Series Description

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air TV show was a 30 minute comedy series on NBC about a street-wise teenager named "Will" from the 'hood in Philadelphia who got sent by his parents to live with their wealthy relatives in Bel-Air, California. The purpose of the move was for Will to learn how to be more decent, responsible, and less childish. Will's wealthy family members, however, found that there were things that Will could teach them too!

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Cast

Will Smith .... Will Smith
Tatyana M. Ali .... Ashley Banks
Alfonso Ribeiro .... Carlton Banks
Karyn Parsons .... Hilary Banks
James Avery .... Philip Banks
Joseph Marcell .... Geoffrey Butler
Janet Hubert-Whitten .... Vivian Banks (1990-1993)
Daphne Maxwell Reid .... Vivian Banks (1993-1996)

Fresh Prince Theme Song

Title: "Fresh Prince"

By: "Willard Smith And Jeffrey Townes"

Now this is the story all about how,
My life got flipped, turned upside down,
And I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there,
I'll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel-Air.

In West Philadelphia, born and raised
On the playground is where I spent most of my days.
Chillin' out, maxin', relaxin all cool,
And all shootin' some b-ball outside of the school.

When a couple of guys who were up to no good,
Started makin' trouble in my neighborhood.
I got in one little fight and my mom got scared,
And said "You're movin' with your auntie and uncle in Bel-Air."

I whistled for a cab, and when it came near,
The license plate said "fresh" and it had dice in the mirror.
If anything I could say that this cat was rare,
But I thought "Nah forget it, Yo home to Bel-Air."

I pulled up to the house about seven or eight,
and I yelled to the cabby "Yo homes, smell ya later."
Looked at my kingdom, I was finally there,
To sit on my throne as the Prince of Bel-Air.

Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Trivia

Fresh Prince was incorporated into the title of the series because that's what Will Smith used as his stage name when he was performing in the 1980s as a rap artist.

The crazy "Carlton Dance" that you saw on the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air TV show was a parody of a dance that Courteney Cox ("Misfits of Science" and "Friends") performed on the 1984 music video by Bruce Springsteen titled, "Dancing in the Dark". It may appear that Will Smith's character on the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air has the same name as he does in real life but that's not exactly true. His real first name is "Willard" and on the show it's "William".

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was canceled at the end of the fourth season when Will returned to Philadelphia. Ratings had become not horrible but not very good either. The fourth and fifth seasons happened for a couple of reasons. First, both Will Smith and NBC received tons of mail begging them to keep producing the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Secondly, the NBC affiliates were repeating the old episodes and those repeats were getting pretty terrific ratings (for repeats, that is). Most of the station managers were worried that with only 99 episodes, audiences would soon tire of the same old episodes over and over again so many of them offered to pay a much higher fee than usual for the rights to run the repeats if NBC would produce 50 more episodes!

In the opening sequence of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air there's a cab driver that you might recognize if you look closely. It's Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's executive producer, "Quincy Jones".

Janet Hubert-Whitten left the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air after finishing the third season. Daphne Maxwell Reid took over her role as Vivian Banks for the final three seasons. Apparently Janet, Will Smith, and the producers were not getting along well. She was offered a contract for the fourth season but she wouldn't sign.

Sherman Hemsley appeared on five episodes of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. On episodes #55, 56, and 59 he appeared as "Judge Carl Robertson". Then, a few years later, he showed up on episode #116 and 148 as George Jefferson, his starring role on "The Jeffersons TV Show".

On episode #142, "Hare Today" it's disclosed that Geoffrey Butler's middle name is "Barbara".

Episodes List With Original Air Dates

Season 1

1... Pilot (9/10/1990)
2... Bang The Drum Ashley (9/17/1990)
3... Clubba Hubba (9/24/1990)
4... Not With My Pig, You Don't (10/1/1990)
5... Homeboy, Sweet Homeboy (10/8/1990)
6... Mistaken Identity (10/15/1990)
7... Def Poet's Society (10/22/1990)
8... Someday Your Prince Will Be In Effect - Part 1 (10/29/1990)
9... Someday Your Prince Will Be In Effect - Part 2 (10/29/1990)
10. Kiss My Butler (11/5/1990)
11. Courting Disaster (11/12/1990)
12. Talking Turkey (11/19/1990)
13. Knowledge Is Power (11/26/1990)
14. Day Damn One (12/3/1990)
15. Deck The Halls (12/10/1990)
16. The Lucky Charm (1/7/1991)
17. The Ethnic Tip (1/14/1991)
18. The Young And The Restless (1/21/1991)
19. It Had To Be You (2/4/1991)
20. Nice Lady (2/11/1991)
21. Love At First Fight (2/18/1991)
22. Banks Shot (2/25/1991)
23. 72 Hours (3/11/1991)
24. Just Infatuation (4/29/1991)
25. Working It Out (5/6/1991)

Season 2

26. Did The Earth Move For You? (9/9/1991)
27. The Mother Of All Battles (9/16/1991)
28. Will Gets A Job (/23/1991)
29. PSAT Pstory (9/30/1991)
30. Grandma Gets Busy (10/7/1991)
31. Guess Who's Coming To Marry? (10/14/1991)
32. The Big Four-Oh (10/21/1991)
33. She Ain't Heavy (11/4/1991)
34. Cased Up (11/11/1991)
35. Hi Ho Silver (11/18/1991)
36. The Butler Did It (11/25/1991)
37. Something For Nothing (12/9/1991)
38. Christmas Show (12/16/1991)
39. Hilary Gets A Life (1/6/1992)
40. My Brother's Keeper (1/13/1992)
41. Geoffrey Cleans Up (1/20/1992)
42. Community Action (2/3/1992)
43. Ill Will (2/10/1992)
44. Eyes On The Prize (2/17/1992)
45. Those Were The Days (2/24/1992)
46. Vying For Attention (3/2/1992)
47. The Aunt Who Came To Dinner (3/23/1992)
48. Be My Baby Tonight (4/27/1992)
49. Striptease For Two (5/4/1992)

