Bel-Air

Synopsis

Will is a basketball loving kid that after getting in trouble has to move in with his Aunt and Uncle in LA. However, this move also has him dealing with new problems in a culture of affluence.

Review

If you like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, you may more may not like this. You have to walk into it knowing that it isn't a comedy, it isn't 30 minutes, and it deals with a lot of issues and cultural things that might be triggering one way or another. This is an hour-long drama and as a white dude, I don't catch or understand some things discusses. However, I can empathize with most of it.

There are some things that I really do not like about this show. Specifically, there are some things that happen throughout the seasons that I am not sure we should be highlighting as they are teenagers. These kids are supposed to be in high school, a private high school, and somehow they constantly get involved with some shady things. I get it that just like the old show, Will is more comfortable there, but it just keeps popping up in ways that I think feel forced just like a couple of the overall themes that keep coming up.

There are some things that I have loved and appreciated about this show as well. Let's talk about bringing in the old acting team to play small roles in the new show. I mean both old and new gangster Jeffery are dope. I mean, the old one popping up for this heavy conversation just sits so well. The spy like gangster of the new Jeffery is even better. I think he might be my favorite part of this new show.

Overall, I am impressed with the entire acting team. Hillary is no longer vapid and dump, Ashley is still the soul-minded teenager, and Carlton is still the smart daddy's boy, but with a lot less reliance on that trope. Speaking of tropes that pop in and out, is the short jokes. They are there and in the last season, they are kind of incessant.

Lastly, I also think they do a great job of playing into some major plot points from the old show as guidepost to this new one. It has been really fun seeing them pop up.

My Rating

I really liked this show. As the third season just finished and the fourth was just approved, I am not sure if I will continue watching. This season put forward some things that I just couldn't relate with and without some additional conversations I am not sure if I would understand going forward. It does leave on a cliffhanger and I am interested where that new storyline will go, but I will move the showdown the list of watching. The acting is good, the story is good, and I am relatively entertained. The plot points that feel forced are a bit excessive at times for me, and so I am going to give this an 8.

Parental Rating

There is no way that my parents would watch this show. Lots of conversations about sex, sexual activities, and a couple scenes with characters in lingerie only, but no scenes with sex. The language is constant and hard. Multiple F words and N words in each episode during the first season and still prevalent in the second and third. The violence is minimal. Just some fist fights for the most part. Either way, there is enough language in this show to stop both of my parents from watching it, let alone the content isn't something they'd enjoy. Rejected by both.

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