The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television
sitcomA situation comedy, usually referred to as a sitcom, is a genre of comedy programs which originated in radio. Today, sitcoms are found almost exclusively on television as one of its dominant narrative forms...
that originally aired on
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
from September 10, 1990 to May 20, 1996. The show starred
Will SmithWillard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. is an American actor, film producer and rapper. He has enjoyed success in music, television and film. Newsweek has called him the most powerful actor on the planet...
as a street-smart teenager from
West PhiladelphiaWest Philadelphia is a section of the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Though there is no official definition of its boundaries, West Philly is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Line Avenue to the northwest, Cobbs Creek to the...
who is sent to live with his wealthy relatives in a Bel Air mansion. His lifestyle often clashes with that of his relatives there. 148 episodes were produced over six seasons.
As part of
DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh PrinceDJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince is a hip hop group that was popular in the 1980s and 1990s. The vocalist, Will Smith , met Jeff Townes while trying to make a name for himself in West Philadelphia's local hip hop scene. After joining forces with Clarence Holmes aka Ready Rock C, the team members...
,
Will SmithWillard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. is an American actor, film producer and rapper. He has enjoyed success in music, television and film. Newsweek has called him the most powerful actor on the planet...
was a popular and successful
rapperRapping is the rhythmic spoken delivery of rhymes, wordplay, and poetry. Rapping is a primary ingredient in hip hop music, but the phenomenon predates hip hop culture by centuries. Rapping can be delivered over a beat or without accompaniment...
during the late 1980s but, having spent money freely and underpaying his income taxes, was assessed to be $2.8 million in tax debt by the
I.R.S.The Internal Revenue Service is the United States federal government agency that collects taxes and enforces the internal revenue laws. It is an agency within the U.S. Department of the Treasury and is responsible for interpretation and application of Federal tax law. The official U.S...
, who took many of his possessions, and
garnishedA garnishment is a means of collecting a monetary judgment against a defendant by ordering a third party to pay money, otherwise owed to the defendant, directly to the plaintiff...
his income.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television
sitcomA situation comedy, usually referred to as a sitcom, is a genre of comedy programs which originated in radio. Today, sitcoms are found almost exclusively on television as one of its dominant narrative forms...
that originally aired on
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
from September 10, 1990 to May 20, 1996. The show starred
Will SmithWillard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. is an American actor, film producer and rapper. He has enjoyed success in music, television and film. Newsweek has called him the most powerful actor on the planet...
as a street-smart teenager from
West PhiladelphiaWest Philadelphia is a section of the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Though there is no official definition of its boundaries, West Philly is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Line Avenue to the northwest, Cobbs Creek to the...
who is sent to live with his wealthy relatives in a Bel Air mansion. His lifestyle often clashes with that of his relatives there. 148 episodes were produced over six seasons.
Conception
As part of
DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh PrinceDJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince is a hip hop group that was popular in the 1980s and 1990s. The vocalist, Will Smith , met Jeff Townes while trying to make a name for himself in West Philadelphia's local hip hop scene. After joining forces with Clarence Holmes aka Ready Rock C, the team members...
,
Will SmithWillard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. is an American actor, film producer and rapper. He has enjoyed success in music, television and film. Newsweek has called him the most powerful actor on the planet...
was a popular and successful
rapperRapping is the rhythmic spoken delivery of rhymes, wordplay, and poetry. Rapping is a primary ingredient in hip hop music, but the phenomenon predates hip hop culture by centuries. Rapping can be delivered over a beat or without accompaniment...
during the late 1980s but, having spent money freely and underpaying his income taxes, was assessed to be $2.8 million in tax debt by the
I.R.S.The Internal Revenue Service is the United States federal government agency that collects taxes and enforces the internal revenue laws. It is an agency within the U.S. Department of the Treasury and is responsible for interpretation and application of Federal tax law. The official U.S...
, who took many of his possessions, and
garnishedA garnishment is a means of collecting a monetary judgment against a defendant by ordering a third party to pay money, otherwise owed to the defendant, directly to the plaintiff...
his income. This left Smith nearly bankrupt when, in 1990, he was approached by the television network
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
who signed him on to a contract and built a sitcom around him.
