The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air - The Complete First Four Seasons (1990)

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Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 8-AUG-2006
Media Type: DVD Product Description

waitng

The first four seasons are absolutely hilarious. where are seasons 5 and 6???????????? if anyone can fill me in please do September 10, 2008

Still one of the greatest FAMILY COMEDY SHOWS today!

Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is still funny and family friendly many years after the show's run on NBC. It's worth it to own the seasons on DVD whether you are part of a Black family or of some other race. Many family issues come up throughout the show's run - from a young urban man transplanted into suburbia and trying to adapt, to sibling rivalry, to teenage sexuality and dating, to school/academic issues and college application, to career choices and ethical dilemmas, to marital conflict and possible divorce - and it is great to watch the young teenage Will grow into college student and ultimately a newlywed! The show, of course, wasn't just about young Will, but the Banks couple, their extended families, Will's absentee father, young Ashley growing up, Carlton...even the butler -each and every character was the main subject of an episode at some point. A SOLID INVESTMENT YOU WILL ENJOY FOR YEARS TO COME. July 5, 2008

Great show

I think this show is amazing and it is very very funny. Will Smith is very talented and since this show he has done serious acting and he is a good role model for the whole world.
The cast is superb and behind the mask of shallowness there is a great message hidden too.
And now... I Quit, I Quit, I Quit !!!
November 23, 2007

you can't rape the willing

I'd rather drill my own teeth than sit still long enough to watch the Fresh Prince, Will Smith, make a total jackass out of himself and everyone else around him. "The Fresh Prince" is nothing more than a poisonous toxin tunneled through your TV set, slickly disguised as a television program. This episodic conundrum is insulting to anyone with at least basic intelligence. It is absolutely beyond the imagination how anyone who has at least a junior college education would find this drivel entertaining. The same types of people that acquitted O.J. Simpson are the same ones that watch this mockery of a show. And, just like The Juice, Will Smith hasn't done a single thing for the black community.

Besides pandering to the lowest common denominator what was the relevance of this show? There is absolutely no importance to "The Fresh Prince Show." Every plot was always the same. Will did something moronic and Uncle Phil or Aunt Viv came down on him and had to clean up his childish mess. But someone should have told Will that he was not a child. He was a man. Did Will ever really learn his lesson? Better still, did Will ever learn anything?

"The Fresh Price of Bel-Air" was never even funny. Yes, I know Will made jokes all the time. But was this funny? I don't think so. Instead, it was tragic. Here was an African-American grown man, that was uneducated, unable to communicate in a well-informed manner, who did not have a career or any preparation for the real world and who had no father in his life. In the end, the proverbial joke was being played on Will. And no matter how much I dislike Will and no matter how much I will always dislike Will, even he doesn't deserve this rotten hand of cards.

Except for the talents of Mrs. Janet Hubert-Whitten, the entire supporting cast was beyond abominable. Mrs. Janet Hubert-Whitten was the only serious professional on this joke of a sitcom; and that isn't funny! It always amazed me that she had the determination and apparent stamina to stay on this atrocity for as long as she did. But eventually Will Smith had Mrs. Hubert-Whitten fired. He wanted to get rid of her because he was intent on milking this cancerous gangrene cash-cow for all it was worth. And that's pure irony since he's the cash-cow. Mrs. Hubert-Whitten was a very strong African-American woman. So, it's no shock that Will Smith was afraid of her and it goes without saying that she was replaced by a more passable shade of acceptability. In the long run though, Mrs. Hubert-Whitten is much better off because she gets the last laugh. And she wasn't being forced to submit to The Man, like Will Smith undoubtedly did during the entire run of this show.

It should come as no surprise that this TV program is also incredibly unrealistic in terms of the clear-cut description of the locality. "Bel-Air" is simply used in name only. The poetic license that the writers and producers tried to invoke long expired because their grossly irresponsible story had rock-bottom similarities with the bona fide area. Bel-Air is one of the most well-known and opulent districts in the entire Los Angeles region. As you may know, it is the pinnacle of the "Platinum Triangle." But, from watching "The Fresh Prince" one would conceive that the neighborhood of Bel-Air was simply a middle-class suburban area. This couldn't be further from reality. How uninformed do the producers expect their viewers to be?

Just because Uncle Phil (portrayed by the boring and abysmal, James Avery) got on his soapbox every couple of eps and screamed and hollered to Will about how he clawed and scratched his way to the top doesn't bode well; because it comes off as cliché and maybe just a bit hypocritical and condescending. Perhaps a more informative show would portray the socioeconomic issues that plague citizens of inner cities, such as Compton or Camden? I would love to see an uplifting TV show about an African-American gentleman that was faced with adversity along his journey though life who still managed to take advantage of a full education. Not a show like this that tries to pass off an inconversant (and misogynistic) man as a child who has everything given to him, but doesn't learn anything along his troubled way through life. It's absolutely obscene that Will was afforded the best education money could buy but was never able to better himself, while some young men go to horribly oppressive urban schools and manage to expand their minds and become great leaders.

Can someone tell me why Nick at Nite finds it necessary to broadcast "The Fresh Prince" in week-long marathons two or three times a month? Perhaps, when a station like Nick at Nite has such low standards (and expectations) even a crumb can be a feast? This show can't get any crummier. You know, I'm not too young to remember when Nick at Nite once stood for something. There was once a time when this network only showed quality programming. "The Fresh Prince" is the antithesis of excellence and quality, though. Just because something has shock-value doesn't mean it should be shown on American television, every hour and every day. I'm certain Nick at Nite has no problem finding advertisers; because train wrecks always have spectators lying around watching as everything implodes. It may sound naïve, but I have always believed that people should come before profit. When something is so irresponsible and detrimental (to the vast majority of the public) someone needs to have the courage to stand up and do what's right; instead of holding their head down low and going along with the rest of the mindless sheep in their flock. That is nothing less than cowardly.

I challenge anyone who finds it necessary to watch this sewage to read a book, instead. What have you read lately? Just open your mind and read something. Please, read anything! Your brain is starving for some intelligent simulation. Here's a great book, Come On People: On the Path from Victims to Victors. Please keep in mind, if you have difficulty reading that is nothing to be ashamed of. There are many resources for people (like you,) with either very basic or absolutely no reading-educational abilities. But really, I wonder what level of English reading and writing comprehension a person without a proper education, such as Will Smith, actually has? It wouldn't surprise me if he was completely illiterate because I'm sure it would be simpler to teach a Basset Hound how to read. Somehow, I get the impression, that even a mongrel pup has a higher acumen than Mr. Smith. My goodness, I can only imagine the types of "creative editing" that were done on this show. Mr. Smith really must have made the editors work for their wages; I'm sure he drove them absolutely crazy.

I suppose in Hollywood it doesn't matter how ignorant you are as long as you can generate lots of green. It's so sickening to see that this is how far down the pits of hell the nuclear black family has slipped, in the '90s on American coast-to-coast television. But, I sincerely do feel sorry for Will Smith and for everything he stands for. Because he is nothing more than a very weak puppet. Like a caged circus animal, Will Smith is chained down and forced to perform for the masses. The phrase "Fresh Prince" is nothing more than a term coined to describe Will Smith's own enslavement. So, go ahead, and watch the Fresh Prince make a complete and total spectacle out of himself. Are you entertained or shocked at this sickening and grotesque caricature of a young Black-American man?

Like an 18th century slave, Will Smith was raped over repeatedly by his controller. All he had to do was slap a ridiculous smile on his face, "act" really uncultivated for the cameras, get on all fours and submit to The Man. ...And, everything would end happily ever after...?

October 21, 2007

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