Most people's knee-jerk reactions when they learned that Peacock was producing Bel-Aire, a dramatic version of the classic Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire sitcom starring Will Smith in the '90s were of shock and disbelief.
I was not one of those people, but I was a little trepidatious. '90s Fresh Prince probably is on my Mount Rushmore of favorite comedy sitcoms. When I rewatched the entire series with my wife last year, I still knew a vast majority of the lines, and I still laughed over and over. So any venture to try to recapture what made the original show great seemed futile before it even started. And changing the genre and tone, and modernizing it seemed like it could be a disaster.
And yet, it wasn't. Not only that, but it worked quite well.
What was odd to me at first was how the stories retread many of the more iconic story beats of the original show: Uncle Phil's campaign for judgeship, Will and Lisa dating (seeing this story in the first season instead of much later was a bit odd), and so many others made the show feel familiar. Heck, they even redid the episode when Will plays a high-profile basketball game against Malibu Prep, which had another stud recruit. Going into the show, I figured a change of genre meant the writers could get away with a clean slate of stories, but looking back, I don't think I'd have it any other way. After all, the stories weren't identical. The reason Will moved the L.A. was vastly different and came back into play later in the season, which actually made for a compelling story. The jokes weren't delivered the same way. The lines were familiar, but different. Somehow they had the perfect balance for a remake of a popular show.
While the acting of the original show was underrated, no one was turning heads. But switching to a drama meant the actors needed to sell it. And they came through in spades. In particular, Olly Sholotan, who played Carlton, was brilliant. Seeing the character be the cool kid instead of the nerdy kid who gets mocked was refreshing, and Olly delivered poised, confident performances. He was also great at breaking down, losing his cool, and going outright crazy. He had far more dimension than most of the other characters, especially Hillary, Ashley, and, to an extent, Uncle Phil.
That's not to say the rest of the cast wasn't interesting. Hillary wasn't just a dumb-blonde type of character. She dealt with racism and faced an ethical dilemma relatable to the modern age, and those decisions had real weight to them. Vivian also had some difficult decisions to make, which hinted a little at social commentary, but really served the arc of the season's story well, especially in connection with Phil's story. Ashley was really the only character I not only didn't care about, but really disliked after seeing the change in direction they were taking her. She turned into a microphone and nothing else.
While the show did have plenty of good jokes, the fact that they weren't delivered in the classic sitcom style of set-up and punchline sort of muted their impact and timing, to the point that some of them felt a little cringy and forced. Even if the comedic timing felt off, I was glad they tried to mix it in to bring a bit of levity to the heaviness of the show and remind us of things we once thought were funny.
I can't wait for Season 2, which releases on Feb. 23. I'm curious to see if they continue to rehash old ideas and mix them with new ones, or if they'll completely branch away from the familiar.