Honeymoon in “Hell:” A Comparison of Scenes from “Honeymoon in LA, Part One” and “Poetic Justice,” and More!

A Different World: Honeymoon in L.A. (1) – TV Tome
 
I was posting a goof for this episode for this webpage above, and I discovered a possible topic I could do while I wait for the reairing of “Radio Free Hillman” and “It Happened One Night.”

If you’d like, you can read the actual scene in Poetic Justice that I’m referring to in the post @ http://www.corky.net/scripts/poeticJustice.html. Scroll down to the scene that begins with 65 INT. THE:TRUCK, start reading there, and stop at the scene that begins 70 INT. ROADSIDE. (INT. is just a screenword term for “interior.”)

Anyway, Whitley and Dwayne claim that they went to LA during the riots for their honeymoon by accident. (My reasoning: budget cuts, the possibilities of “moral” lessons about throwing over Republicans, and the renewal of the show to try and save NBC Thursdays. It seems so funny that the last episodes of Season Five were centered around Whitley and Dwayne’s impromptu wedding–despite its flaws, they would have made a better ending for the show as opposed to the “When One Door Closes” episodes.) They have a horrible clip montage trip in which they are constantly smiling, avoiding any theme parks (including Citywalk), and driving around in a 1959 pink Cadillac. Then, the two argue about social consciousness and Rodney King as well as whether they should continue shopping or go to the Forum for tickets (because he hates shopping and she hates sports or is simply clueless about them). He stops on a street, a lonely, traffic free, suspicious-looking street, and drops her off so she can go to the mall. He slowly drives away, then backs up and tries to convince her to get back in the car just because he’s horny. He compromises to let her go to the mall while he picks up the tickets.

Very similar to the “fuck you” scene in Poetic Justice, except Justice (Janet Jackson, and I’m surprised I haven’t started a creepy fan blog devoted to her worship) and Lucky (Tupac Shakur, very appropriate since he, Jasmine Guy, and I believe Jada Pinkett-Smith [because they went to school together in Baltimore] were friends), are pissed off at each other in Lucky’s mailtruck on the way to Oakland from LA. They’ve been against each other since the beginning of the movie when he delivers mail to the hair salon where Justice works. Lucky begins singing Apache’s Gangsta Bitch, which pisses Justice off. They begin to yell at each other (shouting “Fuck you,” of course) until Justice wants to get out of the truck. Lucky does. Justice’s best friend Iesha (Regina King), who is traveling with Justice and Lucky as well as her boyfriend Chicago (Joe Torry), gets upset because Lucky let Justice out of the truck. Iesha asks Lucky to let her back in the truck, which he does. His thanks: Justice promising that once they get back in LA, her people would “still gonna [fuck him] up!”

I’ve also noticed how similar Justice’s stance on black women and derogatory statements is to Whitley’s (or should I say, Whitley’s stance is similar to Justice’s):

Justice: Fuck you, I ain’t no bitch, I am a Black woman! I deserve respect! If I’m a bitch, yo momma’s a bitch!
Whitley (to Dwayne, from “The Little Mister”): We are not broads. We are not babes. We are not honeys. We are women. We want equality. We want dignity. We want respect.

But here’s the bombshell. If I’m not mistaken, an event that occurs on “A Different World” occurs in real time (at least according to this show). Whitley and Dwayne got married on May 14, 1992. The riots occured 15 days before their marriage, on April 28, 1992, when the “not guilty” verdict was handed out. How could they honeymoon in LA and be caught up in the riots? Better yet, didn’t Whitley and Dwayne see some indication of the only flim made during the riots, Poetic Justice? You know, like a camera, John Singleton, Janet Jackson and her “Kids,” her dancers (most notably Rene Elizondo)?

My assumption: The writers saw Poetic Justice. Then, armed with moral possibilites, they created the “Honeymoon in LA” episodes, forgoing all logic. Then, the ratings began to sink…

A Different World Fanlisting? Can It Be?

TheFanlistings | Browse Fanlistings: TV Shows

Read this page and scroll down…I can’t wait. But the people need one for Whitley. If there’s one primetime character that needs a fanlisting, it’s Whitley. There’s already one for Roxy (on Dead Like Me), but none for Whitley. Not Urkel. Whitley. Because she will bite all her fingers off if we don’t. (Okay, kidding. But when it comes up, I’ll link it to my page.)

