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Fresh Prince Reboot in Development, Will Smith on Board as Producer

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Tathanen

Tathanen

Get Inside Her!
FortuneFaded said:
The show wouldn't work without Uncle Phil.
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Afxlts1.jpg
 
W

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Shaanyboi said:
The thing that scares me the most about this is the likelihood of the remake losing the thematic resonance of the original. Granted it didn't always do it with a light touch and grace, but when the message landed, there were some incredible episodes about identity, family, and legacy. Fresh Prince was lightning in a bottle. It all came together in a kind of magic way that most shows just don't. Despite Will stuttering his lines and being paralyzed with fear on the set of the show's early episodes, despite the pitch coming off as eye-roll worthy, what we ended up with was kind of a miracle.

Obviously elements of the show aren't perfect. Mostly Will being total creep towards women and the kinda gross way the show objectified most of its attractive female guest stars now just plays as out of touch. But the relationship with Uncle Phil (in no small part to James Avery), Carlton's conflict between his view of the world vs. the reality, and Janet Hubert's ability to completely capture the screen when her character had to take control (despite the behind-the-scenes issues with her), all helped take the show to another level. Also the Carlton dance.

But my fear is that the show's blunt approach to tackling its bigger issues will be lost. And instead, we'd be left with a show that is simply another family sitcom with a wacky dynamic between its leads, and no willingness to go deeper. But Fresh Prince did cut deeper, and that's why we remember it, that's why we care about it, and despite its aged failings, it is still worth watching. This has the potential to reach a whole new generation, and don't want this opportunity to be wasted.

That is a high bar to reach.
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boi, you just wrote four paragraphs on the Fresh Prince of Bell Air.
 
W

Why would you do that?

Member
LakeEarth said:
Fun fact: to avoid having to shoot on location at the house, they just had Jazz wear the same clothes in any scene where he's going to get thrown out.

I'm okay with a remake. If it sucks, it doesn't make the make the original series any worse.
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Sometimes he was thrown out the back door, too. In those instances, he didn't wear the magic shirt.
 
O

oti

Banned
I loved the show as a kid! The commentary about race flew right over my head though. I distinctly remember the "I'm not calling you Whity, you shouldn't call me Blacky" joke (or something similar), add in German synchronization and nothing makes sense.
 
Shpeshal Nick

Shpeshal Nick

aka Collingwood
Do any if these execs realise that most TV Shows from the 80s and 90s are products of their time that wouldn't work today? Hell, I loved Fresh Prince back in the day, but trying to watch re-runs now is painful.

Friends, Seinfeld and the Simpsons are pretty much the only 90s shows that can still be watched today without cringing in agony.
 
Maximus.

Maximus.

Member
Collingwood said:
Do any if these execs realise that most TV Shows from the 80s and 90s are products of their time that wouldn't work today? Hell, I loved Fresh Prince back in the day, but trying to watch re-runs now is painful.

Friends, Seinfeld and the Simpsons are pretty much the only 90s shows that can still be watched today without cringing in agony.
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Soon they will reboot Saved by the Bell. I mean they already did a new run on 90210.
 
N

NZerker12

Member
Oh please no, without James Avery RIP it won't work please leave it be.

Sigh

Whats next a Xena Warrior Princess reboot, Oh wait.
 
A

AlphaSnake

...and that, kids, was the first time I sucked a dick for crack
Collingwood said:
Do any if these execs realise that most TV Shows from the 80s and 90s are products of their time that wouldn't work today? Hell, I loved Fresh Prince back in the day, but trying to watch re-runs now is painful.

Friends, Seinfeld and the Simpsons are pretty much the only 90s shows that can still be watched today without cringing in agony.
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Except that's not true. The Girl Meets World reboot turned out fantastic. You make it seem like they're going re-read all of the original scripts with all of the old jokes.

The same concepts and themes can still be applied to every generation, just modernized to relate to today's society. Hell, there's so much in the old show that can still be applied to today.
 
