FRESH PRINCE REUNION & AUNT VIV (NO.1) NOT HAPPY…

The original Fresh Prince of Bel-Air cast members James Avery (Uncle Phil), Alfonso Ribeiro (Carlton), Karyn Parsons (Hilary), Tatyana Ali (Ashley) and Will Smith (Will) met up in Hollywood recently, and fans went crazy when Will promptly posted a picture of the exciting event on his Facebook page (below)!

However, missing from the shot was Joseph Marcel (Butler Geoffery) and Daphne Maxwell Reid (Aunt Viv number 2). Also absent was Janet Hubert, who played the original Aunt Viv. In 1993, she was replaced half way through the shows six year run (in season four), at the time it was said to be due to contract disputes and the audience were none the wiser as to real reason Aunt Viv suddenly changed from dark skinned to light skinned and slim to shapely.

Years later Hubert revealed the real reason she was let go from the show, which was allegedly due to Will Smith’s ‘out-of-control ego’, and the fact that unlike the rest of the cast she didn’t roll over and take it. She also claimed that after she was fired Will blackballed her career as a Hollywood actress, which made it hard for her to get work. In fact so deep were her feelings on the matter she wrote a book Perfection Is Not A Sit-com Mom (2009) detailing her version of events.

All this has now come back into the spotlight after TMZ interviewed Hubert recently about the reunion and she made was clear she hadn’t gotten over things, saying: ‘There will never be a reunion … as I will never do anything with an a**hole like Will Smith.’ She added: ‘He is still an egomaniac and has not grown up. This constant reunion thing will never ever happen in my lifetime unless there is an apology, which he doesn’t know the word.’ Ouch!

Check out two separate interviews done by Janet in the recent years, talking in more detail about the issues she felt led to her getting fired.

ALFONSO RIBEIRO

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Alfonso Ribeiro (now 38) is best known for playing preppy rich kid Carlton Banks on the hit TV show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, especially with audiences outside of the US. The show, fronted by rapper/actor Will Smith, ended back in 1996. Since then Alfonso has appeared in another TV sit-com fronted by a rapper, this time LL Cool J in In The House. Here he played a character very similar to Carlton (Maxwell Stanton) from 1995-1999. Continue reading “ALFONSO RIBEIRO” »

FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR’S HILARY TALKS CAST REUNION

Spotted over at www.popeater.com this week was an interview with former Fresh Prince of Bel-Air actress Karyn Parsons. Karyn, of course played spoilt air-head Hillary Banks. She spoke to the site about reuniting with the FPOB cast, her views on ex-co-star Will Smith’s kids Jaden and Willow being in the spotlight, and what she is currently up to herself. Below is the first part of the interview.

Continue reading “FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR’S HILARY TALKS CAST REUNION” »

TV SHOW THEME MUSIC

One of the great things I really love about old school TV shows is the theme music. There are some great theme songs from back in the day, which I still can’t get enough of, such as the one from classic 80s US drama The Equalizer (left).

I tried to put together my top 10 themes but ended up with about 30! Then I cut them down again, taking out the shows I have in the pipeline to write posts about.I’m not sure how many I ended up with, about 15 I think, but anyhow  below are some of my fave TV theme tunes, from back in the day, in no particular order. Continue reading “TV SHOW THEME MUSIC” »

HIGH TOP FADE

Back in the day male hairstyles were a lot more interesting than they are now. This was  probably because people weren’t afraid to look silly in the name of fashion, and then what actually happened was they inadvertedly ended up looking good. Most of the time. Why else would the Jheri curl have caught on? Lol!

Continue reading “HIGH TOP FADE” »