Bel-Air

Impressive realization of that speculative trailer. ... “The Fresh Prince” provides “Bel-Air” a solid foundation that manages at once to honor the original — and not just in the way that Will wears a ball cap sideways and his Academy jacket lining out — while taking it somewhere new; it’s more exploration than exploitation.

The reboot is a good antidote to a show like Euphoria that demands viewers piece together a lot of scattered images, dialogue and ideas to find a cohesive story. But Cooper and the show’s team of writers and directors are competent enough that we can simply enjoy ourselves.

Even without it looking back, Bel-Air’s slick confidence makes it a compelling series in its own right.

A bold reimagining that maintains the essence of the original show while exploring important social themes from an authentic, Black perspective.

Nobody asked for a dark, dramatic reimagining of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," which makes the new series fitting that description, "Bel-Air," better than it has any right to be. Premiering Super Bowl Sunday on NBC's streaming service Peacock, the opening episodes establish a catchy beat, with the main question being how long they can sustain it.

This new take bucks the odds and plays for audiences new and old, proving the resilience of a premise that works even when the approach is “flipped turned upside down.”

In its 2022 iteration, Bel-Air capitalizes on the two things dominating television today: nitty-gritty realism, and nostalgia.

It’s off to a solid start, with good performances and a story that fits well in today’s television landscape.

[A] series that actually isn't bad. ... Much as there is to like about "Bel-Air," including and not limited to its style and a soundtrack mixing '90s hip-hop classics with modern-day vibes, the three episodes available to review never rise to the level of essential viewing.

“Bel-Air” becomes a familiar mix of shows like “The O.C.,” “Empire,” and even “Gossip Girl.” (To wit: “Bel-Air” features “Empire” writer Malcolm Spellman on its EP roster and shares at least two writers, JaNeika and JaSheika James, with HBO Max’s “Gossip Girl.”) The dialogue can be snappy, even as it’s committed to saying the quiet part loud (i.e. rejecting subtext for much blunter text).

Despite the glossy production values and the game efforts of an attractive and gifted cast, “Bel-Air” goes over the top far too often, relying on heavy-handed symbolism, passionate and actor-friendly monologues delivered at the merest hint of a conflict — and fights, whether it’s verbal altercations, physical clashes or the threat of gun violence.

The best thing about it is Jabari Banks, who brings his own charisma to the Will Smith role. He is required to turn in a "deeper" performance. Also good are the action scenes the basketball games and gang scenes but whether that will be enough for former fans to watch a whole, morally earnest series spinning off a 30-yearold sitcom we'll see.

While the intention remains the same – to entertain – how they go about that varies vastly. But where Fresh Prince succeeded tenfold, Bel-Air is mostly so-so.

It’s one of those shows where characters too often sound like mouthpieces for writers instead of real people. They’re too often explicitly stating their messages instead of conveying dialogue that sounds realistic. But then that starts to shift in episode three. ... If the writing can lean into the characters and let them breathe, “Bel-Air” will work.

“Bel-Air” is a glossy, expensive-looking soap that, like Fox’s “Our Kind of People,” puts the spotlight on uber-wealthy Black families. But “fresh?” Not so much.

Bel-Air doesn’t feel distinct enough from TV’s many rich-people soaps to become a classic. The dialogue can sound stiff, and constant references to both the original show and Cooper’s video get tiresome. Yet it does have all the makings of a solid drama.

About as fresh as the fourth season of a teen melodrama on The CW, albeit with rougher language. ... Still, it's early days, and whenever Banks pours on Will's charm, one can hope Bel-Air will rediscover some of the original series' sense of fun. [14 - 27 Feb 2022, p.7]

The reboot (debuting after the Super Bowl on Peacock) winds up overly sensitive yet also way too ludicrous, trapped between dueling instincts for soapy animosity and bland aspiration.

The reality of Bel-Air has its moments, especially whenever it stops trying to draw attention to the story’s sitcom roots. But once you take away the nostalgic link to a beloved series from decades past, the end result is just a decent approximation of a CW drama like All-American, which has a very similar culture-clash premise.

“Bel-Air” is correctly circling around the ugliness in Black politics, but it’s too fearful of being misunderstood, or misrepresented, by its viewers. ... The show understands drama as ominous scores, leaden dialogue, and unnecessary cliffhangers.

Once upon a time, Will from west Philly was miles from home, but the show he was in knew exactly what it was and where it was going. Bel-Air finds that a difficult trick to replicate.

Suck all the joy, exuberance and wondrous charisma out of “The Fresh Prince” — a worthy launchpad for an actor who, in his prime, was widely considered the biggest movie star in the world — and you’re left with the gloomy and plodding “Bel-Air.” ... A suffocating self-seriousness overhangs “Bel-Air.”

Especially after the pilot, which Cooper directs with moody flair, all tie-ins to the sitcom feel forced, like Will turning his prep school blazer inside out to cement his status as a fashion plate. Of course, without the Fresh Prince references, Bel-Air is almost entirely humorless, a chilly act of over-compensation.

The programme-makers, including Smith as executive producer, aren’t sure where to pitch it. It doesn’t have Euphoria levels of hard-hitting content, but it doesn’t have any fun either.

A confusing series that's too tied to its sitcom roots to pass for a drama to take seriously. It's unclear with its intentions and doesn't justify its existence other than to underline a new era of streaming that's starved for content.