The trailer for Bel-Air isn’t the story you know about the Fresh Prince
Peacock's dramatic remake of Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air premieres on February 13
Aux News Bel-Air
Peacock has shared the trailer for the its dramatic remake of The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air—simply titled Bel-Air—and this is definitely not the story of we know about how Will’s life got flip, turned upside down.
The series, co-executive produced by Will Smith, is set in present day, introducing a new Will (played by newcomer Jabari Banks). As we learn in the trailer, the catalyst for Will’s move to California was anything but “one little fight.” He got into a major altercation that resulted in him being caught by cops and put behind bars.
Though Will was released, the man whom he faced off against on the basketball court wants revenge. So, to keep Will safe, he’s sent to live with his auntie and uncle in Bel-Air. Uncle Phil (Adrian Holmes) does everything in his power to keep Will’s reason for living with them a secret, telling him, “So here’s the story: You came to Bel-Air for a better education. Simple.”
As in the ’90s sitcom, Carlton (Olly Sholotan) is the one in charge of showing his cousin around. “If you want to do well, just keep your head down and follow my lead,” he advises. But this Carlton already feels very different from the character made popular by Alfonso Ribeiro. His happy-go-lucky, signature dance-having personality is nowhere to be found. This Carlton seems merely obsessed with his social status.
While many of the characters feel unrecognizable from their original counterparts (Geoffrey even refers to himself as a “house manager”), this Will is still just as stubborn as the one played by Smith, refusing to shed his Philly side, even when the stakes are high.
This retelling of Fresh Prince is helmed by T.J. Brady and Rasheed Newson, who worked as producers on Netflix’s Narcos. The series premieres on February 13 on Peacock.
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There is only one Uncle Phil, and that’s the one who throws Jazz out of the house and sounds exactly like Shredder. This show is dead to me.
Ok, Pop…get in the house!
Instead of throwing Jeff out of the house every episode, in this gritty version Uncle Phil beats him in increasingly vicious ways.
It turns out to be a kinky sex thing, in which Jazz is a willing participant.
Then Jazz comes back with a tire iron.
What stakes could be so high as to require anyone to shed their South Philly side?
The cheesesteaks? (You know, if the meat is really piled up.)
Yes, I know if the meat’s really piled up.
Though, as someone from North Philly, the South Philly accent is the worst of all Philly accents.
I thought he was from West. Is the new Will not from West?
Born and raised, born and raised. South Philly ain’t SHIT!
I mean forget about parking.
Unless you can get a spot in the middle of Broad Street. Or maybe just move someone’s cones or chairs placed in front of their rowhome to claim a parking space; that always goes well.
You disrespect the chair, you’re asking to get cut!
That’s what the song says, but quoted from above: “ refusing to shed his South Philly side”
?
Does the license plate say “FRESH”? Are there dice in the mirror?
I don’t know, but I bet the cabbie probably has bad B.O.
Smell ya later
Remember calling people “Holmes”? Don’t act like you didn’t.
Maybe it’s time to bring that back.
They’ll probably change it to an uber.
What a rare cab.
Indeed, since no one takes cabs anymore.
if you watch the trailer, yes the cab seems accurate.
Nope it says DEATH in the licence plate and there’s skulls in the mirror cause it’s like gritty and shit.
Yo holmes, smell ya later!!!
On that note, this show really should devote an episode to that malodorous cabbie.
Tonight, on a very special Fresh Prince . . .
Who was asking for a gritty reboot of Fresh Prince?
This whole thing is just an expensive version of those stupid YouTube videos re-imagining things and cutting edited trailers, like, what if PAUL BLART: MALL COP was an eerie psychological thriller? etc., etc. Maybe the audience for that stuff is what they expect the audience for this to be?
I knew mall cops. None of them were laughing.
In other words, Observe and Report.
You parents just don’t understand, man.
The guy co-developing the series released a trailer he shot himself a few years back for the idea and it got a lot of positive feedback. Dunno if this will be good but there was plenty of interest and kind of cool that someone got a show launched by creating a trailer themselves and getting it noticed by Will Smith IMO.
