Holy crap, Janet "First Aunt Viv" Hubert agreed to be part of that Fresh Prince reunion
Aux Features TV
Ever since it was announced back in late August, there’s been one major question circling HBO Max’s cast reunion for The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air: What about Aunt Viv? That is to say, what about the first Aunt Viv, Janet Hubert, who departed the series after its third season (amid lots of rumors and news stories about on-set conflicts with star Will Smith), and who’s spent the intervening years making public knowledge out of her distaste for Smith and several other of her former castmates. When HBO Max announced the special, there was no mention of Hubert, unsurprisingly, although Daphne Maxwell Reid, who took over the Aunt Viv role for the second half of the show, was, of course, included.
Legitimately shocking, then, to see the photos the streaming service released this afternoon, revealing not just the standard reunion shots everyone was expecting, but also one of a one-on-one conversation between Smith and Hubert that was apparently filmed this week. Described as an “emotional reunion and a candid conversation,” the sit-down was apparently the first time the two actors had spoken in any serious way in 27 years. That, not coincidentally, is a time period that’s seen Hubert—who still works semi-regularly, including a recent regular gig on General Hospital, in addition to her work as an activist and artist—write a book demonizing Smith, and state (in a since-deleted social media post attached to a photo taken by some of the cast back in 2017) that “There will never be a true reunion of The Fresh Prince.”
Which, again, immediately makes her willingness to sit down and talk with Smith infinitely more interesting than just seeing how DJ Jazzy Jeff is doing. (He looks good, though!) The HBO Max special was already expected to spend a decent amount of time paying tribute to Uncle Phil actor James Avery, who died in 2013. Now, though, it’s going to offer fans of the show what could prove to be a far more potent blast from the past to go along with all the fonder memories. The special is recording this week, and expected to air around Thanksgiving.
52 Comments
I’m happy that this is happening at all, but it just won’t be the same without Avery. R.I.P.Best TV dad, ever.
The best TV dad was Heathcl- … You’re right. It was Uncle Phil. That scene where Will is crying after Ben Vereen skips out on him again… that’s some bery touching television.
I too would have put Cosby up there, but like you said….um, well….I guess if you ignore the actor’s despicable nature the character is still great, but I find it really hard to separate that anymore.Besides, there’s always Al Bundy!
That’s where I’m at. Cosby the ideal vs. the man are just too hard to separate and all the good he did was undone by his own evil. 🙁
Phil Dunphy can’t even get some side-eye for carrying that show ON HIS BACK for years?
Cliff was pretty skeezy even before we knew what was happening with Bill – there was a whole episode dedicated to Cliff pestering Denise’s husband to tell him if Denise was a virgin on her wedding night.
The secret barbecue sauce episode. He gets pretty damn creepy.
Easily the best moment of that show.
I saw that episode only once, when it aired, and it has stayed with me all this time.
I think it’s okay to still love Heathcliff Huxtable. The Cosby Show may have had his name on it but it wasn’t really about him! It was Clair, Denise, Theo, the writers etc.; without them it wouldn’t have been what it was. I did get rid of all my Cosby standup comedy albums, can’t stand that. But I kept my Cosby Show DVDs. Clair Huxtable just meant too much to me. Or maybe I am just trash. 🙁
I think he developed a form to break his fall after the first 5, since all the tosses were the exact same shot.
Is this where I stan Jack Arnold to at least be in the conversation?
Best TV Dad ever was/is Keith Mars.
Ooh, completely forgot about him. Good call.
How about some love for James Evans?
Had to look that up—never watched Good Times. Maybe I’ll give it a go one of these days, GETtv is always running marathons.
Wow, Josh Gad got some pull ( this is another one of those Josh Gad things right?)
EVERYTHING is now another one of those Josh Gad things
I’d imagine they did what they had to do to get her to show up so they wouldn’t just have to show clips from season 4 on. For some reason, I find clip shows don’t like to show stuff featuring actors who’ve left the show and been recast under less-than-ideal conditions. Maybe a rights thing, I don’t know.
More pressing: Where the hell is Nicky and Cornflake Lieberbaum?
DIVAS!
Nicky will be there, but in keeping with tradition it’ll be Jessie Usher.
I figured that they’d just have Jaden do it.
Not if they want people to watch.
Without Corny it ain’t worth it!
I’m not sure all that happened between the two of them but Will Smith was 22 to 25 years old when he worked with her. We were all assholes at that age(or at least most of us). Based on what I’ve seen of Will Smith he would say the same thing. Seems like 27 years is far long enough to bury the hatchet.
Who knows if it’s true, but apparently she wanted to be the center of the plots instead of Will. Reportedly, James Avery had to pull her aside and tell her “The show’s not called The Fresh Mom of Bel-Air.”
In some respect the show was an ensemble cast, yes, Will Smith was the centerpiece but basically the female cast was: non-existent black mom figure, vapid airhead sister, smart precocious sister who slowly evolved into a brat, and random GF of the week alternating between mostly black but the occasional white woman. Carlton and Uncle Phil got a number of episodes around them. The second aunt Viv had….none? The vapid airhead sister had a number about her eventually being less stupid and the little sister got a few in the later seasons because she got old enough to have Will Smith mentor her as a default dad figure because Uncle Phil was uniformly the ‘tough dad’ in those situations.She legitimately had a point that the women on that show were poorly portrayed and the black family on that show was really only black by virtue of Smith not fitting into a white family. But yeah, I see her point, I also see the show’s point that it was Smith’s starring vehicle but man…racism and sexism is a shitty helper for capitalism.
