Der Prinz von Bel-Air

A++

Starring: Will Smith, James Avery, and Alfonso Ribeiro.

A boy born and raised in the inner city of Philidelphia is sent by his mother to live with a much richer family, the Banks, in Bel-Air. Will's transition from 'inner-city boy' to 'rich boy' is wonderful. The characters always make me laugh. The characters developments are excellent, especially Carlton's. He's hysterical as the 'geeky' type. If you want to watch any show on TV, you better watch this.

Rank: 1st

I grew up watching The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and still love it to this day. Everyone knows by now what it's about, it's about a street kid from Philadelphia that moves to Bel-Air to live with his rich Uncle, Aunt, cousins and their butler. I watched it so much that I still know every line of the theme song. Is a classic sitcom from the 90's. I even still watch it when it's on now. I know they just did a reboot of the series but you can't reboot a classic like this and expect it to even be half as good. The entire cast is hilarious which is led by a very young Will Smith. It's easily one of the best sitcoms from the 90's. It's one of those shows where you can watch it as much as you want and it's still funny. I'll always love this show!

I like to think of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" as a memorable rap song from a time when it wasn't afraid to be creative or witty. Think of a song by Public Enemy, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, or hell, even The Fresh Prince's duo with DJ Jazzy Jeff (who guest stars frequently as Jazz), as the two were known back in rap's Golden Age as DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince.

Of course, this show flourished during a time when rap was still good, and I can't help but make comparisons to the hip-hop community. There is no question that Will Smith is a born entertainer, and he got his break in stardom outside of hip-hop with "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." In it, Will Smith pretty much plays Will Smith (I bet creators Andy and Susan Borowitz had a lot of difficulty thinking up that name), a Philadelphia ghetto youth who gets shipped out by his mother to the posh excess of Bel-Air to live with relatives - The Banks.

Once out there, he finds rivalry with cousins - the preppy Carlton and airheaded would-be blonde Hilary Banks (Alfonso Ribiero and Karyn Parsons), young cousin Ashley (Tatyana M. Ali) emulates Will's hip-hop attitude, and Aunt Vivian (alternately played by actresses Janet Hubert-Whitten and Daphne Maxwell Reid) keeps husband and successful lawyer Uncle Phil's (James Avery) head cool when Will gets into trouble. To keep everything tidy and in order, their loyal, sarcastic British butler Geoffrey (Joseph Marcell) is there too.

It's still fresh after all these years. It never fails to stir up careful, thoughtful, moving, and intelligent laughs from the viewer and I'm surprised I avoided it for so long. (Why do I do this to myself all the time?)

The acting is cool and fresh by all, especially from Smith, and the ladies of the house, Karyn and Tatyana, are both pretty cute to look at too.

OK, so I never watched this as a kid growing up. I was into manga, nickelodeon, Disney etc. However, now I am 25 i decided to go through all the TV shows I missed whilst growing up and this was one of them. Boy oh boy, I was not disappointed. Despite the last show being run over 20 years ago, this comedy is well worth the watch. Will Smith is obviously the star, but the performances by every single person in the Banks family was memorable. Some episodes were there just for the laughs, some were slower and some had serious learning reflections. The latter is what made this show stand out. Going from an episode that made me laugh to one with a serious message of gun control or racism sets this show apart from the majority of sitcoms. It was, well, a fresh experience.

One of the few gripes I had was that some of the jokes were repeated many, many times. It did start to grate on me when Will would say "You know what I'm sayyyyyiiinnnngggg?" in that characteristic tone. The other thing that slightly annoyed me was the re-casting of Vivian. I understand why it happened, but I just do not think the replacement was anywhere near as good.

Other than these minor points, I thoroughly enjoyed watching this show from S01E01 to S06E24. If you have not watched this show before, you should. If you have seen this show before, you probably should watch it again.

Say what you will about this show. And don't get me wrong, the cast was so good together. But much like Don Knotts during the Andy Griffith show, Alfonso Ribiero was way underrated, and I'm not sure why. The writers put Carlton on paper, but it was Alfonso Ribiero who breathed life into the little geek. I had never watched Fresh Prince until about five years ago and then it was on Nick at Night. Now I always make sure to watch.

I can remember the first time I saw the "Carlton Dance".....it was hysterical. And there was on episode where Will actually danced with Carlton. I was rolling on the floor. Tonight Tom Jones actually made a guest appearance as Carltons Guardian Angel....loved it, absolutely loved it.

So next time you are flipping thru the channels, stop on Fresh Prince and check out Carlton. And remember what I said about Alfonso. The writers may have envisioned Carlton, but it took Alfonso to make me, a forty two year old mother of one, in the mid-west, a fan of this show. Carlton Rocks!!