In 1987, daughter Denice (Lisa Bonet) of The Cosby Show spun off into college, "A Different World than where you come from." It aired between Cosby and Cheers, so we had no choice but to watch. But no problem: there was a lot of beefcake -- I especially liked Short Guy Ron (Darryl M. Bell) -- and some gay-subtext buddy bonding; the snobbish aristocrat Whitley stole the show; and the historically black Hillman College was interesting, "a different world" to many viewers.
It wasn't actually a comedy, at least not after the first season, when Denice leftt and Whitley was promotd to focus character. The world became a cold, dark place, with episodes about sexual assault, abusive relationships, AIDS, and a lot of racism. I especially disliked the constant victimization of math major Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison), who for some inexplicable reason starts dating Whitley, his polar opposite. Eventually we stopped watching. No point in getting depressed every Thursday night.
Nearly 30 years later, a new generation of first-years has arrived at Hillman for a rebooted Different World. The focus character is Deborah Wayne, the daughter of now-divorced Dwayne and Whitley. Hillman is her safety school, even though her dad is provost or something --- all of the old gang have stuck around, and now have important jobs at the college.
A homophobic Redditer complained, "Why do they have to make 99% of the characters on every tv show gay? It's like straight people don't even exist anymore." So let's look for the gay characters. The character and episode descriptions on Netflix and Wikipedia offer some clues.
There are seven main male characters. Five are identified as heterosexual:
Superstar basketball player Shaquille Johnson (Cornel Young IV, left), son of Short Guy Ron, chose Hillman against his dad's advice that he go to a Big 10 School and then turn pro. He starts dating Deborah.
Jalen (Elijah J. Roberts, left) is a "sexy point guard" on the basketball team, who starts dating Deborah's friend Hazel.
Ghanian-Nigerian fashion design major
Koji (Chbuikem Ujike, left) is in college only to please his parents. He actualy wants to drop out and start his own fashion company. Sounds promising, but Netflix says that his main pastime is "charming girls."
Left: I went through the cast list, looking for nude photos of the male stars, and found Michael Vargas being oiled up in a video on XYMen.
More after the break
Andre (Joshua Suiter, not to be confused with the much more famous white guy Joshua Suiter) is on the football team. He competes with Koji "for the ladies."
That leaves three potential gay guys:
Ellington (Vincent Jamal Hooper), a junior, is the teaching assistant for Professor Brooks (Cree Summer, two alumni of the original series. An article in Teen Vogue says that he's been "keeping a secret" all semester. Nope, it's not that he's gay, it's that he's the son of Denice Huxtable from the original series, and therefore part of "the most famous black family in TV history." Wait -- they're not famous in the fictional world. I don't get it. The article also says that he's into Deborah.
Psych major and former juvenile delinquent Amir (Jordan Aaron Hall) lost his dorm room due to a housing shortage, so he crashes on the couch in the boys' dorm. He's best friends with Deborah and Koj.
Left: Google Images thinks that this is Jordan Aaron Hall, but I think it's Michael Jordan.
Xavier (Dasan Frazier) is the school's gossip, livestreaming all of the events and romantic entanglements.
Ok, it's Amir. I didn't see any gay identification in Episodes 1-3, but in Episode 4, he goes to a "R&B Karaoke Night" and hooks up with the performer, Marquise (Galen J. Williams). Afterwards Marquise reveals that he has a boyfriend, but it's an open relationship. Amir is shocked, but he decides to be open-minded and accept it.
The next day in class, the professor asks everyone how their homework assignment went. Amir says that his was great: he approached someone he liked instead of waiting around to be approached, and "a time was had." Your assignment was to hook up with someone? Then the professor introduces the new Writer in Residence, the renowned poet -- Marquise! Shocked expression.
In Episode 5, Marquise says that he has only just realized how young Amir is, and as faculty, he can't be dating a student, so he calls off the relationship. So you didn't know that you were hooking up with a college student? Didn't it come up in the initial conversation? Or did you just nod and take him back to your room?
Left: Galen's bulge.
See also: A Different World: Angst and Beefcake and a Black College
Beefcake and Gay Characters in "Dear White People
Grown-Ish: Black-ish Goes to College, and Meets Bisexuals
Inner City Prettyboy: What's Happening!
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