Remembering the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is basically remembering one of the best parts of growing up since from the theme song to the content the show was nothing but great and managed to entertain millions of people during its time on the air while at the same time touching a lot of people in a way that most of us likely haven’t forgotten. For a show that was pretty much one of the silliest and easiest to laugh at it also had a lot of touching moments that a lot of people still remember today since they tend to show up on social media quite often. As far as Will Smith using his real name on the show it does make sense that this would have become the case as Alfonso Ribeiro said this was how people were going to come to know him for the rest of his career. Face it, the other cast members have taken on other roles since this show and yet they’re still bound to be known for what they did while they were on this program, largely because like Carlton they were so over the top that it was easy to see them as their characters and harder to see them in any other light. Karyn Parsons went on to star in a few other projects and was in Major Payne, but she was almost always remembered as Hilary since this is where people remembered her from. Realistically this is a positive thing since this was a great show in its day and it did give a lot of the cast a great chance to start or continue a career.
There were issues in the show to be certain since according to Deanna Kerley of Mental Floss, Will Smith actually needed to do the show since he was in deep trouble with the IRS, and had to give over a sizable chunk of his salary for the first three seasons. Thankfully though there were plenty of great moments as well since the cast tended to be pretty tight and spent a great deal of time getting ready for the show at times, bonding with one another in ways that were rather inspiring and showed that they did care quite a bit for each other. If we learned anything from this show, and we learned a lot to be sure, it was that there are still shows that are bound to reach out to a variety of people no matter if the cast is black or white and entertain everyone on an equal setting. Despite being an almost all-black cast, as there several white guest stars that ranged from being goofy to being quite serious, this show appealed to just about everyone since it dealt with issues that stemmed from various backgrounds instead of just one.
It’s pretty easy to think that a lot of fans might have wanted the actors to perform as their characters when off screen and it’s just as easy to believe that the actors might have said no more often than not since once the show is over and done with a lot of actors really don’t want to perform. That’s their time after all, and while answering questions doesn’t sound like it would be a big deal, going through the motions that were caught on camera might be asking a bit much. After all, at least people were only wanting DJ Jazzy Jeff to perform the handshake that he and Will had, and didn’t want to instead simulate Uncle Phil throwing Jazz out the door as he did so often. Now that would definitely be going too far….even though it would be funny.
Out of all the actors that fans would love to hear more from however is James Avery, the one and only Uncle Phil. Sadly James passed away in 2013 and despite the fact that it’s been 7 years since his passing a lot of people still miss him terribly. It’s hard not to, the man was a gifted actor and a great addition to the show when it first aired since Uncle Phil was the no-nonsense authoritarian that didn’t put up with Will’s antics all that well but was still there when his family needed him, a real man in other words that was harsh when he felt the need and warm and caring when it was required. Out of all the characters on the show he was probably one of those that people loved the best since he was the head honcho of the house no matter how obvious it was that Will was the star. It’s very easy to miss this show since it’s been gone, but it’s also nice to see that a full-on reunion never occurred since a lot of people want to remember it as it was, without wondering if something’s going to come along to cheapen it.
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