I’d love to host a fanlisting, but I don’t have the HTML knowledge, time, and support to run a fanlisting. I’ll just run this blog instead.

They Walk By Starlight: A History of Drunkeness in ADW

Ardent Spirits-Intro
(all temperance movement information comes from this exhibit)

We whose names are hereunto annexed, believing that the use of intoxicating liquor, as a beverage, is not only needless, but hurtful to the social, civil, and religious interests of men: that it tends to form intemperate appetites and habits, and that while it is continued, the evils of intemperance can never be done away: do therefore agree that we will not use it or traffic in it: that we will not provide it as an article of entertainment or for persons in our employment: and that in all suitable ways, we will discountenance the use of it throughout the community.
–American Temperance Union Pledge

You would think that, because of their endless preaching about respecting all Black people and voting to replace rotten Republicans out of office (and if that were always true, we still might be slaves), ADW would have a stance against alcohol abuse and alcoholism, right? Think again. Check out these stats from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) that project that non-Black people have a higher risk of alcohol abuse than Blacks. That might be the reason you see half the cast get drunk at one point of the series. Disappointed? May I refer you to two very similar drug abuse episodes from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Family Matters. (Trust me, they are very similar.)

November 17, 1988–First case of drunkeness? No, it’s just Whitley’s imagination as she downs down two Pilgrim Coladas in “If You Like Pilgrim Coladas.”

January 26, 1989–The real first case of drunkness? When Freddie samples the Zircon Liquor Fire Sale Collection to help her write a short story in “I’ve Got the Muse in Me.” You think that Bud Weiser (or is it “Bud Weiser?”) would have established the “Drinking is Bad” moral with this episode. He didn’t.

March 15, 1990–Five days after Jasmine Guy’s 26th birthday (when this episode first aired, duh), Whitley finally gets drunk in what may be the best drunkeness episode in the history of ADW, “21 Candles.” Why? She thinks her friends have abandoned her (see How Can You Dupe Witless: Part Four post).

October 17, 1991–Jalessa (?) steals a bottle wine from reformed alcohol abuser and reformed Evil Prude Whitley in “In the Eye of the Storm” because she can’t handle the pressure of living through a hurricane.

October 31, 1991–Two weeks later, Colonel Taylor thinks he’s a failure at 47 and drinks until he passes out in “Baby, I’m a Star.”

October 29, 1992–Nearly a year after “Baby, I’m a Star,” Dwayne is the last victim of drunkeness as he proves to the world that he is an asshole (IMO–sorry) as he admires booty-shaking women instead of (Jasmine Guy-like) strong-woman-with-a-big-booty Whitley in “The Little Mister.” Somehow Whitley gets drunk as well and has what she claims is “the worst hangover.”

“Oh, Mama!:” Just Something That’s Been Bothering Me

MultiVu – Education is a Right, Not a Privilege

I read at this site called “Uplift the Race” (it’s hosted at Homestead, and right now, I can’t get a link without the site claiming there’s heavy traffic) that Jasmine Guy’s mother’s name was Jaye. However, if you watch the first movie (VNR) and watch all the soundbites, there’s a message before the last soundbite: “Jeannette Rudolph, Jasmine Guy’s mother.” (Guy’s mother has since divorced her father and remarried.)

Oh, media people that run the press releases for the Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (R) (RFB&D [R] ): I already knew that Monica Guy was Jasmine’s younger sister, so stop trying to conceal that from the people, okay? (To see what I’m talking about, watch the VNR movie.)

How Can You Dupe Whitley: Part Six

A Different World: To Whit, With Love – TV Tome 

Season Six Example: “Witless the Terrible”
From: “To Whit, With Love”

The situation: Jobless Witless has taken a job as a subsitute teacher in a middle/elementary school. I say that because I don’t think the show knows whether the school is a middle or an elementary school.

(Sample quotes:
From “To Whit, With Love”
Dwayne: “Baby, I’m not trying to discourage you, but Joseph E. Johnson Junior High School is one of the roughest schools in Virginia.”
From “A Rock, A River, A Lena”
Student: “Ladies and gentlemen, the students of Joseph E. Johnson Elementary School proudly present Lena Horne, This Is Your Life.“)

Her only preparation: the movie Lean on Me.

