• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, 3 hours ago

A Netflix reboot of the 1980s-’90s sitcom “A Different World” has accomplished the difficult task of bringing back at least nine stars of the old show, plus producers, writers and directors who worked on it.

One figure who is not involved: Bill Cosby. He is credited as creator of the original hit series, which was a spin-off of “The Cosby Show” built around the character of Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet) -- one of Cosby’s TV daughters -- as she went to college.

Whether or not he is receiving compensation for the new show is hard to pin down. According to a Google search, he still owns aspects of IP related to the show. 

In addition, a “creator” credit on any show traditionally qualifies for residual payments.

One on-line report says Cosby is to receive payments from the show in return for agreeing not to have his name appear in the credits for the new show.

Cosby, now 89, is said to be living a very private life on a walled estate he has owned for decades in the suburbs of Philadelphia. 

The comedian, who was once one of the best-known entertainers in America, was convicted in 2018 on charges of aggravated indecent assault against one of an estimated 60 women who came forward to accuse him of drugging them in an attempt to have sex with them.

He was released from prison in 2021 after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled his rights were violated in his trial by prosecutors.

Cosby is also credited as one of three composers of the show’s original theme song, performed on the show by Pheobe Snow, Aretha Franklin and Boyz II Men. 

Brandy Norwood sings the theme for the new “A Different World,” which is scheduled to start streaming Sept. 24 on Netflix. 

The setting for the new show is the same as the old one -- fictional HBCU "Hillman College" with an all-new, contemporary group of students.

The central character in this ensemble comedy is Deborah Wayne (Maleah Joi Moon, 23), college-age daughter of Whitley Gilbert (Jasmine Guy) and Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison), who played Hillman students in the original “A Different World,” which ran on NBC from 1987 to 1993.

Whitley and Dwayne got married in the fifth season of “A Different World.” In the finale of the sixth and final season of the show, they revealed Whitley was pregnant, but no baby was born during the run of the show. The baby turned out to be Deborah. 

Guy, 64, and Hardison, 61, are two of the original, principal characters from the old show who are returning in the same roles, along with Cree Summer, 57 (“Freddie Brooks”) and Darryl M. Brown, 63 (“Ron Johnson”).

Reportedly returning to play their old characters in recurring roles are Charnele Brown, 65 (“Kimberly Reese”), Dawnn Lewis, 65 (“Jaleesa Vinson”), Glynn Turman, 79 (“Colonel Bradford Taylor”), Jenifer Lewis, 69 (“Dean Davenport”) and Jada Pinkett Smith, 54 (“Lena James”).

Conspicuously missing from the list are original cast members Lisa Bonet and Marisa Tomei, both of whom left the original series after the first season.

Behind the scenes, Debbie Allen, 76, is back as an executive producer, along with Tom Werner, 76, whose production company Carsey-Werner was a producer of some of the most successful sitcoms of the 1980s and ’90s, including “A Different World,” “The Cosby Show” and “Roseanne.”