Theme song and opening sequence
The theme song and opening sequence explains the context of the show. Will Smith is revealed as a street-smart teenager, born and raised on the mean streets of
West PhiladelphiaWest Philadelphia is a section of the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Though there is no official definition of its boundaries, West Philly is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Line Avenue to the northwest, Cobbs Creek to the...
, while the plot of the story is shown and rapped in the theme song.
The theme song was written and performed by The Fresh Prince (Will Smith). Contrary to popular belief,
DJ Jazzy JeffJeffrey Townes , also known as DJ Jazzy Jeff or simply Jazz, is an American hip hop, R&B record producer, turntablist and actor. He is best known for his early career with Will Smith as DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince...
did not compose the music for the opening credits. The music was composed by
Quincy Jones IIIQuincy Delight Jones III is a Swedish-American composer, music producer, film producer, and author.- Personal life :...
, who is credited at the end of each episode. An additional credit at the end of episodes also reads "Theme song written by Will Smith", in regard to the lyrics, with no reference to DJ Jazzy Jeff. The music often used to bridge scenes together during the show is also based on a similar chord structure to the theme song. This too is the work of Quincy Jones III. The full version of the theme song, telling how he went on a plane to Bel-Air, was used unedited on some earlier episodes. Will Smith recorded this version as an unreleased B-side. The full-length version, which is 2:52", was included on Will Smith's
Greatest HitsGreatest Hits is a Best of compilation album by Will Smith released in January 2002 on Columbia Records.-Track listing:# "Girls Ain't Nothin' but Trouble" – 4:49# "Parents Just Don't Understand" – 5:14...
album and attributed to himself only. A 3:23" version was released in the Netherlands in 1992, and reached #3 on the charts.
For the first few episodes of the show stanzas one to three and stanzas six and seven were used. Beginning with Episode #9 (titled "Someday Your Prince Will Be in Effect (2)"), only the first two and the last two stanzas of the song were used. The change to the theme song allowed for longer episodes to be created.
Seasons 1, 5, and 6 featured an instrumental version of the theme and still photographs from the episode for the closing credits. In Seasons 2, 3, and 4, the music and stills were dropped and closing credits would almost always appear over bloopers and outtakes from the episode.
The Banks mansion
The mansion is where the Banks family, as well as Will, live; the address was revealed in the fourth season's "For Sale By Owner" as 805 Saint Cloud Road. A majority of the show's scenes take place in the mansion. Originally, most of the family scenes took place in the living room, with less prominence given to the kitchen. The living room set had archways at either end to hallways, and two doorways at the back of the set to the side yard. The right-side hallway was occasionally shot in, and had a staircase upstairs, and the front door. The kitchen set was not attached to the rest of the downstairs set, and was unconventionally laid out compared to many sitcoms: The left side had counters that continued along the
fourth wallThe fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play. The term also applies to the boundary between any fictional setting and its audience...
(where the audience would be), and had a lot of depth (from the audience perspective), with camera angles frequently shooting almost parallel to the fourth wall. The set had two interior doors; one of which, at the right side of the set, led to the hallway left of the living room (though was not attached on set), and an exterior door to the unseen back yard. There was a dining room also off the hallway left of the living room. The upper floor hallway was shown in Season 1, until the mansion sets were completely rebuilt after the season.
In the second season, the kitchen and living room sets were rebuilt much larger with a more contemporary style (as opposed to the much more formal style of the first season), and were connected directly by an archway, allowing scenes to be shot continuously between the sets, which is where most scenes were shot. The staircase upstairs was incorporated into the back of the living room, with only one rarely-used exit to the side yard beside it. An actual television prop was added at the fourth wall, whereas there had only been one implicitly in the first season. The archway to the right still led to a hallway with the front door. The only element that remained from the original set was the kitchen's left-hand wall and island which were rotated ninety degrees to become the back wall at the right of the kitchen, with some modification to the cosmetics. The archway was the only way into the room, other than the exit at the left to the backyard patio, which was now an existing part of the main house set.
In addition, Will's and occasionally other family members', rooms were shown (sometimes changing looks between appearances) during the series. The pool house was shown in one episode of season 3. A different set was used when it became a main location in season 4 until the end of the series, after Will and Carlton moved in.
