bonet), not to mention a greater understanding of what women have to go through when they're objectified. Whitley gets confident enough to insist on not being expected to follow in the paths of her mother, her father's mother, Aunt Francine and Cousin Alicia.

"Denise is summer, now and forever/If only I could have her, I would leave her never.”

In light of my feelings that World ended up devoting too much attention to Dwayne and Whitley's courtship, it's funny to watch her nearly move in with him in "All's Fair." Whitley has relocated from her dorm room, the site of round-the-clock make out sessions between Kim (Brown) and Robert (Brian Wesley Thomas). Whitley agreed to a roommate, not a roommate and a playmate, she complains to Jaleesa (Dawnn Lewis). Luckily, Kim and Whitley come to their senses, but not before Dwayne, Robert and roommate Randall (Maurice Davis) do dueling Cosby impressions and Walter (Sinbad) teases Dwayne by exposing his briefs. Knowing what I know now, that Dwayne and Whitley got married, it's funny that Whitley's amused by Dwayne's ashy knees. Back in "If Only for One Night," Dwayne and Denise go on their first and only date. She thinks it will be platonic, but everyone else is skeptical. It's the end of the school year, and anything can happen. But tell that to Whitley, moping over not getting a summer internship with Couture magazine. She gives Dwayne the money to take Denise out before admitting to both of them that they're her best friends. Later, Dwayne recites his poem to Denise and they dance to Louis Armstrong's version of "Dream a Little Dream of Me" before kissing. In short, if anything happened between the Ds, it really was only for the night.

Finally, we have "Some Enchanted Late Afternoon." As I've mentioned, there's unpredictability throughout World's second and third seasons. For example, Freddie (Cree Summer) has just as much chance of ending up with Dwayne as Whitley does. In this episode, the focus is on Jaleesa and Walter. Their responsibilities with the dorms may allow for playful sparring, but things have also unmistakably changed. Walter admits to Lettie (Mary Alice) that she's no longer "Jaleesa!" but "Jaleesa." She also has a gift-giving boyfriend, but that doesn't stop Jaleesa from agreeing to go on another of those ostensibly platonic dates. It includes Walter bribing a waiter for two orders of lobster diavolo and concludes with increasingly serious dancing to "Me and Mrs. Jones." Again, I know how this will play out. Jaleesa and Walter stay involved for a few seasons before he/Sinbad departs and she marries Col. Taylor (Glynn Turman) before Lewis departs. But if you were watching "Afternoon" back in 1988, you might have the same mixed emotions as Jaleesa does. Confused, touched, defensive and more than a little delighted. Lewis did a great job with this episode.

"I just don't know about this 'grandma' business. They should think of another name for us. Something like 'second mother,' or 'mother once removed.'"

"'Experienced mother.'"

"'Solid gold mother'!"

"How 'bout 'Mother: the sequel'?"

"When an ugly problem rears its head, we just lob it off!"

Thoughts:

-- "Do you have the bags packed, honey?" "Yes, dad, the bag's in the trunk. Elvin packed it the day he found out I was pregnant."

-- Awards Watch: The Cosby Show received only one major Emmy nomination in 1988, for Eileen Heckart's performance as Rudy's health-neglecting friend. The following year, Sammy Davis Jr. also scored a nod for a guest spot. World's two most-prominent Emmy nominations (of only three total) were also for guest actors, Diahann Carroll for her first appearance as Marion Gilbert and Whoopi Goldberg for the AIDS episode.

-- Ratings Roundup: The 1988-89 season marked the end of Cosby's Nielsen supremacy. Gaps were fairly narrow for the week of December 12-18. You had Cosby leading with a 25.9, followed by A Very Brady Christmas with a 25.1, World with a 24.2 and Roseanne with a 22.9.

-- Behind the Camera: Jay Sandrich, Cosby's most prolific director, helmed both "Bookworm" and "Dress," written by Janet Leahy and John Markus & Carmen Finestra, respectively. Markus & Finestra teamed with Gary Kott to write "Birth," directed by Tony Singletary. Singletary also directed "Night" on World, which was written by Susan Fales-Hill. "Hillman" was directed by Matthew Diamond and written by Margo Kaufman. "Afternoon" and "Fair," were both directed by Debbie Allen (World's most prolific director) and both written by Rob Edwards.

-- Hey, It's ...!: Angela Bassett and S. Epatha Merkerson play two of Clair's fellow club members ("Bookworm"). Steven Culp is a father-to-be who forgot to bring in his wife and Kasi Lemmons is one of Sondra's nurses ("The Birth"). Yvonne Warden, who starred in Kool and the Gang's "Joanna" video, also takes Emma's aerobics class ("Dress"). Kim Wayans is among the students catcalling Dwayne ("Hillman").

-- Hey, It's 1988!: Whitley, upset about her and Kim no longer being able to live together, plans to tell Lettie, her daddy and Oprah. She later declares that the men's decor is too Spuds MacKenzie for her tastes ("Fair"). Jaleesa, meanwhile, spent her summer installing cable TV for New Jerseyites ("Night").

-- Ain't no party like a Sondra and Elvin party: Since the TV's unimpressive and the toaster oven pizzas have to be cooked one at a time, he suggests charades or making up limericks ("Bookworm"). 

-- Dwayne's discomfort with being objectified is the main focus of "Hillman," but I still can't get over the patronizing comment after Whitley's speech. "Not only beautiful. She talks, too."

-- I find it interesting that Cosby didn't opt for Cliff, Clair and the others in "Bookworm" to discuss an actual novel, like World did later in its run with Waiting to Exhale. Googling didn't turn up any information on a book named McArthur about a senator. I guess if Clair belonged to a music club, then we'd get authenticity.

-- Speaking of literature, I'm sorry to now mention the B plot in "Fair." Freddie, editor of Hillman's literary review, alienates the student poets with overzealous "improvements." Football player Winston "The Meat Locker" (Jaime Cardriche) doesn't appreciate that his work on an ant is now "obscure, self-indulgent and stupid." Walter: "And it doesn't rhyme."

-- "I can see the milk of human kindness is curdling here."

-- Next: A Saturday Night Live selection. On deck: St. Elsewhere and China Beach.