The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: Difference between revisions

''I'll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel Air!'' }}

Surprisingly, the show is well-regarded today, not just for launching Smith's acting career, but for being a well-written ensemble comedy despite the gimmicky premise. It also aired for a respectable six seasons (an intentional decision as to not make it a [[Franchise Zombie]]).

** Any time Carlton dances, it's hilariously dorky... unless it's to [[Michael Jackson]], in which case he busts out moves worthy of Michael himself; Ribiero was a backup dancer for Jackson before he was cast on ''The Fresh Prince''.

* [[Adult Child]]: Carlton, holy crap, Carlton. Quite a few of the episodes revolve around Will trying to break him out of this.

** Will academically ([[Smart Ball|sometimes]]) and Carlton socially, in general, so they both see each other, but not themselves, this way.

* [[All Just a Dream]]: A Halloween episode where Will inadvertently gets the family hexed when he mocks the fortune teller doing a seance to communicate with Hilary's dead fiancee, Trevor. Ends with a [[Or Was It a Dream?]] when the end of the episode plays out exactly like the beginning much to Will's horror.

* [[Black and Nerdy]]: Mostly Carlton, although apparently Will collects ''[[Transformers]]'' figures and reads comic books.

** Carlton comes off far more nerdy than Will, but it shouldn't be forgotten that Will was bullied and ostracized at school in Philly for actually studying.

* [[Black Comedy]]: [[I Thought It Meant|No, not literally.]] Well, yes, but it applies both literally and figuratively, and, um... oh, forget it. Just have some examples.

** The entire episode in which Hillary's fiance is killed during his "EXTREME" proposal (bungee-diving).

** The episode in which Phillip Banks' election opponent dies, and everyone who shows up to the funeral celebrates his death.

* [[Bow Ties Are Cool]]: Carlton and Geoffrey, more often than not.

* [[Bratty Teenage Daughter]]: Hilary.

* [[Brilliant but Lazy]]: Arguably Will. In one episode, he scores higher than Carlton, someone who usually gets very good grades, on a standardized test. Will scores in the 91st percentile while Carlton scores in the 90th. The thing is, Will didn't even study for the test while Carlton studied his ass off. Naturally, Carlton is ''pissed''.

** Will won over a Princeton recruiter by solving a rubik's cube in only a few seconds.

** Will has also shown an adeptness for poetry and the piano.

* [[Broken Aesop]]: In the drug episode "Just Say Yo", the moral should obviously be "Don't do drugs". But as Will never wanted Carlton to do any drugs, but was just tired and confused, it was actually Carlton's own fault, if he takes pills from an unlabelled container. The unbelievably stupid way Carlton acted on his own account marks even more important messages: "Don't just take pills when you aren't even exactly sure what it is!" and "Don't take pills from an unlabelled container!" and "Don't just assume the dose of pills you need to take!" The Aesop is not really about the wilful use of illegal drugs at all.

* [[Butt Monkey]]: Carlton falls into this at times, though Jazz gets into the act.

* [[Casanova]]: Will and Jazz.

* [[The Cast Showoff]]: Alfonso Ribiero [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDyfKIKYmcA getting to show off his dancing chops.]

* [[Casting Gag]]: "Hey! Your Isaac Hayes impression '''[[Your Costume Needs Work|SUCKS!!]]'''"

{{quote| '''Random Hillbilly (to Will):''' [[Memetic Mutation|So I herd]] [[Hilarious in Hindsight|u liek]] dancin'... ''(grins)''}}

* [[Drop in Character]]: Jazz, though he's more like "Throw Out Character"....

{{quote| ''Hilary! Will you marry--''}}

* [[Double Entendre]]: In "Be My Baby Tonight", Will is on the phone with his girlfriend, when Ashley and her friend Kevin walk in. He then changes his the subject to his "book report on Alaska". "And the United States said, you know, I'm thinking of laying a pipeline, are you interested?"

