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.

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 child in a mans body, 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.

SERIES ONE… DVD

1) The Fresh prince project
With Will moving into the Banks’s Mansion, donning his wide boy attitude and ill fitting clothing, his life, and all those around him, are about to change forever.
But when an important guest of Uncle Phils arrives for dinner Will seems to mess things up.

2) Bang the drum Ashley
Ashley doesn’t really enjoy playing the violin but doesn’t want to upset her parents, that is until Will convinces her that playing the drums would be a lot ‘cooler’.
Meanwhile, Uncle Phil is not too happy when he meets Wills friend

3 Clubba Hubba
When Will falls for a girl he tries to impress her father so he will allow him to date her, but things don’t go according to plan, especially as Carlton tries to teach him how to behave like a gentleman.

4) Not with my pig you wont
When Phils parents come to stay it is not long before the embarrassing stories are coming out about his childhood as he grew up on a farm.

5) Homeboy, sweet homeboy
A friend of Wills from Philadelphia arrives and is soon irritating the big guy when he makes a move on Hilary

6) Mistaken Identity
Carlton and Will are arrested when the police wrongly assume that they have stolen a car, what with them being black men driving a nice car? But big Phil is soon on the case.
Meanwhile, Hilary has her own problems as she is left holding the baby when Geoffrey goes away for the weekend.

7) Def poet’s society
Wills plans to charm the girls at school get him into trouble after he joins the poetry class.

8 & 9) Someday your prince will be in effect (A two parter)
With a Halloween party fast approaching Will and Carlton have a bet on who can get a date first, but when they try to charm the same girl with stories of there past things aren’t quite what they seem.
Meanwhile, Hilary and Ashley are accused of shoplifting.

10) Kiss my Butler
Will has a surprise for Geoffrey on his birthday but is soon feeling a little jealous about the present he gets him. (guest appearance by Naomi Campbell)

11) Court Disaster
Will shows his jealousy streak when he sees Carlton is on the basketball team but Carlton is none too pleased.

12) Talking Turkey
Will’s mum pays a visit to the Banks household and soon realises just how much Will has changed, but things soon change when she puts her foot down.

13) Knowledge is power
Hilary manages to get Will grounded for a month after tell Uncle Phil what he has been up to, so Will plots revenge and soon finds out some interesting news.

14) Day Damn one
Will explains his first day at Bel Air academy to try and scare Ashley and her friends at her sleepover.

15) Deck the Halls
Will’s upsetting the neighbours again as he tries to show Hilary what a real Christmas is about.

16) Lucky Charm
One of uncle Phil’s clients comes to dinner and soon believes Will is the key to his future.

17) The ethnic trip
When Will gets the school to have a black history week he soon realises his error when he sees who the teacher is.

18) The Young and Restless
Phil’s mother arrives to recuperate after an illness but is soon annoyed at the attention she is receiving from her son, so when Will makes a suggestion of a fun day out she jumps at the chance.

19) It had to be you
When Will takes Jazz’s sister out for a date as a favour to his friend he soon realises that he may have bitten off more than he can chew.

20) Nice Lady
Will is banned from going to a concert so he offers to look after the daughter of Geoffrey’s friend, only she isn’t quite as innocent as he first thought but no-one will believe him.

21) Love at first sight
Will tries to impress one of Vivian’s students over a dinner party but is soon in conflict with Vivian when she fears for her students grades.

22) Banks shot
Hilary is left in charge of the house with Vivian away and Phil at work, but when Will ‘borrows’ the car to go and play pool he is soon in more trouble than he can handle, leaving Phil to come to his rescue in a very surprising way.

23) 72 hours
Will bets Carlton that he can’t spend a week in Jazz’s neighbourhood, only for his bet to backfire as Carlton seem to be settling in too well.

24) Just information
Ashley’s birthday present list is a little too much for Will and Carlton to handle.

25) Working it out
Hilary’s new boss is a little too much for her to handle, although Will seems happy with the attention, leaving Hilary in a little predicament.

== Extras on this disc set ==

Interviews with some of the stars, producers and writers.

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 potrays 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 series one dvd is nearly 14 hours of comically witty entertainment split onto 5 discs and is well worth the £10.00 you pay for it…