The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
File:Freshprincelogo.jpg The mid-program bumper
Created by	Andy Borowitz Susan Borowitz
Starring	Will Smith Alfonso Ribeiro James Avery Janet Hubert-Whitten (1990-1993) Daphne Maxwell Reid (1993-1996) Karyn Parsons Tatyana Ali Ross Bagley (1994-1996) Joseph Marcell
Theme music composer	The Fresh Prince, in association with A Touch of Jazz, Inc.
Opening theme	"The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" by Will Smith
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	148 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Quincy Jones Andy Borowitz Susan Borowitz Kevin Wendle (season 1) Winifred Hervey (seasons 2-3) Gary H. Miller (seasons 4-5) Cheryl Gard (seasons 5) Jeff Pollock Will Smith (season 6)
Production locations	Bel Air, Los Angeles, California (setting) Hollywood Center Studios, Hollywood, California (season 1) Sunset-Gower Studios, Hollywood, California (seasons 2-3) NBC Studios, Burbank, California (seasons 4-6; all taping locations)
Camera setup	Videotape; Multi-camera
Running time	23 minutes
Production companies	Quincy Jones Productions (seasons 1-3) Quincy Jones/David Salzman Entertainment (seasons 4-6) The Stuffed Dog Company NBC Productions
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 10, 1990 (1990-09-10) – May 20, 1996 (1996-05-20)

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from September 10, 1990 to May 20, 1996. The show starred Will Smith as a street-smart teenager from West Philadelphia who is sent to live with his wealthy relatives in a Bel Air mansion. His lifestyle often clashed with that of his relatives there. 148 episodes were produced over six seasons.

Conception

Will Smith was a popular and successful rapper during the late 1980s, but, because he had spent money too freely and grossly underpaid his income taxes, he was assessed a penalty of $2.8 million by the IRS. The agency subsequently seized many of his possessions and garnished his income. This left Smith nearly bankrupt when, in 1990, he was approached by the television network NBC who signed him on to a contract and built a sitcom around him.

Theme song and opening sequence

The theme song and opening sequence explains the context of the show. Will Smith is revealed as a street-smart teenager, born and raised on the mean streets of West Philadelphia, while the plot of the story is shown in the theme song.

The theme song was written and performed by The Fresh Prince (Will Smith). Contrary to popular belief, DJ Jazzy Jeff did not compose the music for the opening credits. The music was composed by Quincy Jones, who is credited at the end of each episode. An additional credit at the end of episodes also reads "Theme song written by Will Smith", in regards to the lyrics, with no reference to DJ Jazzy Jeff. The music often used to bridge scenes together during the show is also based on a similar chord structure to the theme song. This too is the work of Quincy Jones III. The full version of the theme song, telling how he went on a plane to Bel-Air, was used unedited on some earlier episodes. Will Smith recorded this version as an unreleased B-side. The full-length version, which is 2:52", was included on Will Smith's Greatest Hits album and attributed to himself only. A 3:23" version was released in the Netherlands in 1992, and reached #3 on the charts.

For the first few episodes of the show stanzas one to three and stanzas six and seven were used. Beginning with Episode #9 (titled "Someday Your Prince Will Be in Effect (2)"), only the first two and the last two stanzas of the song were used. The change to the theme song allowed for longer episodes to be created.

Seasons 1, 5, and 6 featured an instrumental version of the theme and still photographs from the episode for the closing credits. In Seasons 2, 3, and 4, the music and stills were dropped and closing credits would almost always appear over bloopers and outtakes from the episode.

Cast and characters

Main article: List of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air characters

Recurring settings

The Banks mansion

The mansion is where the Banks family, as well as Will, live; the address was revealed in the fourth season's "For Sale By Owner" as 805 Saint Cloud Road. A majority of the show's scenes take place in the mansion. Originally, most of the family scenes took place in the living room, with less prominence given to the kitchen. The living room set had archways at either end to hallways, and two doorways at the back of the set to the side yard. The right-side hallway was occasionally shot in, and had a staircase upstairs, and the front door. The kitchen set was not attached to the rest of the downstairs set, and was unconventionally laid out compared to many sitcoms: The left side had counters that continued along the fourth wall (where the audience would be), and had a lot of depth (from the audience perspective), with camera angles frequently shooting almost parallel to the fourth wall. The set had two interior doors; one of which, at the right side of the set, led to the hallway left of the living room (though was not attached on set), and an exterior door to the unseen back yard. There was a dining room also off the hallway left of the living room. The upper floor hallway was shown in Season 1, until the mansion sets were completely rebuilt after the season.

