• by Les Luchter , September 23, 2026

On Sept.24, 33 years after its original run ended on NBC, “A Different World” gets new life on NBC, with Debbie Allen returning as the executive producer and director for the sitcom, which again features the adventures of students at the fictional HBCU Hillman College.

In the past week, Allen has also joined up with Merck for “Your Hive of Whole Health,” a multiyear educational program designed to help people living with HIV build personalized support networks for their “whole health” of “mind, body and spirit.”

The two items are connected through Allen’s multi-decades work as an HIV activist. Her advocacy resulted in NBC airing a groundbreaking episode of “A Different World” that addressed AIDS during the height of the original epidemic.

“Your Hive of Whole Health” was unveiled by Allen during the U.S. Conference on HIV/AIDS (USCHA) in Anaheim, California, during a session that also featured speakers from such groups as Allies in Hope and the Latino Commission on AIDS.

Those nonprofits and others like the National Minority AIDS Council, the Well Project and the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care are part of a “Hive” Advisory Council, all of whom helped Merck create the initiative and will play a key role in getting word of it out to HIV patients, the pharma firm tells Marketing Daily.  Outreach will also include HIV influencers and community events.

A comprehensive “Hive” hub, at HiveofWholeHealth.com, includes a downloadable “Hive Keeper”: a workbook for how users can develop personal care circles of healthcare providers, community advocates, family, peers and more.

“Whole health doesn't only start in a doctor's office,” a hero video explains, but “includes the people who show up for you, the routines that keep you steady, and those close ones who keep you company. Whole health is taking care of your health beyond keeping your viral load undetectable.”

“We look forward to broadening the discussion around HIV management to include factors such as managing one’s mental wellness, co-occurring conditions, social drivers, and other life challenges,” Conrod Kelly, Merck’s HIV business unit lead, U.S., said in a statement,

For Allen, who’s been involved in HIV advocacy for over 35 years, it’s also “a different world” than when she started.

“My journey with the HIV community began during a time of fear and crisis,” she said in a release,  “but today we are championing a new era of joy, inclusion, and well-being….True health is about the whole person—their mind, body and spirit.”

Merck, whose first HIV med was launched in 1996, 30 years ago, said it is now developing more antiviral options for both HIV treatment and prevention.