He shot himself and got a lot of positive feedback?
Worked for Cobain.
Yeah, the DIY part’s cool, but “What if ‘Fresh Prince of Bel Air’ but not funny?” never felt like a premise that needed exploration.
I can’t believe i’m saying this…but…i am intrigued by this so far. I’m glad to see that instead of a simple-”here’s the same show with all new people” they took the same story and reinvented it. Will it work? I’m still not convinced. At least now i’m interested…
Makes one of us
I feel like the only way this can really work is if it has some sense of humour about itself. I was hoping they’d go for a balance more like Atlanta or Succession, but between this trailer and the woefully serious spoken word version of the theme song, I don’t think they’re gonna pull that off.
Yeah I’m also intrigued enough to check it out.
Seeing as how everything has to be remade eventually, I’m actually sort of glad they’re retooling this instead of trying to copy it. The original is way too steeped in the 90s, and relied heavily on Smith’s charisma. There’s really no way to reproduce it so they might as well do The OC with black people instead. I never actually watched The OC, but this is exactly the tone I imagine it had.
Bel-Air isn’t in Orange County, and this doesn’t really seem like The OC.Also, as a resident of OC, I hate that show.
Don’t call it that.
Don’t call what ‘that’?
It’s a reference to a joke from Arrested Development.https://apps.npr.org/arrested-development/joke-17.html
Gotcha, I’ve never watched that show.
You sound like you have obsessive compulsive, or the OC, disorder.
Yep. I grew up in Orange County when The OC aired. It was the worst. We were super famous for a few years with The OC, Laguna Beach, and the movie Orange County. The 00s… a rough time.
Wasn’t The OC primarily a romantic drama? This doesn’t seem like it’s exploring the same territory at all, and the original certainly didn’t.
I couldn’t say. I’m sure there was plenty of hand holding and fucking in The OC, but I’ve literally only seen 2 minutes of it, and that’s the scene where someone shoots someone else and Whatcha Say starts to play, as context for that Lonely Island bit. The main thrust of the show always seemed to be “Rich idiot kids do rich idiot things, over and over.” That sort of glib context laid over a rich black family would probably play out a lot differently resulting in a different flavor of show, but I think you’re underestimating how much fucking and hand holding is likely to be in this.
I’ve literally only seen 2 minutes of it, and that’s the scene where someone shoots someone else and Whatcha Say starts to play, as context for that Lonely Island bit.You’re basing your entire opinion of the show on a 2 minute SNL sketch that mocks it?Wow…
Alright everyone, no need to argue
How else am I supposed to get my daily dose of argumentative medicine?
C’mon man, it was a Parents Just Don’t Understand reference!Anyway, this is insults. Arguments are down the hall.
Oh, sorry….Is this the right room for an argument?
attaboy
Well, no, I’m basing it off the two minute scene that I watched for context of that sketch. And likely some commercials and general chatter I picked up at the time. But to the larger point, yeah, I make judgements on lots of things based on very little information. Like, say, one might watch a three minute trailer for a TV show and make a judgement call on whether or not they think it’s worth watching. Not to say that it’s going to be right all the time, but most people are probably pretty good at gauging their own interest in things at a glance. I did not think I would be interested in The OC when it was airing.
Anyway, your post made me curious, so I looked up the basic premise of The OC: A troubled youth becomes embroiled in the lives of a close-knit group of people in the wealthy, upper-class neighborhood of Newport Beach Aside from the location, this is an exact description of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. And also hundreds of other shows and movies, because it’s a classic trope, but I don’t think it’s farfetched to say that there might be some superficial similarities between these two shows, even if they end up quite different. Which was the original point I was making.
yeah as much as on paper i should hate this…i will watch it and didn’t mind the trailer one bit.
I never saw the original show and have no interest in this one, but… the reinvented One Day at a Time was good, and at times kinda brilliant. So this could work fine.
