DVD Quote of the Day: Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

I got a few weeks off between semesters, so like any good student I did absolutely nothing. Nothing at all, except buy some new DVDs. After watching The Pursuit of Happyness in the theaters, it reminded me of how much I used to enjoy The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. So I got seasons 1, 2, and 3 and zipped through all of them already (maybe even twice). Unless you live under a rock, you probably know the premise. Will Smith stars as Will, a young man from Philly sent to live with his aunt, uncle and cousins in Bel-Air to keep him out of trouble. A great ensemble cast with James Avery as stern, father-figure Uncle Phil, Janet Hubert-Whitten as fiery, mother figure Aunt Vivien (seasons 1-3), Alfonso Ribeiro as uptight, young Republican Carlton, Karyn Parsons as ditzy, superficial Hilary, Tatyana Ali as young Ashley and Joseph Marcell as Geoffrey, the sarcastic, British, family butler. A "fish out of water" story about Will shaking up the Banks' household.

While watching seasons 1-3, I realized how many cool guest appearances were made on this show....Richard Roundtree (John Shaft), Don Cheadle, Heavy D, Quincy Jones, Malcolm-Jamal Warner (Theo on the Cosby Show), Naomi Campbell, Vivica A. Fox, Jasmine Guy, Queen Latifah, Tisha Campbell, Lela Rochon, Nia Long, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Diedrich Bader (Oswald on the Drew Carey Show), the FINE Allen Payne, Milton Berle, Raven, Garcelle Beauvais, Larenz Tate, Lark Voorhies (Lisa on Saved by the Bell), Sherman Hemsley, Oprah Winfrey, Vanessa Williams, Kim Fields (Tootie!), Tom Jones, D.L. Hughley, Bell Biv Devoe and recurring appearances by Jeffrey A. Townes as Jazz and the divalicious Jenifer Lewis as Aunt Helen. Some guest appearances wouldn't be as impressive if you were too young to remember some of these people. I had to explain some of them to my son when he asked, "Why are they clapping for that guy?" (You see, there was this show that was really popular a long time ago called "The Cosby Show"....etc)


Hilarious stuff. Unfortunately, Janet Hubert-Whitten was replaced mid-series by Daphne Maxwell-Reid as Aunt Viv. It's not completely clear as to why (some say she didn't get along so well with Will Smith, others say she demanded too high a salary, others say the producers fired her for getting pregnant), but I felt the Aunt Vivien character wasn't the same after that. Not only did Maxwell-Reid look nothing like Hubert-Whitten, but Aunt Viv lost her fiery personality. In any case, I enjoyed the first three seasons during the break. The season 1 DVD box set has 4 discs with 24 episodes, and a short, retrospective documentary with the creators and cast. The season 2 box set has 4 discs with 24 episodes and two special features (The Best Bits of Bel-Air and Bel-Air Bloopers). Season 3 has 4 discs with 24 episodes and two special features made up of highlights and bloopers. Here it is....during the episode where Uncle Phil, Carlton and Will go camping, get lost and run out of gas....

Uncle Phil:...We'll just thumb a ride to the nearest gas station. We used to do it a lot in the 60's.
Will: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Uncle Phil, could you please take a stroll into the 90's, please? We are three black men on the side of a mountain road. The only people that's gonna stop is gonna have on sheets and saying stuff like, "Get 'em, Jim-Bob!"

More ramblings to come....