Bel-Air

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.