TV One Presents 30th Anniversary “A Different World” 14-Hour Marathon TODAY!!!

Hello World,

After today, we have to wait two more days til the Season Finale of   OWN’s “Greenleaf,”  but there are other opportunities for enthralling television entertainment until then! As a matter of fact, TV One will celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the premiere of “A Different World,” one of my FAVORITE shows of ALL TIME, with a 14-hour marathon on the same date the series launched, today, Sunday, September 24 at 10 a.m. ET. The marathon will begin with the pilot episode, which still reigns as the highest rated television pilot in history, garnering 38.9 million viewers. So after I get home from church,  I will be watching!

“A Different World” premiered on NBC on September 24, 1987 as a spin-off of The Cosby Show. The series originally centered on free-spirited, rebellious Huxtable daughter, Denise (Lisa Bonet), as she attended her parent’s alma mater, Hillman College. During season one, Denise struggles through college and meets memorable friends along the way, including Maggie (Marisa Tomei), Jalessa (Dawnn Lewis), Dwayne (Kadeem Hardison), and Whitley (Jasmine Guy). Seasons two through six capture the essence of being young, black and educated in America by tackling political, ethical, racial, emotional and social issues far before the media was ready to address them.

“TV One is excited to celebrate the 30th anniversary of ‘A Different World,’ a truly iconic television show which displayed the black college experience in a way that touched and inspired generations of students to pursue a higher education,” says Dexter Cole, TV One SVP of Program Scheduling & Acquisitions. “After three decades, many of the show’s themes and messages of friendship, coming of age, responsibility and perseverance still ring true. We hope fans will join us as we take a moment to look back with fondness on this American television treasure.”

The marathon celebrating the fictional HBCU will run from 10 a.m. ET to 1 a.m. ET and will feature a selection of the most popular episodes, in chronological order, containing memorable moments from each season of the series.Interstitials from cast and crew captured recently reflecting on their experiences with the series will also be featured during the marathon. The pilot episode will be presented as a special “Pop Up Edition” filled with show trivia at 10 a.m. ET and again at 8:30 p.m. ET to commemorate the same time the pilot premiered 30 years ago.

On TVOne.tv and the network social platforms, fans can celebrate all week with daily editorial breaking down the most iconic moments, a video countdown of the top 5 moments of all time, and a ‘Where Are They Now?” photo gallery to catch up with your favorite characters. For more information about A Different World on TV One, visit the network’s companion website at www.tvone.tv. TV One viewers can also join the conversation by connecting via social media on TwitterInstagram and Facebook (@tvonetv) using the hash tag #ADifferentWorld.

Check out TV One’s “A Different World” 30th Anniversary Promo Video Below!

Any thoughts?

Mama Se, Mama Sa, Mama Coosa: ‘Born Again Virgin’ Season 2 Episode 5 Recap…(Premiere Pics!!!)

Born Again Virgin Cast TV One

Hello World,

After a brief hiatus during January,  “Born Again Virgin” is back with new episodes! And in this episode, we get to meet Jenna’s mama! It has been said if you want to know a woman’s future, meet her mama! Jenna’s mama is cuckoo crazy – which explains why Jenna is on the cuckoo for cocoa puffs spectrum herself. And that is why I decided to name this post “Mama Se, Mama Sa, Mama Coosa!” Remember Michael Jackson’s song “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin?” He’s all jammin’ and then he breaks out into “Mama Se, Mama Sa, Mama Coosa,” and you’re like, “Whut? Is that his prayer language? Where did that come from?”

Well, when we first see Monica, Jenna’s mama, she wanna be starting somethin’ with the doorman of Jenna’s building. She basically cusses the man out for asking to carry her bags, which Jenna gets to see as Donovan is showing her a video of the random crazy woman downstairs in the lobby…Unfortunately, that’s no arbitrary crazy woman, that’s Monica, Jenna’s “Mama Se, Mama Sa, Mama Coosa!”

tankJust when Jenna thinks she is going to have a weekend free of writing deadlines, all the way from Colorado here come Monica,  who announces she is dying…(I’ll get back to that in just a sec…So as a writer, I LIVE for weekends when I don’t have any pending writing deadlines…but I digress….) The relationship between Monica and Jenna reminds me of the relationship between the free-spirited Freddie and her equally free-spirited mother Joni from “A Different World.” Like Freddie, Jenna is biracial with a white mama and a black father. And the two also have very similar qualities. Monica refers to Jenna as the “ex-whore who is now celibate,” but Jenna comes back with,”the nut doesn’t fall far from the tree!” Monica precedes to praise Tara for being Tara and Jenna checks her mama again, reminding her that Tara is the product of a two-parent household. Rather than participate in the Monica v. Jenna madness, Tara and Kelly sequester themselves to Donovan’s apartment to “help” him prepare for a trial. And speaking of two parents, Jenna then calls her father, who is glad his baby mama who he is divorced from is not bugging him for once. Jenna asks her father about her mother’s health to which he responds, “She’s not dying. She’s dramatic. She’s menopausal.”

Yes, Monica believes that menopause is synonymous with death. Now that Jenna knows the real reason her mama is cutting up, she tries to get her to see the positive side of menopause – “Hooray. No more periods.” Monica doesn’t quite buy into Jenna’s spin on menopause, but the two do make up – crazy recognizes crazy…

Also below are a few pics from the recent red carpet premiere for TV One’s new shows “Here We Go Again” and “The Next :15” and the season 2 return of “Born Again Virgin.”

groupFrom left to right: D’Angela Proctor, Sr. Vice President of Original Programming and Production for TV One; Ranada Shepard, Creator of Born Again Virgin; Danielle Nicolet, who portrays Jenna and Eva Marcille, who portrays Tara

jenna and taraDanielle Nicolet  & Eva Marcille

threeRanada Shepard, Danielle Nicolet & Eva Marcille on stage…

Any thoughts?

Hard Lessons: Before Jackie Holness Could Pledge Delta Sigma Theta She Had to Look Inside Herself

I'm on the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Website...YAY!!!

book signing

Hello World,

As some of you may know, yesterday, my beloved sorority, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated, celebrated our 103rd Founders Day! And in honor of our sorority, our local newspaper, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper is celebrating our sorority all week long! Today, my road to Delta is featured on its website…

Below is the beginning…

My introduction to black Greek collegiate culture was the same as many of us who grew up in the ‘1990s, the golden age of black pop culture.

I tuned into “A Different World” week after week as a high school student. I remember the episode when Whitley pushed too hard while pledging her roommate Kim, who was attempting to be initiated into her sorority.

Whitley’s drill sergeant attitude backfires when Kim and the rest of the pledges simultaneously stop taking orders from her. In the span of the 30-minute sitcom, they, of course, work out their differences, becoming not only sisters in friendship but sorority sisters. Read the rest of the story on myajc.com.

Any thoughts?