“So here’s the deal: right now, everybody who needs to say yes for this show is sitting out in that living room,” Smith said Jones told him during a quick pep talk in his Grammy-filled home office. Jones, who was considering joining the project as a producer, wanted Smith, a rapper with no acting experience, to be the lead. Benny Medina had already told Smith about his idea for a show based on his life growing up in Watts and being uprooted to Beverly Hills as a teenager. Early in the special, Smith recalls a fateful meeting with Quincy Jones at the legendary music producer’s birthday party. But neither he nor really anyone else saw it coming. When the show premiered in September of 1990, it was an instant hit and sent 21-year-old Will Smith careening down the path to international stardom. It’s a story filled with immense joy, sadness and, much like the show itself, a group of people learning, growing, and changing with and because of one another. The special, which runs just a little over an hour long, gives a peek into the methodical, dizzying, and intimate experience of bringing six seasons and 148 episodes of one of the decade’s most revered family sitcoms to life. It’s the depth and life-altering scope of such an undertaking that the reunion tries to get across. As meaningful as a network television show can be for the audience, it pales in comparison to the intensive, years-long experience of those responsible for making one.
What we were met with was not a simple rehashing of the show’s greatest moments, nor, to the chagrin of some, a new in-character episode, but something that was more illuminating. It was with the recognition of this peculiar fact that I and likely thousands of others of a certain age tuned in to watch “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Reunion” on HBO Max this past Thursday.
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The term harks back to a time when network television still ruled and thanks to cable syndication, a sitcom about a troubled teen from West Philadelphia sent to live with his wealthy cousins in Los Angeles that ended before you learned how to speak could somehow become as core to your being as anything else you encountered in your formative years. But like all cliches, there was and remains a specific logic behind the catchall. Thanks in part to the fight to secure streaming rights to all the iconic, nostalgia-inducing titles of yesteryear, it feels like the term has been uttered to the point of semantic satiation. Unlike the recent The West Wing reunion, this special will only give us a conversation between the cast members.The term “‘90s sitcom” has become white noise.
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Oh, and don't be surprised to see Janet Hubert - yes, the original Aunt Viv - appear as well. DJ Jazzy Jeff originally declined to participate in the show, and Daphne Maxwell Reid also wasn't interested at first either. We've also learned some details about what the special will reveal. Ali (Ashley), Karyn Parsons (Hilary), Joseph Marcell (Geoffrey the Butler) Daphne Maxwell Reid (New Aunt Viv), Alfonso Ribeiro (Carlton) and DJ Jazzy Jeff (Jazz). How to stream Megan Thee Stallion's new album Good News.
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HBO Max is also free (for 7 days) to new subscribers, so you don't have to pay if you play your cards as well as Uncle Phil played pool. So, prepare for the cast to wax poetic about working with Avery, who was arguably the cast member who tied the show together. Of course, this HBO Max special is missing one major part of the cast, as James Avery (Uncle Phil himself) passed in 2013. What'd you think? I was gonna send you to your auntie and your uncle? Nah, it's time to see Will Smith and the rest of the gang reunite and reminisce. This is a story all about how to watch The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reunion. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reunion is now live on HBO Max, having debuted at 8 p.m.