Season 3

50. How I Sent My Summer Vacation (9/14/1992)
51. Will Gets Committed (9/21/1992)
52. That's No Lady, That's My Cousin (9/28/1992)
53. Hilary Gets A Job (10/5/1992)
54. Mama's Baby, Carlton's Maybe (10/12/1992)
55. P.S. I Love You (10/19/1992)
56. Here Comes The Judge (10/26/1992)
57. Boyz In The Woods (11/5/1992)
58. A Night At The Oprah (11/9/1992)
59. Asses To Ashe (11/16/1992)
60. A Funny Thing Happened On The Way Home From The Forum (11/23/1992)
61. The Cold War (12/7/1992)
62. Mommy Nearest (12/14/1992)
63. Winner Takes Off (1/4/1993)
64. Robbing The Banks (1/18/1993)
65. Bundle Of Joy (1/25/1993)
66. The Best Laid Plans (2/1/1993)
67. The Alma Mater (2/8/1993)
68. Just Say Yo (2/15/1993)
69. The Baby Comes Out (2/22/1993)
70. You Bet Your Life (3/1/1993)
71. There's No Business Like Show Business (4/12/1993)
72. The Way We Were (5/3/1993)
73. Six Degrees Of Separation (5/10/1993)

Season 4

74. Where There's A Will, There's A Way - Part 1 (9/20/1993)
75. Where There's A Will, There's A Way - Part 2 (9/20/1993)
76. All Guts, No Glory (9/27/1993)
77. Father Of The Year (10/4/1993)
78. It's Better To Have Loved And Lost It... (10/11/1993)
79. Will Goes A Courtin' (10/18/1993)
80. Hex And The Single Guy (10/25/1993)
81. Blood Is Thicker Than Mud (11/1/1993)
82. Fresh Prince After Dark (11/8/1993)
83. Home Is Where The Heart Attack Is (11/15/1993)
84. Take My Cousin...Please (11/22/1993)
85. You've Got To Be A Football (11/29/1993)
86. Twas The Night Before Christening (12/20/1993)
87. Sleepless In Bel-Air (1/3/1994)
88. Who's The Boss (1/10/1994)
89. I Know Why The Caged Bird Screams (1/24/1994)
90. When You Hit Upon A Star (1/31/1994)
91. Stop Will! In The Name Of Love (2/14/1994)
92. You'd Better Shop Around (2/21/1994)
93. The Ol' Ball And Chain (2/28/1994)
94. The Harder They Fall (3/14/1994)
95. "M" Is For The Many Things She Gave Me (4/25/1994)
96. Mother's Day (5/2/1994)
97. Papa's Got A Brand New Excuse (5/9/1994)
98. For Sale By Owner (5/16/1994)
99. The Philadelphia Story (5/23/1994)

Season 5

100. The Client (9/19/1994)
101. What's Will Got To Do With It? (9/19/1994)
102. Reality Bites (9/26/1994)
103. Grumpy Young Men (10/3/1994)
104. Fresh Prince: The Movie (10/10/1994)
105. Will's Misery (10/17/1994)
106. Father Knows Best (10/24/1994)
107. Soooooooul Train (11/7/1994)
108. Love Hurts (11/14/1994)
109. Will's Up The Dirt Road (11/21/1994)
110. Will Steps Out (11/28/1994)
111. Same Game, Next Season (12/12/1994)
112. Three's A Crowd (1/9/1995)
113. It's A Wonderful Lie (1/23/1995)
114. Bullets Over Bel-Air (2/6/1995)
115. A Decent Proposal (2/13/1995)
116. Will Is From Mars... (2/20/1995)
117. The Wedding Show (2/27/1995)
118. Slum Like It...Not! (3/13/1995)
119. As The Will Turns (4/10/1995)
120. Save The Last Trance For Me (4/17/1995)
121. To Thine Own Self Be Blue ... And Gold (4/24/1995)
122. Cold Feet, Hot Body (5/1/1995)
123. Love In An Elevator (5/8/1995)
124. For Whom The Wedding Bells Toll (5/15/1995)

Season 6

125. Burnin' Down The House (9/18/1995)
126. Get A Job (9/25/995) 127. Stress Related (10/2/1995)
128. Bourgie Sings The Blues (10/9/1995)
129. The Script Formerly Known As... (10/16/1995)
130. Not, I Barbecue (10/23/1995)
131. Not With My Cousin You Don't (11/6/1995)
132. Viva Lost Wages (11/13/1995)
133. That's The Rub - Part 1 (11/20/1995)
134. That's The Rub - Part 2 (11/20/1995)
135. I, Ooh, Baby, Baby (12/11/1995)
136. Boxing Helena (1/8/1996)
137. I, Clownius (1/15/1996)
138. Breaking Up Is Hard To Do - Part 1 (2/12/1996)
139. Breaking Up Is Hard To Do - Part 2 (2/19/1996)
140. I, Bowl Buster (2/26/1996)
141. The Butler's Son Did It (3/18/1996)
142. Hare Today... (4/8/1996)
143. Whoops, There It Is (4/15/1996)
144. I, Stank Horse (4/22/1996)
145. I, Stank Hole In One (5/6/1996)
146. Eye, Tooth (5/13/1996)
147. I, Done - Part 1 (5/20/1996)
148. I, Done - Part 2 (5/20/1996)