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".