I only have three requests of this series: A dramatic sad cover of “It’s Not Unusual”, Aunt Viv must change actors without warning halfway through, and at the very end of the series, there must be a post-credits coda where we see a house in Chicago and catch the faintest glimpse of an imposing man in the window wearing thick red glasses and suspenders while an echoing nasally laugh plays.
Well I want Goulet.
If we’re dreaming here.
You’re going to have to wait for the gritty reboot of Perfect Strangers for your last wish to come true.
Growing Pains: The Next Generation
The Seavers are all evangelical Christians now.
Bosom Buddies 2022. Let’s do this.
In 2022 that would almost certainly involve someone undergoing gender reassignment surgery, and an Internet fight over whether they are required to cast an actual transwoman for the role.
I also require Jabari Banks to be mouthing other actors’ lines while they speak.
Waiting on the gritty reboot of “Happy Days”:
Plots could include Howard enforcing a covenant to keep “coloreds” out of the neighborhood.
Fonzie is a serial rapist and leader of a pretty vicious motorcycle gang.
Chuck Cunningham gets murdered, and it’s some shameful secret that no one in the family talks about it.
Yeah, this stuff writes itself!
Chuck getting murdered isn’t gritty and edgy enough. I’m thinking auto erotic asphyxiation. Joanie is turning tricks to pay for Chachi’s gambling debts. Potsie is a drug dealer selling…some kind of drug. I can’t think of the best one.
hey, fuck you you hilarious so and so
you magnificent babasterb!
Heroin would be the only 50s drug I can think of. It is timeless.
Whatever happened to Chuck, the whole family is covering it up and pretending he never existed.
Maybe Chuck went out like David Carradine?
Beat me to it.
You jest but would I watch that, maybe as a wink-wink parody of HBO crime drama? Yes.
Fonzie runs afoul of another gang and, instead jumping the shark, is lowered into a tank and has his leg bitten off like in License To Kill.
“That’s the last time he jumps a shark!”
“He disagreed with something that aaaaayyyyyy’ed him.”
So Fonzie is Tony off West Side Story if he was really into bikes?
Your Howard plot ties excellently into the increased focus on how Arnold’s plight as an immigrant.
(I mean isn’t Riverdale more or less a gritty Happy Days?)
We can do Andy Griffith next. Small-town cop has to rise to the occasion of protecting it from an unexpected arrival of drug runners using the local train depot as a national distribution hub. “Jesus Christ!” – Cormac McCarthy
Have you ever seen Drew Friedman’s take on Andy Griffith? Closer to reality than we would like to believe…
That just sounds like regular “Happy Days”.
The series premieres on February 13 on Peacock.
Surely you mean the CW.
Hmm, I guess I can watch this series when I subscribe to Peacock for a month to watch Wrestlemania.
i’m having a baffling reaction to this where…i’m looking forward to it…despite my best efforts…at snark…i do with zack fox was involved somehow. he would have made a phenomenal will or jazz.
WTFWho the hell thought that the fresh prince should be remade dark and gritty? Fire them!
Every new piece I see from this and I still can’t decide if it looks surprisingly good or so cheesy I might cringe.
We used to have a saying around these parts: It can be two things.
The high school party scenes look stereotypically over the top.
Are the people who made the viral trailer in 2019 involved at all?
This seems truer to the real Fresh Princes story* which is alot less funny and has to do with drug dealing so kudos to them. Looks interesting and I’ll def check it out.
*The “real” Fresh Prince story is either that the was based on the producer Benny’s life and drug dealing or the show was loosely based on a real life drug dealer turned informant who went to his uncles,Phillip “Big Bank” Banks, family who was a drug king pin.
My favorite part about this thread is the theory that Jazz was Will’s FBI handler.
Absurdity at its finest
I also enjoy the fan theory that Will actually died in that “little fight” and the whole series is a Jacob’s Ladder dream.
Does this version of Geoffrey still know the lambada?
Lambada? You mean…. the forbidden dance?
Hopefully the events of “Shame of a Nation” remain canon as well.
“…Smith, refusing to shed his South Philly side…”
I think you mean West Philly.