On her first day, the students pelt her with paper balls, don’t answer “Present” when she asks them to (but then again, if your teacher said your name incorrectly, ie Crayton Edems [Crayton Adams] or E-las Blak [Elias Black], wouldn’t you be upset, too?), berate her, steal her wallet (to berate her again), and throw their history books at her. The next day, Whitley avows that “What happened yesterday will not happen today.” When she says this to her students, it sounds like

“What heppened yesterday will not heppen today.”

Whitley makes demands to the students, and they all respond to her in unison. Witless actually thinks that she’s intimidated the students. (At 5′2″ and about average weight, you’re bound to intimidate everyone.)

The dupe: As Witless is grading their history tests, she notices that every student in the class has given her a fake answer to at least one question on the test. Examples (as Whitley says them):

“Who alerted the Americans that the British were coming? Peter Pan…What did the American revolutionaries throw into Boston Harbor? Your mama.”

Whitley’s revenge: Whitley firsts proclaims to her students that they are stupid (in a case of reverse psychology). She then avows to teach them a bit of Black history, which is not found in the textbooks the students are using. This pleases the students.

I know, this is a dismal ending. But it was either this or the Home Alone homage in “Happy Birthday to Moi.”

Oh, just happened to find this…

http://www.fbcatlanta.org/

It’s the website for William Guy’s church. The picture looks nice. Too bad I have somewhat of an natural aversion to MIDIs, though.

How Can You Dupe Whitley: Part Five

A Different World: We’ve Only Just Begun – TV Tome

Oh, snow and the ‘Net…two things that hinders man’s progress. And I’m a victim to both. Oh, hell…

Season Five Example: “Double Dupe”
From: “We’ve Only Just Begun”

The situation:Whitley and Dwayne have finally made love. At least that’s how they would say it in Soap Opera Digest.
Anyway, at the end of “To Be Continued,” Dwayne, allegedly being stopped by Jasmine Guy’s father, the Rev. William Guy, at the shoddy-ass airport, proposed to Whitley. She accepted his proposal, and Dwayne buys her a ring (that she never wears again after they break up). Before Dwayne realizes that he’s given Whitley a very expensive ring (something you should never give Whitley), Whitley brags:

“Look, there’s nothing the girls in this dorm haven’t tried that I haven’t done even better.”

Dupe One: Until she sits on her engagement ring.

The situtation, continued: Whitley is now the resident director (shudder) of Height Hall. She fails to believe that Lena James (Jada Pinkett-Smith) has not been placed in a dorm room due to the computer system. Lena seeks help from Terrence (Cory Tyler), Colonel Taylor’s son, to get Lena a room; Terrence promises to inform his father, who is the head of the math department. (That last sentence will become very important in a few minutes.) During dorm orientation at Height, Lena presents a letter signed by Dean Witherspoon, the head of the math department. (See?)

The dupe: Whitley finds out later on the fire escape of Dwayne’s apartment that there is no Dean Witherspoon, after bragging once again:

…so I just told that little Miss Lena right off. She’ll think twice before messing with me again.

How Can You Dupe Whitley: Part Three

A Different World: To Have and Have Not – TV Tome

Season Three Example: “Kids Tell the Damnest Lies”
From: “To Have and Have Not”

The situation: Through virtue of her big heart (and her big mouth), Whitley signs up to be a mentor teaching ballet at a community center. She befriends Dion, a student that was attracted to ballet because Whitley unveiled her 80s-ish tutu, and loathes Corrine, a good student that realizes that Whitley is stuck up and crazy (the latter Whitley fails to realize and applies this to Freddie). Dion tells Whitley that he has no way to get to the classes; Whitley picks him up the next day and takes him by Hillman as well. After her second day of ballet classes, Whitley finds that her precious wallet, with $86, 11 credit cards, her auto club card, pictures of her, love letters to her, and her favorite fortune cookie fortune, Spend time wisely, spend money freely, has been stolen.

The quote to end all quotes, next to “You’re all gonna die” in “Radio Free Hillman:” “Those thieving little heathens!”–Whitley

The situation, continued: Whitley thinks that Corrine stole her wallet, so she goes to the community center, grabs poor Corrine’s arm, and threatens starvation and thirst on the girl.