In the second season, the kitchen and living room sets were rebuilt much larger with a more contemporary style (as opposed to the much more formal style of the first season), and were connected directly by an archway, allowing scenes to be shot continuously between the sets, which is where most scenes were shot. The staircase upstairs was incorporated into the back of the living room, with only one rarely-used exit to the side yard beside it. An actual television prop was added at the fourth wall, whereas there had only been one implicitly in the first season. The archway to the right still led to a hallway with the front door. The only element that remained from the original set was the kitchen's left-hand wall and island which were rotated ninety degrees to become the back wall at the right of the kitchen, with some modification to the cosmetics. The archway was the only way into the room, other than the exit at the left to the backyard patio, which was now an existing part of the main house set.

In addition, Will's and occasionally other family members', rooms were shown (sometimes changing looks between appearances) during the series. The pool house was shown in one episode of season 3. A different set was used when it became a main location in season 4 until the end of the series, after Will and Carlton moved in.

Despite the changes, the exterior shot of the Banks house, which is an actual house in Bel-Air, Los Angeles, California, was constant throughout the series, usually featured in still shots. A running gag, however, featured Jazz being physically thrown out of the front door using the exterior of the house. Every time he is thrown out of the house, he is shown wearing the same shirt although he does not always wear it when he is thrown out (the producers never shot a second sequence with Jazz being thrown out of the house, only adjusting the original scene for time purposes; an exception is in the episode "Community Action", where Jazz was thrown out along with a lifesize cardboard cut-out of Bill Cosby, complete with a blooper showing Jeff Townes reshooting his flying off the house several times).

Bel-Air Prep

Bel-Air Prep is the high school that Will and Carlton attend in Seasons 1-3. Ashley also starts as Freshman in Season 3. The 3 main sets are the classroom, a hallway and the auditorium (the auditorium was only shown in three episodes: "Def Poet's Society", "Courting Disaster" and "Just Say Yo").

Hospital

A hospital in Los Angeles is seen in several episodes which deal with the Banks family's medical problems. The exterior shot of the hospital is a shot of the VA Hospital in nearby Westwood

Jazz's apartment in Compton

Jazz lives with a few friends in a run-down apartment complex in Compton, California called the Chalet Towers. This setting was seen in the first four seasons.

KFPB Channel 8 News station

This setting was seen throughout Season 3 because Hilary was hired as a weather girl and fell in love with Trevor Collins, who died in a bungee accident in Season 4. Due to his death, the setting was written off towards the end of the 4th Season. The setting returned in Season 6 because Hilary's own talk show was produced there.

ULA Student Store

The ULA Student Store, also known as "The Peacock Stop" for the school mascot, is where Will, Carlton, and Will's friend Jackie Ames work. In Season 4, Jackie is the manager, Carlton is the assistant manager, and Will is the cashier. When Jackie leaves ULA in the middle of Season 4, Carlton takes over as manager and Will becomes assistant manager and cashier until Season 5.