* [[Embarrassing Middle Name]]: Geoffrey's middle name is "Barbara".

{{quote| "It's a ''family'' name!"}}

** It also turned out he was a hilariously failed Olympic runner, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txv0hUPW1_k the "Shame of a Nation", as the documentary on him was titled]. [http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=6417 The taxi story actually happened, to Rosie Ruiz at the 1980 Boston Marathon], and led to much more race security since.

* [[Expository Theme Tune]]: Now a meme; functions much like the [[Memetic Mutation|Rickroll]].

* [[Franchise Zombie]]: James Avery (Uncle Phil) even commended Will Smith on wanting to leave the show on a high note instead of keep it dragging on.

* [[Gaussian Girl]]: Frequently, usually involving Carlton.

'''Vivian''': ''(taking off her earrings)'' Oh, honey, we're about to get ''very'' busy here! }}

* [[Life Isn't Fair]]: [[Played for Laughs]].

** Played much more seriously during heavy moments, usually with Carlton. One particularly dark moment occurred when Will was shot.

* [[Light Feminine and Dark Feminine]]: Ashley and Hilary.

* [[Periphery Hatedom]]: Dougie the Dinosaur, who is totally not Barney. Will, of course, finds the idea of someone loving everyone to be [[Lampshade Hanging|impossible]]:

{{quote| '''Will:''' Dougie says he loves everything...am I the only one who finds this disturbing? *starts sarcastically singing to the tune of Dougie's theme song* ''I love bugs and I love death, I love oozing flesh wounds!''}}

* [[Popular Saying, But...]]: Sticks and stones may break my bones, but a fifty foot fall will kill y'all!

* [[Post Script Season]]: The third, fourth and fifth season finales were written to be a respectable farewell in case they didn't get another season. The sixth season [[Grand Finale]] was written with the full knowledge it would not continue.

** [[Opening Shout-Out]]

** The opening ''itself'' is a [[Shout-Out]] to the video for "Parents Just Don't Understand"; they have the exact same visual style (this is especially noticeable in the "extended" versions of the [[Theme Tune]]).

* [[Stop Being Stereotypical]]: A recurring theme of some episodes.

* [[Stylistic Suck]]: A funny variation, as the "Carlton Dance" is meant to look ridiculous and Carlton is generally made fun of for dancing that way. The truth is you can see there is actually a great deal of coordination required and the few times Will performs the same dance, you can tell he isn't quite as smooth at it.

* [[The Talk]]: Happens in one entire episode involving Ashley's curiousness about sex.

* [[Tempting Fate]]: After Will overdecorates the house in the [[Christmas Episode]], he yells at the neighbour who calls them to complain, demanding they meet face to face so he can confront them. When the guy shows up, it's Evander Holyfield, the heavyweight Champion of the world.

* [[Very Special Episode]]: A few, including two on racial profiling (one where the head of a fraternity chooses Will over Carlton because Carlton doesn't act stereotypically black, and another where Carlton and Will are arrested by a racist cop), one on drug abuse (where Will buys amphetamines and Carlton takes them, thinking it's medication he needs to get rid of a pimple), an arc on Will getting shot and Carlton buying a gun for <s>protection</s> revenge, and the episode where Will reunites with his deadbeat father (played by Ben Vereen), only to see him leave again.

* [[Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?]]: A character played by Darryl Sivad has appeared various times as a park ranger, emergency medic and fireman, always with a laid back attitude and making inappropriate jokes, much to the consternation of the main characters.

* [[Your Costume Needs Work]]: In one episode, Will and Lisa almost get a quickie Vegas ''[[Shaft]]''-themed wedding, but come to their senses at the last minute. As they're leaving, Will tells the priest that his Issac Hayes impression sucks; the priest (played, of course, by Issac Hayes) says he didn't think it was ''that'' bad.

* [[Zettai Ryouiki]]: In the later seasons, Ashley, her friends and some extras often wear Grade B socks.

[[Category:Dom Com]]

[[Category:The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air]]