The dupe: While Whitley plays “Avenger” with Corrine, Walter (Sinbad) and Norm, a man who works at the community center, find out that Dion stole Whitley’s wallet and used the $86 to buy a bike. Whitley can’t believe it at first, but soon she accepts this fact.

Whitley’s revenge: Dion has to work at the community center to pay off Whitley’s $86. After leaving the community center because of her stolen wallet, Whitley returns and promises to work Dion until he’s tired as hell.

How Can You Dupe Whitley: Part Two

Okay, this is actually not a dupe. This is more of a “Whitley-thinks-she’s-so-smart” situation. She’s still wrong.

Season Two Example: “I’ll Make You Love Him”
From: “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do”

The situation: In “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do,” Dwayne wisely (or unwisely) seeks the advice of Witless to lure Suzanne Taylor (Tracy Lee Harrison), daughter of Colonel Bradford Taylor (Glynn Turman), into marriage. What Witless doesn’t realize, though, is Dwayne has been stalking the poor girl, calling

“her at a different time every night. Sometimes [he calls] her twice. Then [he calls] her in the morning to see if she’s forgotten about [him] through the night.”

Witless call this “The bird-dog approach.” Okay, maybe she does think that Dwayne is a stalker. Then why did she marry him?

Anyway, the ring offer scares the hell out of Suzanne. (Smart girl.) After a few conversations where Suzanne keeps blowing of Dwayne, Whitley meets Suzanne in the library, telling Dwayne that “Miss Taylor is ringless.” To make Suzanne jealous and willing to take the ring as well as Dwayne back, Witless climbs on a ladder and overdramatically proclaims

“Oh, Dwayne, as soon as you and what’s-her-name are kaput, I’ll come running to your doorstep. No! I can’t wait! I’ve got to have you now!”

She jumps off the ladder, her arms encircling Dwayne, her right arm and shoulder poised to choke him to death. Dwayne is pushed onto a library table as an irate student looks on. Whitley still proclaims

“I need you now! I want you now! Take me! Take me!”

Dwayne, confused about Whitley wanting him or not, refuses her. Whitley’s rebuttal: She doesn’t want Dwayne, she wants her long-distance grad student boyfriend, who’s been accepted into Harvard Law School. (And, if I wasn’t commenting on this episode, I would tell you several things I’ve learned in my socialogy class about people that enroll into Harvard Law School. Oh, well…)

The dupe: Needless to say, Witless’ ploy fails to work. Dwayne breaks up with Suzanne and Whitley and Dwayne end up seeing The Battleship Potemkin together because Mr. Law School never comes to take Whitley to the Valentine’s Day dance. And no, they did not shack up in the back of Whitley’s car to even snog–that’s “Forever Hold Your Peace.”

How Can You Dupe Whitley: Part One

Whitley, depite being evil, is surprisingly easy to dupe. While I’m waiting for my computer to be fixed, I’ll be presenting examples of how Whitley is double-crossed by several characters on ADW. I have an idea for a very large project soon, and I’m thinking of comparing “It Happened One Night” with “When One Door Closes…, Part I.”

Season One Example: “Darryl Walker, Charleston Walker From Brooklyn”
From: “Dr. Cupid”

The situation: Dwayne, on his radio show, announces that a “Darryl Walker” is looking for a Valentine’s Day date. However, “Darryl Walker” is really Ron and Dwayne: Ron meets Millie in the library when she’s supposed to find this “Darryl,” and when Dwayne announces that “Darryl” still doesn’t have a date for Valentine’s Day, he announces that he’ll be at the Pit’s Valentine’s Day dance. “Darryl” will be looking for someone wearing a red carnation.

The dupe: While Jaleesa, Denise, Maggie, and Peggy are at the table discussing “Darryl Walker,” Whitley comes by their table, asking about “Darryl.” Denise starts the beginning of a fabrication about “Darryl” being a prominent, wealthy, and black Southerner. Witless buys into the dupe and sends Millie to the library to meet “Darryl,” where Millie hooks up with Ron. Later, Witless walks into the Pit, wearing a red carnation and looking for “Darryl” herself. When she inquires who “Darryl” is, everyone points to Dwayne, who is dancing with Denise (who knew that “Darryl” was Dwayne all along). An angered Whitley throws down her carnation and leaves the Pit, not knowing that she will end up with “Darryl Walker” in the long run.