Fresh Eyes

A Running Diary While Watching the Pilot of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air 25 Years Later

By: Jeff McDonough

Last week on September 10, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air celebrated its 25^th anniversary. It was back at the end of the summer of 1990 — a little less than a year before I was born — that the inaugural episode aired on NBC. To commemorate this milestone for one of my all-time favorite television shows, I decided to watch the pilot and keep a running diary of my to-the-second reactions. Fresh Prince is a special series for many reasons. It took a big chance by casting a popular rapper with no acting experience as its lead, and in turn launched the career of one of the biggest movie stars in history. Will Smith set a box office record last decade when eight straight films where he was the lead grossed over $100 million in the US alone. He had four previous $100 million domestic efforts before the streak as well, but took a short break from printing money to do some more serious films such as Ali — all that did was earn him his first Oscar nomination, no biggie. While Smith — whose character’s name, in true Seinfeld-ian fashion, is Will Smith — is the center of this universe around which everything else orbits, it ended up being much more of an ensemble show than I imagine the creators expected.

Each of the seven main characters gives a worthwhile performance — which consisted of eight actors because the role of the matriarchal Vivian was shared by Janet Hubert-Whitten and Daphne Maxwell Reid. Unlike most shows where a character has to be recast, this wasn’t a jumping-the-shark-type moment. I don't really consider one actress more the “true” Aunt Viv than the other — probably because they split their time so evenly and were both fine actresses. Hubert-Whitten was the original for the first three seasons before she was forcibly removed due to a reported attitude problem that caused friction amongst the cast and crew. Maxwell Reid took over for the final three seasons and is the only Aunt Viv seen in any reunion sort of setting. None of this is to slight memorable recurring guest stars like DJ Jazzy Jeff as Jazz, Nia Long as Will’s fiancé Lisa, Tyra Banks as Jackie, Ross Bagley as little Nicky and Vernee Watson-Johnson as Will’s mom. It is the relationships amongst the main characters, however, that make the series shine. So let's dive in and run back the pilot — alternatively titled “The Fresh Prince Project” — after two and a half decades. It is 22 minutes in length without commercials — you can stream it yourself here — and all times reflect how far into the episode we are.

Charm City Takes

My Preview of the 2015 Baltimore Ravens

By: Jeff McDonough

The NFL season kicked off last night in Foxboro with Brady and Gronk running roughshod all over the Steelers’ porous defense. For many fanbases around the country, and locally, the true kickoff to the season comes Sunday when 26 more teams begin their season, including your Baltimore Ravens.

The 2014 campaign was a rollercoaster ride for the Ravens. Injuries piled up in their defensive backfield and eventually forced them to play their 12^th option at cornerback. Yes. Seriously. Twelve. Ahem… Jimmy Smith, Lardarius Webb, Asa Jackson, Aaron Ross, Chykie Brown, Dominique Franks, Anthony Levine, Danny Gorrer, Matt Elam, Tramain Jacobs and Rashaan Melvin all had to struggle, get injured, cut or benched before street free agent Antoine Cason saw the field. That makes 12. The low point was when Ben Roethlisberger threw for six touchdowns vs. Baltimore on Sunday Night Football in Week 9. They astoundingly rebounded from this and returned to the playoffs after missing out on the postseason the season prior — the only such season in the seven year Harbaugh-Flacco Era. They promptly went back into Pittsburgh in the Wild Card Round and this time emerged with an impressive 30-17 victory, which marked the first time they had ever defeated the Steelers in the playoffs after failing in their first three tries. The Ravens even gave the eventual Super Bowl champs a hell of a run for their money in Foxboro before coming up just short. A seemingly sour season had ended on some really high notes.

So as we look forward to 2015, let’s break down what we have with this Ravens team, and take a look at all the position groups.