The "Prince of Bel-Air" comes back without well-rehearsed laughter
A teenager from the streets of Philadelphia lives with his rich relatives in Los Angeles. What was the template for a sitcom in the 1990s becomes a drama series in the remake.
The revival of the "Prince of Bel-Air" begins in 2019 with a fan trailer. The idea: tell the story not as a sitcom, but as a drama. Will Smith, the first Prince of Bel-Air, is so taken with the idea that he becomes a producer of the remake under the title "Bel-Air."
Two years later, the first trailer for the reboot has been released. The first episode of the two ordered seasons is about to be released.
After the trailer, a series cannot yet be described as good or bad. What is clear is that "Bel-Air" is very different from "The Prince of Bel-Air" despite an identical story.
Social inequality and racism
To recap: Will Smith - the character in the series bears the same name as its first actor - lives in Philadelphia. At a basketball game, he incurs the wrath of the wrong people and is threatened with death. His mother sends him to her sister, who lives wealthily with her family including a butler in Bel-Air - a district of Los Angeles. Here he is supposed to be safe and get a good high school diploma.
Whether the shift from sitcom to drama series will work remains to be seen. But the material is ideally suited for it. After all, the sitcom was already about social inequality and racism, albeit not as obviously. The general public - especially in Europe - only saw the gags in the 1990s. And yet, if you watched closely, you couldn't avoid the sensitive issues. For example, in that scene when Will knows exactly how to behave during a police checkpoint in order to get through it unscathed. His sheltered cousin Carlton, on the other hand, shows himself to be naive.
The scene is played as a gag. The fact that it is not meant to be funny is something that most people will probably only realize years later in retrospect.
In the "Bel-Air" trailer, Will can actually be seen again and again looking into large groups of white people. Be it at school, at sports or at a party. His cousin, on the other hand, seems to have gotten used to being the only black guy among the rich kids. It might take Will a while to get used to it - if he can ever feel at home there. Compared to his super-rich aunt and influential uncle, Will comes from a poor background and has very different goals in life.
First episode in February
"Bel-Air" will air in the U.S. starting Feb. 13 on Peacock, NBC Universal's streaming service. Currently, it is not yet certain when and where you can see the series with us. In the summer of 2021, Peacock and Sky announced a partnership. Before the end of 2021, the streaming service should be available to watch via Sky in several European countries. In the UK and Ireland, this is already the case. However, the activation has been delayed in other countries such as Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland. Nevertheless, this should be the fastest and easiest way to watch Bel-Air.
When I was but a young student, I'd sit in my friend's living room with all my classmates and play on his SuperNES. Since then I've had the opportunity to test out all the newest technology for you. I've done reviews at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, and have now arrived at Galaxus.de.