In West Philly we call it South Philly. It’s a thing we all do.
The weird thing about shows like this is that in remaking them and making them more realistic/gritty/dramatic, they’re also just casting really pretty, bland people. Which is a trend across the industry, but very noticeable to me in this trailer.The Fresh Prince cast, like many casts, was diverse in appearance. They were fat, skinny, old, young, and everyone was unique-looking – even Will, while he was a good-looking kid, is also lanky and a bit dopey-looking, and certainly looked like very few other people. It’s part of what made him a star.It just feels like the whole cast here is an Instagram filter, and that’s been a disturbing trend in the industry writ large.
Being tall and lanky isn’t a unique look. Lots of people look like that. The original Fresh Prince did have a fat character… whose weight was frequently the butt of jokes.
Yup cause that’s what I said – I said he was dopey-looking, lanky, AND looked like few other people.
And I’m saying the people who looked like him were not few.
Looks are subjective, so I can’t say you’re wrong, but you’re as wrong as I can say you are in that context lol. I’m not great with faces but I’d be able to pick Will out of a lineup 99/100 times.
Yeah, because he’s a famous movie and tv star, not because his looks are particularly unique.
FWIW my first assistant gig out of school I had to work red carpets during award shows and I barely recognized most A-Listers in person. The only ones I clearly remember seeing and recognizing immediately were Chris Hemsworth and Smith. I really do think he has a unique look – he’s almost fugly but not.
I was hoping for a gritty, post apocalyptic Snyder Cut-style reboot but ok.
Okay now it’s time to do Full House But It’s The Aristocrats. It’s what Bob Saget would’ve wanted.
You have certainly piqued my my interest, please wake me when Rhonda Shear starts pegging Lori Loughlin
I found three errors in this article (which I am convinced was written by an AI):trailer for the its dramatic remake —> trailer for its dramatic remakethe story of we know —> the story we knowsignature dance-having personality —> just fucking anything else
Will it top this moment?
I feel like that will be every episode. This made such an impact because it took place in a sitcom. And damn, did Will Smith act the hell out of that scene.
And we didn’t get the “A Very Special Episode” warning which made it more of a gut punch.
Now I want to see the reverse, where a prestige drama gets remade as a wacky sitcom. I’m thinking ‘Mad Men’:“Draper, stop being such a dick.”
“I can’t help it!”*winks at camera; studio audience whoops and claps*
next up, the cannibalistic survivor drama, “Gilligan”
There’s no Carlton Dance but Uncle Phil is getting his groove on.
Gawd, this looks like an SNL parody or one of those comic books from a few years back where they rebooted Hanna-Barbera characters as gritty drama.
Nope, I’m out. I can’t do it. I dunno if it’s the actors, or the story itself, or the fact that it felt like The OC without being The OC, but I’m just not into it. I don’t want it, man.
This seems unbelievably insane.
I was about to comment that this guy looks way too young to be as loaded and connected as Uncle Phil is supposed to be, but a quick search tells me he’s actually older (47) than James Avery was when he first took on the role (45). Wow.
I have no objection to reimagining it as a drama, but why is everything a melodrama these days? All the reboots and rehashes have crying every five minutes and super-intense emotional moments every minute (Star Trek Discovery is a big offender).
Nothing about this feels genuine or earned. The reason scenes like the ones with Will’s father or Carlton’s gun in the original felt intense because they were earned over time with laughs and lessons in-between. When you start using drama as a cudgel and don’t give your characters room to breathe, then it comes off as fake. And the naked nostalgia cash grab is quite evident too.The only positive about this is that it actually feels like it takes place in the L.A. area.
C’mon. No one’s posted this yet?
Who wanted this besides Will Smith? It’s basically The OC which is also weird.One of the most powerful characterizations of Carlton was the fact that he was kind of oblivious to a lot of things. That let Will teach him lessons and create some of the social-themed episodes because he didn’t know that he should keep his head down and mouth shut.Surely, there was a place between whacky 90s sitcom and this.