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'Different World' Actor Sued By Family For Mismanaging Father's Estate
'Different World' Actor Sued By Family For Mismanaging Father's Estate
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I saw it on one of my rewatches and didn't think it was that big of a deal...but looking at it slow motion,
It's funny watching people discover later what we saw in real time...she missed the best part when Kinu and Whitley were insulting each other at the party. Whitley was out there talking about Kinu's nose...lol
I saw it on one of my rewatches and didn't think it was that big of a deal...but looking at it slow motion,
I missed it!!!!!
Debbie Allen is a genius...i never knew this was where she was going to take the Maggie character
Maggie and Dwayne??
by Fred Topel
Published on December 2, 2022
2 min read
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Oscar winner Marisa Tomei got her start on A Different World. She was only on the first season as Hillman College student Maggie Lauton. Things worked out for Tomei after A Different World, but her departure from the Cosby Show spinoff was unceremonious.
L-R: Dawnn Lewis, Lisa Bonet, and Marisa Tomei | NBCU Photo Bank
Debbie Allen would produce A Different World from season 2 on. In 2006, she joined her cast for a Television Critics Association panel when the show joined the Nick at Night lineup. Asked about Tomei’s departure, Allen told the truth about how executives froze out the star.
Allen inherited A Different World after a season. The show began in Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet)’s freshman year, but Bonet did not return for the second season. Allen added some new characters like Freddie Brooks (Cree Summer), Kim Reese (Charnele Brown) and Shazza Zulu (Gary Dourdan). She also had ideas for existing ones.
“When I took over the show, I wanted to take every character and expand and explore, as well as add new characters,” Allen said. “That’s when I found Cree, Charnele Brown. I brought in Gary Dordan. Every year we tried to find new faces, and I had great ideas for Marisa Tomei.”
“I thought that she and Kadeem, Dwayne Wayne, would be friends,” Allen said. “We could do an episode where she actually goes home with him for Thanksgiving and it would be Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. And then his momma would not like it, him coming home with a little white girl. And I thought this would be great to show the reverse racism or to show those kind of challenges.”
Related
‘A Different World’: The History-Making Clause Debbie Allen Put in the Cast’s Contracts
“Well, they did not like that idea,” Allen recalled. “I thought it was very progressive. I said, ‘How can you have one white character in an all-black dorm and you don’t deal with that? You should deal with it somehow.’ I mean, unless we’re going to add at least three other people, you know, something. So they weren’t inclined to do anything and so it was the executive of the show’s decision to take her off the show because I really was looking forward to having her and doing something with her.”
Maggie and Dwayne??
A Different World’: Marisa Tomei Was Fired Because Executive Opposed Inter-Racial Dating Story
'A Different World' producer Debbie Allen had big plans for Marisa Tomei in season 2, but an executive objected so much he fired Tomei from the show.by Fred Topel
Published on December 2, 2022
2 min read
Share:Share on Twitter:Share on Facebook:Share via email:Copy link
Oscar winner Marisa Tomei got her start on A Different World. She was only on the first season as Hillman College student Maggie Lauton. Things worked out for Tomei after A Different World, but her departure from the Cosby Show spinoff was unceremonious.
L-R: Dawnn Lewis, Lisa Bonet, and Marisa Tomei | NBCU Photo Bank
Debbie Allen would produce A Different World from season 2 on. In 2006, she joined her cast for a Television Critics Association panel when the show joined the Nick at Night lineup. Asked about Tomei’s departure, Allen told the truth about how executives froze out the star.
Debbie Allen made some changes to ‘A Different World’ in season 2
Allen inherited A Different World after a season. The show began in Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet)’s freshman year, but Bonet did not return for the second season. Allen added some new characters like Freddie Brooks (Cree Summer), Kim Reese (Charnele Brown) and Shazza Zulu (Gary Dourdan). She also had ideas for existing ones.
“When I took over the show, I wanted to take every character and expand and explore, as well as add new characters,” Allen said. “That’s when I found Cree, Charnele Brown. I brought in Gary Dordan. Every year we tried to find new faces, and I had great ideas for Marisa Tomei.”
‘A Different World’ Season 2 Marisa Tomei storyline was provocative
Even in 2006, 13 years after A Different World ended, Allen remembered the stories she never got to do with Maggie and Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison). Dwayne and Whitley (Jasmine Guy) were the show’s will they or won’t they, but Allen would have paired Maggie and Dwayne.“I thought that she and Kadeem, Dwayne Wayne, would be friends,” Allen said. “We could do an episode where she actually goes home with him for Thanksgiving and it would be Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. And then his momma would not like it, him coming home with a little white girl. And I thought this would be great to show the reverse racism or to show those kind of challenges.”
NBC executives pushed Marisa Tomei out
Allen remembers the executives’ resistance to her ideas. Not only didn’t they want Allen to produce that Thanksgiving episode, but they removed Tomei from A Different World over it. Tomei did a few movies immediately after but four years later came My Cousin Vinny.Related
‘A Different World’: The History-Making Clause Debbie Allen Put in the Cast’s Contracts
“Well, they did not like that idea,” Allen recalled. “I thought it was very progressive. I said, ‘How can you have one white character in an all-black dorm and you don’t deal with that? You should deal with it somehow.’ I mean, unless we’re going to add at least three other people, you know, something. So they weren’t inclined to do anything and so it was the executive of the show’s decision to take her off the show because I really was looking forward to having her and doing something with her.”
did the executive get fired or quit? Cause a few seasons later Freddie's white cousin started dating Charlene if I recall correctly.
I'm not sure, but I know in the world of hollywood and in America in general, it's more digestible for a white man to date a black woman than it is for a black man to date a white woman. You see how they had Ross dating Aisha Tyler on Friends, but tell me what black man they had dating Rachel or Phoebe (Phoebe would have been the one dating the brotha IMO cause she had some "thickness" to her
What you said is true, but the dude supposedly said NO interracial relationships should ge in the show.I'm not sure, but I know in the world of hollywood and in America in general, it's more digestible for a white man to date a black woman than it is for a black man to date a white woman. You see how they had Ross dating Aisha Tyler on Friends, but tell me what black man they had dating Rachel or Phoebe (Phoebe would have been the one dating the brotha IMO cause she had some "thickness" to her
To be honest, the whole story seems suspicious. It would be one thing if Marissa was being some sort of diva behind the scenes, which didn't seem to be the case. Why fire her over a nixed storyline?
She talks about the idea towards the end of this clip. If you remember, they had a Christmas episode where Dwayne's mother gave Whitley the cold shoulder the entire time she was at the house. Whitley ends up getting robbed trying to buy Mrs Wayne a stuebling Santa and she finally comes around. I like this version better because i feel like the interracial part may have been a little TOO serious.
‘A Different World’ Sequel Picked Up to Series at Netflix
The "A Different World" sequel series has officially been greenlit at Netflix, Variety has learned.
variety.com
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