A

A Link to the Past

Banned
Am I the only one who wants it to be a sequel that stars Alfonso Ribeiro as Carlton in the uncle role?

ant1532 said:
lol. but why is Uncle phil going on a date here? What about aunt viv...?
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Pam Grier's character was portraying an old friend of Phil's, and it was supposed to be a platonic "date" (though Phil obviously still had feelings for her, and vice versa).
 
A

A Link to the Past

Banned
Oh

Oh, can we get Giancarlo Esposito for this

Please

Okay I know there's a chance that this might suck, but the flipside is that we could get a great reboot that provides a lot of opportunities for great black TV actors!
 
A

AlphaSnake

...and that, kids, was the first time I sucked a dick for crack
kinggroin said:
Why is uncle Phil on a date
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Old flame from his college days, I think. He came along so that Will could also meet his daughter.

Pam Grier still had the hots for him that she tried acting on it. That episode was a genuine LOL-fest.
 
A

AlphaSnake

...and that, kids, was the first time I sucked a dick for crack
Has anybody else ever noticed that the show had quite a number of 'stranded' episodes?

1) Camping trip. Will finds bag of money in cave they seek shelter in.
2) May day. Will meets Lisa 1's father (John Witherspoon) who is also a pilot. Their plane crashes and they are stranded in a forest.
3) Ski trip. Carlton is upset Will invites Lisa 2 to the ski trip, crashes the car with Will stranding them on top of a mountain all alone. Carlton tells Will to eat him to survive. LMAO

Any others I may have missed?
 
D

Discotheque

Banned
Honestly this might be one of the hardest things to reboot

I really believe will smith was one of the most charismatic stars of all time, good luck finding somebody even half as good for this
 
N

NotLiquid

Member
Slayven said:
The ep where Carlton and Will go jail would end with them getting shot.
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I only saw that episode fairly recently after going through the series on Netflix.

If I saw that as a kid there's a good chance it'd leave me confused but looking at it now its kind of crazy how after 20 years some of the elements from that show remains topical.
 
J

jwhit28

Member
It's gonna be hard finding someone to fill James Avery's shoes. I got a few friends that would count him as the best father figure they had as sad as that is.
 
S

Shanks D Zoro

Banned
This is a show that I remember watching for the first time it aired in the UK

And I have a poor memory.

That is how special this show is.

Fuck reviving things
 
B

blankempathy

Member
Doesn't surprise me. I don't understand hollywoods mind set that taking a popular thing and refreshing it somehow means an instant success. The actors made Fresh prince of bel air the show that it was. Every single one of them. Some to a lesser extent then others but they all played their parts perfectly not just Will Smith who's charisma is nearly impossible to match. The actors and characters they played just meshed perfectly and had amazing synergy on stage. And while the original will remain forever a classic its just amazing how lazy hollywood can be. Its actually surprising to see Will smith on board with this. You'd think he'd know better then anyone how they managed to catch lightning in a bottle the first time around. He's either overly confident or has some other agenda.
 
M

Madness

Member
Will Smith is special. He had that talent and spark. The show won't be a fraction of a success without someone like him, as well as someone like Uncle Phil. It's why he went from small town rap artist to Grammy winner to celebrity and one of the world's biggest movie stars.
 
B

biggersmaller

Banned
That show was ok. Sometimes the jokes were literally just Will screaming. The "very special" episodes are also unintentionally funny. Like the time Will took a bullet for Carlton and Carlton bought a gun to exact revenge only to be talked out of it by Will.

Also, why was Will's mom always a bitch? She sends her son away because of "one little fight" and when she visits all she does is rip on her son.
 
B

blankempathy

Member
biggersmaller said:
That show was ok. Sometimes the jokes were literally just Will screaming. The "very special" episodes are also unintentionally funny. Like the time Will took a bullet for Carlton and Carlton bought a gun to exact revenge only to be talked out of it by Will.

Also, why was Will's mom always a bitch? She sends her son away because of "one little fight" and when she visits all she does is rip on her son.
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He didn't bring a gun to get revenge. He was carrying a gun because the system he believed in all that time for the first time in his life he questioned it. He was disillusioned. Also his mom wasn't a bitch. She was a mom. If you couldn't tell that she cared about him then I don't know what to tell you.
 
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