When The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air debuted in September 1990, it met an audience already familiar with, and enthusiastic about, Black sitcoms. Shooting the part where Will steps out of the cab to gather his thoughts and enjoy the view was surreal: “I’m sitting there on Mulholland Drive and Will, the character, is looking out but that’s Jabari’s first time on Mulholland Drive too, y’know?” The first episode of Bel-Air features Banks’ character Will enjoying a slower, more reflective version of the “Yo, homes, smell ya later” cab ride depicted in the sitcom’s opening credits. To be in front of the camera, and to play on this level is so beautiful.” Thirty years later, the life-imitating-art-imitating-life cycle continues, says Banks: “My life parallels Will’s life in the show so specifically, it’s really crazy. The sitcom’s premise was based on Medina’s own teenage experience of moving in with a rich white family in Beverly Hills, after growing up poor in South LA, but it also mirrored Smith’s own Philly-street-to-LA-stardom journey. ![]() ![]() It started as a chance meeting with TV producer Benny Medina and within six weeks, Smith had relocated cross-country, co-written a brilliantly catchy theme tune with the legendary Quincy Jones (another of the show’s execs) and was on set filming the first episode.
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