Awards and nominations

Awards	Outcome	Recipient(s)	Year
ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards:
Top TV Series	Won	Quincy Jones Will Smith DJ Jazzy Jeff	1994
Emmy Awards:
Outstanding Individual Achievement in Lighting Direction for a Comedy Series	Nominated	Art Busch	1996
Golden Globe Awards:
Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series - Comedy/Musical	Nominated	Will Smith	1994
Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series - Comedy/Musical	Nominated	Will Smith	1993
Image Award:
Outstanding Comedy Series	Nominated		1997
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series	Won	Alfonso Ribeiro	1996
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series	Nominated	Will Smith	1997
Outstanding Youth Actor/Actress	Won	Tatyana Ali	1997
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series	Nominated	Nia Long	1996
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series	Nominated	Daphne Maxwell Reid	1996
Kids' Choice Awards:
Favorite Television Actor	Nominated	Will Smith	1996
Favorite Television Show	Nominated		1996
Favorite TV Actress	Won	Tatyana Ali	1996
NCLR Bravo Awards:
Outstanding Television Series Actor in a Crossover Role	Nominated	Alfonso Ribeiro	1996
TP de Oro:
Best Foreign Series (Mejor Serie Extranjera)	Nominated		1996
Best Foreign Series (Mejor Serie Extranjera)	Won		1994
TV Land Awards:
Best Broadcast Butler	Nominated	Joseph Marcell	2004
Favorite "Fish Out of Water"	Nominated	Will Smith	2004
Young Artist Awards:
Best Performance by an Actor Under Ten - Television	Won	Ross Bagley	1996
Best Performance by an Actor Under Ten in a TV Series	Won	Ross Bagley	1995
Best Youth Comedienne	Nominated	Tatyana Ali	1994
Best Young Actor Guest Starring in a Television Series	Nominated	Larenz Tate	1993
Best Young Actor Guest Starring or Recurring Role in a TV Series	Nominated	Tevin Campbell	1992
Best New Family Television Comedy Series	Won		1991
YoungStar Award:
Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Comedy TV Series	Won	Tatyana Ali	1997

American television ratings

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on NBC.

Note: U.S. network television seasons generally start in late September and end in late May, which coincides with the completion of the May sweeps.

Season	Episodes	Season Premiere	Season Finale	TV Season	Rank	Viewers (in millions)
1	25	September 10, 1990	May 6, 1991	1990–1991	N/A	N/A
2	24	September 9, 1991	May 4, 1992	1991–1992	#22	13.2
3	24	September 14, 1992	May 10, 1993	1992–1993	#16	13.6
4	26	September 20, 1993	May 23, 1994	1993–1994	#22	12.9
5	25	September 19, 1994	May 15, 1995	1994–1995	#55	10.4
6	24	September 18, 1995	May 20, 1996	1995–1996	#55	9.6

Syndication and DVD releases

The series was originally an NBC production in association with The Stuffed Dog Company and Quincy Jones Productions (later QDE, or Quincy Jones/David Salzman Entertainment). After the show was released to syndication in 1994, the rights reverted to Warner Bros. Television, which continues to distribute the show worldwide (although NBC Universal does own the series' copyright). WGN America was the first cable channel to acquire the series in 1997, TBS acquired the series a year later in 1998; both channels carried the series until the fall of 2003, though TBS reacquired the series in 2007. The theme song was shown in the original TBS run, but after TBS re-acquired Fresh Prince in 2007, the opening credits were truncated and the theme song removed and replaced with the instrumental version used as the show's closing theme.

The series aired on Nick at Nite from 2004 to 2009, as well as sister network (through Nickelodeon) The N (now TeenNick), but was dropped from its schedule in September 2009 after Disney/ABC purchased the rights to the show. Currently, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air airs on various local television stations around the U.S. as well as on cable channels TBS, ABC Family and Disney XD.

Internationally, the show is currently being aired on the British digital TV channel Virgin 1 and in Canada on YTV.

Warner Home Video has released the first four seasons of the series on DVD in Regions 1, 2 & 4. After almost four years since the release of the fourth season, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: The Complete Fifth Season will be released on Region 1 DVD, May 4, 2010; no other details have been provided.

DVD Name	Ep #	Release dates			DVD Extras
		Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
The Complete 1st Season	25	February 8, 2005	February 21, 2005	April 13, 2005	Back To Bel Air Featurette.
The Complete 2nd Season	24	October 11, 2005	November 21, 2005	March 1, 2006	The Best Of Bel Air Feature; Blooper Reel.
The Complete 3rd Season	24	February 14, 2006	June 26, 2006	August 9, 2006	The Best Of Bel Air Feature; Blooper Reel.
The Complete 4th Season	26	August 8, 2006	January 22, 2007	December 6, 2006	None
The Complete 5th Season	25	May 4, 2010	TBA	TBA	None
The Complete 6th Season	24	TBA	TBA	TBA

See also

• List of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episodes

External links

• The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air at epguides.com
• The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com