Despite the changes, the exterior shot of the Banks house, which is an actual house in
Bel-Air, Los Angeles, CaliforniaBel Air is a faux-gated residential community in the hills of the Westside of the city of Los Angeles, California. Together with Beverly Hills and Holmby Hills it forms the Platinum Triangle of Los Angeles neighborhoods....
, was constant throughout the series, usually featured in still shots. A running gag, however, featured Jazz being physically thrown out of the front door using the exterior of the house. Every time he is thrown out of the house, he is shown wearing the same shirt although he does not always wear it when he is thrown out (the producers never shot a second sequence with Jazz being thrown out of the house, only adjusting the original scene for time purposes; an exception is in the episode "Community Action", where Jazz was thrown out along with a lifesize cardboard cut-out of
Bill CosbyWilliam Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, The Bill Cosby Show,...
, complete with a blooper showing Jeff Townes reshooting his flying off the house several times).
Bel-Air Prep
Bel-Air Prep is the high school that Will and Carlton attend in Seasons 1-3. Ashley also starts as Freshman in Season 3. The 3 main sets are the classroom, a hallway and the auditorium (the auditorium was only shown in three episodes: "Def Poet's Society", "Courting Disaster" and "Just Say Yo").
Hospital
A hospital in Los Angeles is seen in several episodes which deal with the Banks family's medical problems. The exterior shot of the hospital is a shot of the VA Hospital in nearby
WestwoodWestwood Village is a district in western Los Angeles, California, United States. Westwood is best known as the home of the University of California, Los Angeles . The eastern portions of the district are often thought of as a distinctly different neighborhood, Holmby Hills...
Jazz's apartment in Compton
Jazz lives with a few friends in a run-down apartment complex in
Compton, CaliforniaCompton is a city in southern Los Angeles County, California, United States, south-southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The city was incorporated in 1889. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 93,493....
called the Chalet Towers. This setting was seen in every season except Seasons 2 and 6.
KFPB Channel 8 News station
This setting was seen throughout Season 3 because Hilary was hired as a
weather girlWeather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a future time and a given location. Human beings have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia, and formally since at least the nineteenth century...
and fell in love with Trevor Collins, who died in a bungee accident in Season 4. Due to his death, the setting was written off towards the end of the 4th Season. The setting returned in Season 6 because Hilary's own talk show was produced there.
ULA Student Store
The ULA Student Store, also known as "The Peacock Stop" for the school mascot, is where Will, Carlton, and Will's friend Jackie Ames work. In Season 4, Jackie is the manager, Carlton is the assistant manager, and Will is the cashier. When Jackie leaves ULA in the middle of Season 4, Carlton takes over as manager and Will becomes assistant manager and cashier until Season 5.
Awards and nominations
| Awards |
Outcome |
Recipient(s) |
Year |
| ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards: |
| Top TV Series |
Won |
Quincy JonesQuincy Delight Jones, Jr. is an American music conductor, record producer, musical arranger, film composer and trumpeter. During five decades in the entertainment industry, Jones has earned a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend Award in 1991...
Will SmithWillard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. is an American actor, film producer and rapper. He has enjoyed success in music, television and film. Newsweek has called him the most powerful actor on the planet...
DJ Jazzy JeffJeffrey Townes , also known as DJ Jazzy Jeff or simply Jazz, is an American hip hop, R&B record producer, turntablist and actor. He is best known for his early career with Will Smith as DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince...
|
1994 |
| Emmy Award The Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards , Grammy Awards and Tony Awards .They are presented in various...
s: |
| Outstanding Individual Achievement in Lighting Direction for a Comedy Series |
Nominated |
Art Busch |
1996 |
| Golden Globe Awards: |
| Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series - Comedy/Musical |
Nominated |
Will Smith |
1994 |
| Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series - Comedy/Musical |
Nominated |
Will Smith |
1993 |
| Image Award: |
| Outstanding Comedy Series |
Nominated |
|
1997 |
| Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series |
Won |
Alfonso Ribeiro Alfonso Lincoln Ribeiro is an American actor, singer and dancer. He is best known for his roles as Carlton Banks on the television sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Alfonso Spears on the TV series Silver Spoons...
|
1996 |
| Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series |
Nominated |
Will Smith |
1997 |
| Outstanding Youth Actor/Actress |
Won |
Tatyana Ali Tatyana Marisol Ali is an American actress and R&B singer, best known for her role as Ashley Banks in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.-Early life:...