Counter-point: Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was a really good show.
And here we have a fine example of internet rule #48372: All criticism will be treated as hating.
That is a non-sequitur to my point.
No, you’re right, and I apologize. It was flippant, when your point wasn’t ‘the show sucks’. I do think it’s a bit reaching, though, to say “the family was really only black by virtue of Smith not fitting into a white family.” I understand you’re paraphrasing a bit, but the logic seems like ‘a highly successful TV show about a highly successful black family was only successful because its highly successful star was black, so therefore it didn’t properly represent a highly successful black family’ and then you mention racism in the next line without explaining where in the show you’re seeing it.
No, I would argue this:The Fresh Prince of Bel-air was not representative of the black experience, we don’t need another 227 or Good Times which have issues unto themselves. Instead, it was a show setting Will Smith as a fish out of water in a top-2% of income as a sort of basic sitcom trope. Did the show dive into racism at times? Sure. Were most of the episodes a voice about being black in America? No. I don’t think the Cosby show or any contemporaries did that well but I think TFPoBA is the most egregious of them. I think Will Smith has always been sketchy on addressing being Black in America outside of his occasional comments. I just had to do a google search on him and his views on BLM (I’m sure he supported them) and came up with an interview back in July where he supported them but he wasn’t out there as a forefront member. I’m not asking him to be but is emblematic of his whole quiet views never being a public figure on the matter. He needs to do him, I’m not here to tell him to pick up the standard for people of color but I definitely think he could have done more on multiple fronts.My statement on racism being a helper to capitalism was in the subsequent removal and diminishing of the 2nd Aunt Viv’s role. EDIT: I’m not here to fight with you either, I think we can have a frank discussion that doesn’t devolve into petty fighting. I still think Will Smith is a treat to watch and is awesome actor. I also haven’t watched his show in closer to 15 years with any regularity, so it’s all from recall at this point.
I really can’t agree with the non-existent black mom figure point. Hubert had many episodes centered around her, andi think the second aunt viv had so few because she was basically just a placeholder that never matched up to the original. I’m almost surprised they didn’t replace her again. Also, aunt viv’s sisters, generally also playing a motherly role to Will and the Banks kids, each had episodes focusing on them as well. I wouldn’t say any of those examples portray women in a negative light.I do agree with the random girlfriend of the week point, but that was unfortunately pretty common in most 90’s sitcoms.
That being said, one of my favourite and most memorable episodes was the one where Aunt Viv auditioned for a dance production of some kind. Hubert was SO GOOD. I can still see it perfectly in my mind and I haven’t watched it in at least a decade.
Perhaps it was similar to Family Ties in that the parents were intended to be the stars of the show but Michael J. Fox’ portrayal of Alex Keaton just stole their thunder. Credit to (then) Meridith Baxter-Birney and Michael Gross for either taking it in stride or keeping their gripes quiet.
This wasn’t a Family Matters situation. It was always a Will Smith vehicle.
I always thought he sexually harassed her but don’t remember where I got that. Guess there’s an easy way to find out by clicking on the link of the review of her book.
You’re confusing Smith with Bill Cosby.
1. This went from…intriguing… to “mark this on the calendar”. 2. I wish people would stop coming at Daphne Maxwell-Reid…she did the best with the shoddy material the writers gave her. She had like, three opportunities for the similar type of material that Janet Hubert had, and the show definitely shifted away from the family and more toward will, carlton, and ashley-and the show suffered for it. 3. The entire surviving cast…looks amazing. They have all aged well.
I’m glad to see DJ Jazzy Jeff looking so healthy – the Rona almost took him early on!
Dude survived 50 Uncle Phil-powered tosses onto the front lawn, COVID never stood a chance.
For real. This went from “I’ll see it eventually” to “Man, this is gonna be the most interesting sitdown since Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart!”
Jazzy Jeff hasn’t been hiding, he’s one of the busiest A-List DJs 🙂
I have a rule of thumb when I happen upon a rerun of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air on TV … If it’s got the original Aunt Viv, it’ll be from the fun and watchable earlier seasons, but if not, hard pass!I still maintain my ideal reboot for today, with the same cast, would be starring both Janet Hubert and Daphne Maxwell Reid together as an older couple, reunited with all the kids and their families (and Jeffrey) for Christmas … And throughout the reunion Will relates to both of them equally as ‘Aunt Viv’, with no explanation …
Two Beckys!
Yeah, I almost wrote that in my comment above …
Who’s that guy on the right in the photo? Somebody should’ve thrown him off set for just hanging around all day.
Jazz looks great because he knew to keep his hands up.
It’s so nice to have a headline addressed just to me. It makes me feel special.
I just hope Queen Latifah shows up.
Never, ever, EVER underestimate the power of a potential payday to force even the most recalcitrant haters to bend the knee and dip their banners.