"A Different World"- Season One Quiz

Answer: False

For some reason all of Jaleesa's personal baggage scared Denise and she asked her resident director, Stevie, for a new roommate. Her only option was the stuck-up Whitley Gilbert. Denise gave Whitley a chance, but realized quickly that Jaleesa was the better choice.

The first episode aired September 24, 1987 and starred Dawnn Lewis as Jaleesa, Jasmine Guy as Whitley and Loretta Devine as Stevie. Loretta went on to star in the shows "Boston Public" and "Eli Stone", and played Chief Webber's wife Adele on "Grey's Anatomy".

Answer: write a bad check for their dorm fees

Over the course of "The Cosby Show" and the first season of "A Different World", Denise proved herself repeatedly to be both irresponsible and lazy. She was a typical middle child, by many psychologists standards. In this case, Jaleesa had paid for something for Denise the week prior and Denise was covering that favor by writing a check for their current semester dorm fees.

She wrote a check for each of their fees, for a total of $200, and the checks both bounced. The effusive Maggie Lauten, played by future Oscar Winner Marisa Tomei, tried to help the tension ease.

She was more of a pain than a help, and in the end Denise took a job to make up the money. We would not meet Jaleesa's ex-husband for quite a while yet..

Answer: Stevie, the dorm director

Dwayne and Denise lost track of time while he tutored her in Gilbert Hall. So, to save their prospective behinds, they decided Dwayne could exit the dorm via fire escape. The only problem was that Whitley's room had access to it! When he hit the ground, Stevie spotted him outside her first floor window. Denise confessed the truth during a meeting with Walter, Stevie, Jaleesa, Whitley, and Dwayne. Whitley was not gracious and demanded an apology in the school paper!

This was the first appearance of Sinbad, who played Walter Oakes in 45 episodes. Sinbad was born David Adkins. Charnele Brown, who played Kim Reese, did not appear until after the exit of Lisa Bonet.

Answer: Dwayne

Stevie took Professor Byron Walcott aside to enlighten him to his affect on the young women in his classroom. He did not take her news well, and the pair argued quietly before parting company. Dwayne was in the library with them at the time, and witnessed their conversation. Sadly, he did not actually HEAR it.

He reported it to Whitley, more to gloat than inform, and she turned his account into a fantastic story about the pair. She was not trying to be mean, she was just losing herself in the riptide of story telling.

It would not be her last entertaining tale. After Denise and the professor worked out her feelings and his intentions, he came over to see Stevie. I guess that argument was spicy enough to grab his attention!

Answer: E. Z. Brooks

Jaleesa showed surprise at Denise, of all people, being allowed to counsel her peers. Denise told her friends she was lucky to get the job during finals week. It seemed as though this was yet another way for her to avoid her responsibilities. In "Advise and Descent", E. Z. Brooks was a hippie type man of Zen demeanor and a catchy turn of phrase, "take it down a thousand".

He made references to surfing and used reverse psychology. In the end, he helped Denise regain her focus. Kristoff St. John played the part, and he went on to star as Neil Winters on the soap opera "The Young and the Restless" starting in 1993.

As of 2010, Kristoff was still portraying Neil on the daytime drama.

Answer: True

After many years away from Hillman, Lettie came back to give lectures on her experiences. Her friend, a dean at the school named Quentin, urged her to return and get her degree. She had left the school, which resulted in many incompletes. He agreed to give her course credits for "life experience" if she would take over the Gilbert dorm. Lettie agreed to the job and was to become a staple for the ladies at Gilbert. Ron O'Neal played Quentin.

He would go on to portray Whitley's father Mercer. Continuity mistake- Lettie claimed that in her day Gilbert was a men's dorm, but near the end of the series a 92 year old woman came to Hillman as a former resident of Gilbert Hall.

Answer: her humidifier stopped working

Jaleesa's professor allowed her the option of either oral or written report, though he wanted and encouraged an oral report. Denise owed Maggie about $22 from five weeks prior and had simply forgotten to pay her back, but Maggie was too scared of confrontation to ask for it. She finally lost her cool and blurted it out after witnessing Denise purchase many frivolous items. Whitley had a contraband appliance in her room, and it quit on her. She enlisted Millie's help, and Millie brought Ron and Dwayne in to fix the humidifier. They had no idea what to do, and decided a repair man would be the answer. It turned out that Lettie had simply unplugged the machine to send a message to Whitley. Jaleesa did give her speech, Denise repaid the money and the appliance was secreted out of Gilbert Hall. Unfortunately, Lettie discovered it coming back into the dorm and confiscated it from Dwayne and Ron.

Roscoe Lee Browne played Jaleesa's professor, Dr. Foster.

Answer: Greece

Apparently, in 1987 Greece was a cheap country to spend the summer. Denise's history of slack prompted her mother to come to Virginia and give her daughter and ultimatum. She told Denise that they had spent enough money on her, and that the past two years at Hillman had been vacation enough for her. Denise was to come back to Brooklyn for the summer and get a job.

She did go home, but never returned to Hillman. It was also Whitley's birthday in this episode, and the episode ended with a surprise celebration for her at The Pit.

Answer: Buttercup

In season one, Ron was less a scandalous womanizer and more like Dwayne. When season two began sans his beloved Millicent, Ron became a "dog". This behavior continued all the way through the seasons until he fell first for Kim and later for Freddie.

Answer: just once

As everyone packed up and began preparing for their summers, Denise appeared saddened. I think the character was written to know she probably would not be back. So, when Dwayne found her in the library and asked her out, she accepted right away. Denise was dropped out of college due to the real life pregnancy of Lisa Bonet with her daughter Zoe Kravitz. Debbie Allen took over the production of the series in season two and improved the show ten fold in my opinion. Almost all white characters were phased out, a strong confidant Kim Reese was added to balance out Whitley and make her sympathetic, Dwayne was turned toward a more balanced man and less of a geek, and Freddie was added as a combination of Denise and Maggie.

Many outside shots of Hillman were those of real life Spelman College.