In the age of reboots and revivals of classic TV shows and movies, Peacock has a new reboot of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, one of the most popular and notable shows of the 90s. Will Smith, the original star, is the Executive Producer of Bel-Air along with Westbrook Studios.
Bel-Air surprisingly took a new direction apart from the original, giving it its reputation. The most noticeable difference is that it is a drama series instead of a comedy. There are a lot of heavy topics, tensions and conflict involved, but occasionally there are some comedic scenes.
The series stars Jabari Banks as Will Smith. RnB singer and Disney alum CoCo Jones (Hillary Banks), Olly Sholotan (Carlton), Akira Akbar (Ashley), Cassandra Freeman (Aunt Viv), Adrian Holmes (Uncle Phil), and Jimmy Akingbola as Geoffrey.
From the beginning, I will say that I like how the show gives a glimpse of Will’s life in Philadelphia while also giving us a look a the Philly culture. You can tell how much the city means to Will because he has difficulty thinking about life outside of Philly. It’s cool that we witnessed the one not-so-little fight that got his mom scared and made him move with his Aunt and Uncle in Bel-Air (pun intended).
The Bank’s house is beautiful, and I am obsessed with how pretty and modern it looks. Speaking of the Banks, I love the modernization of the Banks family.
You have Hillary, who is an influencer as well as a great chef. She dropped out of college, so she searched for a way to build a name for herself online. While new Hillary is similar to the original with the great sense of fashion, I wish she had more character traits than the original. I really enjoy watching her budding relationship with Jazz because they are the cutest.
I want to see more of Ashely. I feel like we are not getting enough of her storyline and character. I want to see more of her coming to terms with her sexuality as she grows. She gets treated like a sideline character when there are some characters that we could see much less of.
Carlton was the most surprising character in the show. He is a protagonist and can be so annoying. I like how Carlton and Will have their problems, but we know they will find a way to have a close relationship like they did in the original sitcom. I like how, despite the majority of his storyline revolving around antagonizing Will, he also has issues with anxiety and drugs.
Aunt Viv and Uncle Phil are remarkable for the most part; I think they could be more involved in their kids’ lives because they are unaware of a lot.
My least favorite part of the series is the entire Lisa storyline. I think we were introduced to her character early. I like her character, but I think her and Will’s relationship was doomed from the start, and it keeps getting worse as the season progresses. I don’t think they will last, or they are going to break up and get back together constantly. I will say that I wish Lisa were a close friend to Carlton instead of his ex-girlfriend because I think it’s a little messed up how she’s dating her ex-boyfriend’s cousin that lives with him.
Overall, I think that this show is outstanding and addicting. I did not expect to like it so much and look forward to seeing how the rest of the season turns out.