Top Ten Guest Stars of A Different World!

80s TV Ladies

"One of the things I love about looking back at 80s television is you get to see some early and amazing young stars and very exciting stunt casting."
It's Guest Stars Galore on 80s TV Ladies! We're taking a nostalgic trip back to the iconic 80s sitcom "A Different World." Susan and Sharon debate -- and celebrate -- the amazing roster of guest stars that walked the halls of Hillman College during the six seasons of A Different World. As one of the only black-centered shows of its time, A Different World was in many ways “the only game in town” for a certain generation of black performers, and under show-runner Debbie Allen it became a real showcase for black celebrities who -- even in the 80’s and 90’s -- didn’t have as many opportunities when it came to network television exposure.
Legendary performers—such as Lena Horne, Josephine Premice, Patti LaBelle, Diahann Carroll, Robert Guillaume, Gladys Knight—and modern stars like Whoopi Goldberg, Raven Symone, Halle Berry… and Tupac Shakur—found a spotlight. Susan and Sharon get out their red pens and grade books and fight it out, narrowing down who will finally be “Best in Class” -- The Top Ten Guest Stars of A Different World!
THE CONVERSATION

• THE TOP TWO: How Patti LaBelle and Diahann Carroll are so hilarious -- and perfectly cast -- as the moms of Dwayne and Whitley: two parents from very “different worlds”.
• Whoopi Goldberg was the secret weapon that allowed the show to do an “AIDS Episode” (“If I Should Die Before I Wake” S4; EP23). Once she signed on, the network couldn’t say no. It became the highest rated episode of the season.
• Josephine Premice played the art dealer that Whitley works for in S4 -- and is the mother of writer/showrunner Susan Fales-Hill! (She later plays Dwayne and Whitley’s landlord in S6!)
• The beautiful Billy Dee Williams plays a former baseball player (S6; EP23) who decides to finish college -- and ends up in the classroom of his old flame: Leslie Uggams!
• But is it a true 80s TV Ladies show? Sharon calls out showrunner Debbie Allen. She directed 83 episodes of the show (104 were directed by women) and steered it through most of its run.
• Jennifer Lewis -- as Dean Dorothy Dandridge Davidson -- hits the heights in the Lena Horne Episode -- “A Rock, A River, A Lena” (S6; E22)
• Susan calls out Gladys Knight in “Three Girls Three” (S2; EP5) -- a classic 80’s stunt casting coup that is everything you want it to be!
• Can you believe it? Susan also loves a very “guy-centric” episode: “Citizen Wayne” (S2; EP21) -- starring Jesse Jackson. But this isn’t on Sharon’s list for reasons…
• Who are the TWO GUEST STARS who get cut from the list? One is a guy… And one is… ALSO A GUY!

So -- join Susan and Sharon as they talk Brian’s Song, Kris Kross, Tisha Campbell, high-kicks, the “Evolution of Whitley,” Gilbert Gottfried, “checking the gate” -- and showering with Blair Underwear (we mean Under-wood!).
AUDIOGRAPHY
Find out more about “A Different World College Tour 2024” at adwtour.com.
Read about Whoopi Goldberg and the A Different World AIDS episode at Hollywood Reporter.
Read an oral history of A Different World in Vanity Fair.
Watch A Different World -- streaming on MAX.
Find out more about A Different World at the official Facebook page.
Check out Tammy at the true-crime podcast: Grits with a Side of Murder.
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It's the 45th anniversary of President Carter's Crisis of Confidence speech. Get Susan’s new play about it: Confidence (and the Speech) at Broadway Licensing.