Netflix’s ‘A Different World’ is a reboot done right (finally!)

What an absolute joy to head to a different world once again.

The real world of 2026 is full of aggressively middling TV shows, from cringe-worthy reality TV to dull comedies to blatant nostalgia-baiting reboots designed to be watched while you're actively scrolling on your phone. So how delightful it is to see something, well, different.

Enter "A Different World" (now streaming, ★★★½ out of four), a reboot (well, really a sequel) to the classic 1987-1993 sitcom about students at a historically Black college working through the trials, tribulations and parties of college life in this underrepresented setting. Although the show is deeply familiar − still set at the fictional Hillman College, still about a group of young and fumbling whippersnappers and with appearances and regular roles for select members of the original cast − it shines on its own. Any kid currently in college could stumble upon it on the Netflix homepage and become instantly immersed in the world of Hillman, the easy humor of its jokes and the deep portraits of its characters.

It shouldn't be so rare and so exciting, but the best part of "World" is that it feels so fresh and new, in spite of…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/entertainment/