|
1997 |
| Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series |
Nominated |
Nia Long Nitara Carlynn "Nia" Long is an American actress and occasional music video director. She is best known for her roles in the television series The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air and Third Watch, and the films Soul Food, Love Jones, The Best Man, Big Momma's House, and Are We There Yet?.-Early years:Long...
|
1996 |
| Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series |
Nominated |
Daphne Maxwell Reid |
1996 |
| Kids' Choice Awards: |
| Favorite Television Actor |
Nominated |
Will Smith |
1996 |
| Favorite Television Show |
Nominated |
|
1996 |
| Favorite TV Actress |
Won |
Tatyana Ali |
1996 |
| NCLR Bravo Awards The American Latino Media Arts Award, or ALMA Award is a distinction awarded to Latino performers who promote positive portrayals of Latinos in the entertainment field...
: |
| Outstanding Television Series Actor in a Crossover Role |
Nominated |
Alfonso Ribeiro |
1996 |
| TP de Oro The TP de Oro is a Spanish award given since 1973, to honour, mostly, Spanish, but also foreign television series. The TP de Oro is considered to be the most prestigious Spanish awards for television.-External links:* *...
: |
| Best Foreign Series (Mejor Serie Extranjera) |
Nominated |
|
1996 |
| Best Foreign Series (Mejor Serie Extranjera) |
Won |
|
1994 |
| TV Land Awards A TV Land Award is an American television award that generally commemorates shows now off the air, rather than in current production as with awards such as the Emmys. It is presented in a manner that spoofs other entertainment award ceremonies...
: |
| Best Broadcast Butler |
Nominated |
Joseph Marcell Joseph Marcell is a Caribbean-born British actor, best known for his work as Geoffrey the snooty English butler on the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He serves on the board of the Globe Theatre in London and is a British citizen.Joseph Marcell moved with his family to England when he was...
|
2004 |
| Favorite "Fish Out of Water" |
Nominated |
Will Smith |
2004 |
| Young Artist Awards: |
| Best Performance by an Actor Under Ten - Television |
Won |
Ross Bagley Ross Elliot Bagley is an American actor. Most popular as a child actor during the mid-1990s, he is best known for his supporting role as Nicholas "Nicky" Banks on NBC's sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air...
|
1996 |
| Best Performance by an Actor Under Ten in a TV Series |
Won |
Ross Bagley |
1995 |
| Best Youth Comedienne |
Nominated |
Tatyana Ali |
1994 |
| Best Young Actor Guest Starring in a Television Series |
Nominated |
Larenz Tate Larenz Tate is an American film and television actor.-Early life:Tate was born on the west side of Chicago, the son of Peggy and Larry Tate. He is the youngest of three siblings whose family moved to California when he was nine years old...
|
1993 |
| Best Young Actor Guest Starring or Recurring Role in a TV Series |
Nominated |
Tevin Campbell Tevin Jermod Campbell is an American R&B singer-songwriter. Campbell scored a string of R&B chart hits as a teenager in the early to mid-1990s...
|
1992 |
| Best New Family Television Comedy Series |
Won |
|
1991 |
| YoungStar Award: |
| Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Comedy TV Series |
Won |
Tatyana Ali |
1997 |
U.S. television ratings
Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on NBC.
Note: U.S. network television seasons generally start in late September and end in late May, which coincides with the completion of the May sweepsNielsen ratings are audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
.
| Season |
Episodes |
Season Premiere |
Season Finale |
TV Season |
Rank |
Viewers
(in millions) |
| 1 |
25 |
September 10, 1990 |
May 6, 1991 |
1990–1991 |
N/A |
N/A |
| 2 |
24 |
September 9, 1991 |
May 4, 1992 |
1991–1992 |
#22 |
13.2 |
| 3 |
24 |
September 14, 1992 |
May 10, 1993 |
1992–1993 |
#16 |
13.6 |
| 4 |
26 |
September 20, 1993 |
May 23, 1994 |
1993–1994 |
#22 |
12.9 |
| 5 |
25 |
September 19, 1994 |
May 15, 1995 |
1994–1995 |
N/A |
N/A |
| 6 |
24 |
September 18, 1995 |
May 20, 1996 |
1995–1996 |
N/A |
N/A |
Syndication and DVD releases
The series was originally an
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
production in association with The Stuffed Dog Company and Quincy Jones Productions (later QDE, or Quincy Jones/David Salzman Entertainment). After the show was released to syndication, the rights reverted to
Warner Bros. TelevisionWarner Bros. Television is the television production and distribution arm of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself part of Time Warner. Alongside CBS Television Studios, it serves as a television production arm of The CW Television Network , though it also produces shows for other networks, such as...
