TV classics hold a special place in our memories, but they can be tricky to revise. Shows like Family Matters, The Cosby Show, Living Single, and, of course, A Different World are staples of ’80s and ’90s television. As time has evolved, so have camera settings. Studios in the late ’80s and early ’90s had cameras that were slightly more pixelated than the high-definition images we see today.
According to a recent article from The Verge, Netflix’s HD remaster of A Different World is disturbing the show’s original fanbase due to AI upscaling. The show now has a super-crisp image on the cast’s faces, but it distorts shapes of letters and objects. The result is a product that looks fine from afar but loses authenticity when viewed up close. “Thanks to AI upscaling technology, the version of A Different World that’s currently on Netflix won’t look how you remember it did when it aired. And not in a good way. The ‘HD’ remaster of the 1980s sitcom being streamed is a nightmarish mess of distorted faces, garbled text, and misshapen backgrounds” .
A Different World is a spinoff of The Cosby Show. The cast includes iconic actors and actresses like Lisa Bonet (The Cosby Show, Life on Mars), Jasmine Guy (Grey’s Anatomy, Harlem), Kadeem Hardison (K.C. Undercover, The Lincoln Lawyer), Sinbad (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Sinbad Show), Dawnn Lewis (Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper, Futurama), Marisa Tomei (Empire, Rescue Me), and Cree Summer (Rugrats, Abbott Elementary). The showrunner was Debbie Allen (Grey’s Anatomy, Fame). Netflix added the show back in February, but it’s just now generating buzz due to fans’ concerns on social media.
According to The Verge, the creator explained that while the specific upscaling methods used to enhance the original 480p or 360p broadcast resolution remain undisclosed, the evidence—such as distorted text and misshapen hands—suggests poorly implemented AI technology. “From far away, it looks amazing, and you now have a 4K, remastered version of A Different World, which I think we can all agree would be amazing. The problem is AI upscaling image technology isn’t quite there yet,” developer Scott Hanselman said on TikTok.
Other platforms, such as Max and Prime Video, have adapted the show in its original form. The difference between these platforms and Netflix is that they have left the show untouched. The use of AI in Netflix’s version has raised questions about quality control and whether audience testing was conducted to prevent issues like this.
There’s a certain nostalgic feeling you get with shows staying in its original form .The issues also arise questions like who was in charge of getting the show on the platform. Were there even such things like a quality control done ? Or like an audience testing to prevent these exact things ?The rights to A Different World belong to Carsey-Werner Productions, which also owns Roseanne, another ’80s sitcom. Known for using AI technology in recent projects, Carsey-Werner’s handling of A Different World highlights the complexities of maintaining nostalgia while introducing modern technology. With shows like this, there’s a certain charm to keeping the original format intact.