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.