The Prince of Bel Air is a bit fresh (The Fresh Prince of Bel Air)

Member Name: blissman70

Product:	The Fresh Prince of Bel Air
Date:	02/03/09 (149 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great comedy, side splitting fun

Disadvantages: none for me

Creators: Andy and Susan Borowitz
Stars: Will Smith, James Avery, Janet Hubert Whitten (Daphne Maxwell Reid), Alfonso Ribeiro, Karyn Parsons and Tatyana Ali.

First aired in September 1990, creating nearly 150 episodes into 6 series, finishing in the summer of 1996.

MAIN CHARACTERS...

* Will Smith (-himself- )is a street wise teenage delinquent from the tough streets of West Philadelphia who, as his mother is worried he is heading for a fate worse than prison, is force to live with his wealthy relations in a Bel Air mansion.
He is a typical loud mouth young man with attitude who believes he know what's best for his life, usual to the annoyance of his rich uncle.

* Philip Banks (-James Avery-) is Will's rich uncle, starting as a being a high flying lawyer, then as a Judge, with a very 'large' personality. His no nonsense attitude to teenage delinquents is put to the test when Will arrives on the scene and he sees it as a challenge to control the feisty young man.
He is mainly seen as a miserable man, who dotes on his wife and kids, although he tries to teach his children the values of money he does tend to spoil his eldest daughter

* Vivien (-Janet Hubert-Whitten series 1-3/ Daphne Maxwell Reid series 4-6) is the beautiful wife of Philip, working as a professor of black history and having a PHD.
She originally started as a career woman but as the show went on she turned into a homemaker, caring for her husband and children.

* Hilary (-Karyn Parsons-) is Philip and Viviens eldest daughter who is a very spoilt young lady, demanding everything and anything from her parents, usually getting her own way with her father. She is seen as a bit of a bimbo and spends her time mainly pampering herself and shopping for the latest fashions, on daddies credit card of course.
She has no capabilities of taking care of herself and relies heavily on the mansions butler.

* Carlton (-Alfonso Ribeiro) is the slightly pompous son of the Vivien and Philip, with his selfish attitude and rather immature behaviour.
Although he tries to be cool in character he is soon showing his true colours with his love for Tom Jones songs and his very jittery dance steps.

* Ashley (-Tatyana Ali-) is the youngest of the family, (until Vivien had another baby in later series) and loves spending time with her mother, that is until Will appears on the scene with his calm outlook on life, slowly changing her way of living.

* Geoffrey Butler (-Joseph Marcell-) is the Banks's household butler. He has a very calm attitude, which helps a lot considering the people he has to work for, and his proper use of the queens English, who seems to bond well with Will. He has a very dry sense of humour and enjoys making witty remarks, especially to Philip.
He has spent years as a butler for people such as Led Zeppelin and Chuck Norris.

* Jazz (- Jeffrey A. Townes) is Wills friend, who comes across as a very irritating person indeed, especially to Philip. He has a crush on Hilary and is always trying to get her to go on a date with him, with many disappointments.
He dresses a bit like a pimp and has a personality to match, much to the disgust of Philip, who, in many episodes deals with Jazz in a certain way.

* Nicky (- Ross Bagley-) is the new edition to the family, arriving in the 3rd series.


* BRIEF IDEA...

With Will's mother frightened about her son growing up in Philadelphia she packs him off to her sisters house in Bel Air in the hope of him getting a better education.
So with Will having to settle into his new life with his rich relations in there huge mansion he soon begins to create a lot of hassle for everyone, especially his Uncle Phil, who tends to see raising Will as a challenge, due to his rather laid back attitude and 'I don't care' attitude to life.
Uncle Phil, The big man of the house, takes an instant dislike the new edition of the house, finding himself irritated by Wills behaviour, mainly due to the colourful way he dresses and the sarcastic one liners he comes out with.
But Uncle Phil is the least of Wills trouble as he has to contend with his cousin, Carlton, who is a black man with a white mans attitude, with his bad dancing style and his love of Tom Jones songs, Will certainly has a lot to deal with in his new ready made family.


** Special guest have included...
Oprah Winfrey, Donald Trump, Naomi Cambell, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Tom Jones and many many more...






** IN CONCLUSION...

A brilliant sitcom which is full of sarcastic one liners from a combination of comical characters.
Each character has there own 'uniqueness' with-in the series, each as likable as the others, all seeming to combine to create a side splitting show from start to finish.
Although the show tries to revolve more around Smith and his day to day life, with his comical abilities and brilliantly funny expression, it is really down to the entire cast that has made this show as popular as it has become.
With the likes of Ribeiro as Carlton, with his strange spoilt attitude and his love all things on the 'camp' side...and not forgetting his jellyfish like dance technique which will have you rolling on the floor.
Then we have Parsons portraying Hilary to perfection, with her totally selfish nature, wanting everything she see right there right now...
And Ali as Ashley, the youngest member of the clan, although she doesn't really come into her own until later in the series.
Avery pull of the big guy Phil with some brilliance, coming across as firm but fair, whilst seemingly terrified by his wife, who Whitten takes on the role in this series so well....although with the Banks family under the guidance of these two you will be wondering how the family has stayed together for so long..?

Then there's the excellent way that Marcell portrays Geoffrey, the butler, with his no nonsense attitude and witty one liners, seeming to keep the Banks family form walking all over him...
And to add the very comical character of Townes as the colourful and slightly irritating Jazz this show is one of the best sitcoms ever made...( IMO anyway)

In all, this is a brilliant comical series and is well worth buying on the DVD series, each series on sale for around £10.00 each, although only series 1-4 are available on region 2 DVDs.

Summary: Everyone needs a rich relative...