, which continues to distribute the show worldwide (although NBC Universal does own the series' copyright). Currently, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air airs on
TBSTurner Broadcasting System, Inc. is the company managing the collection of cable networks and properties started by Robert Edward "Ted" Turner in the mid-1970s....
,
BETBet or BET may refer to:* A wager in gambling* Basic Economics Test *Bet , the second letter in many Semitic alphabets, including Aramaic, Hebrew, Phoenician and Syriac...
,
WADLWADL, channel 38 is a full-power, commercially licensed broadcast television station in the Midwestern United States. As an independent television station licensed to the town of Mount Clemens, Michigan, the station serves the entire Detroit metropolitan area. The station also serves most of the...
, and
ABC FamilyABC Family is an American cable television network currently owned by ABC Family Worldwide Inc., a division of The Walt Disney Company. ABC Family offers contemporary and inclusive programming, including series, movies, events, and enhanced ABC encore presentations...
.It aired on Nick@Nite from 2004 to 2009, as well as The-N, But was removed in September 2009 after ABC purchased the rights to the show. It is also currently being aired on the UK digital TV channel
Virgin 1Virgin1 is the flagship television channel operated by the British broadcaster Virgin Media Television. The channel was launched on 1 October 2007 at 9pm on Freeview, Virgin Media and Sky Digital, replacing Ftn. The channel is broadcast 24 hours on cable, satellite and Freeview complemented by...
and in Canada on YTV,
TVtropolisTVtropolis is a Canadian English language cable television specialty channel owned by Canwest Media Inc. and Rogers Media.-Programming:TVtropolis' programming consists of various classic scripted series from the 1980s and 1990s, many of which they are most noted for their sitcoms and comedy...
and Crossroads Television.
Disney XDDisney XD is an American digital cable television channel owned by The Walt Disney Company that mostly airs children's animated television series. The network launched on February 13, 2009 as the successor to Toon Disney...
started airing the show on 19 September 2009 and will start airing on
Disney ChannelDisney Channel is a cable television channel specializing in television programming for children through original series and movies as well as third party programming. It is marketed to mostly children; however, in recent years the diversity of viewers has increased with an older audience,...
in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by the end of 2009.
Warner Home VideoWarner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., itself part of Time Warner. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video . It was re-named Warner Home Video in 1980...
has released the first four seasons of the series on DVD. It is currently unknown whether Seasons 5 and 6 will be released due to conflicts over music rights costs.
| DVD Name | |Release dates | Region 1DVD region codes are a DRM technique designed to allow motion picture studios to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and, price; according to the region...
| Region 2DVD region codes are a DRM technique designed to allow motion picture studios to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and, price; according to the region...
| Region 4DVD region codes are a DRM technique designed to allow motion picture studios to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and, price; according to the region...
|
|---|
| The Complete 1st Season |
25 |
February 8, 2005 |
February 21, 2005 |
April 13, 2005 |
"Back-to-Bel-Air: A Fresh Look" featurette. |
| The Complete 2nd Season |
24 |
October 11, 2005 |
November 21, 2005 |
March 1, 2006 |
Best Bits of Bel Air and Bloopers from Season 2 |
| The Complete 3rd Season |
24 |
February 14, 2006 |
June 26, 2006 |
August 9, 2006 |
Best of the Upper Bel-Air Crust (Season 3 highlights) and Bloopers from Season 3 |
| The Complete 4th Season |
26 |
August 8, 2006 |
January 22, 2007 |
December 6, 2006 |
No extras are available in the boxed set of season 4. |
| The Complete 5th Season |
25 |
TBA |
TBA |
TBA |
|
| The Complete 6th Season |
24 |
TBA |
TBA |
TBA |
|
External links