The Fourth Season

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is the show that started Will Smith's acting career. It is a family oriented sitcom about the culture clashes of an African-American family living in Bel-Air, California. The main star of the show, Will Smith, plays Will Smith, and when he gets into a little trouble back home in West Philadelphia, his mother sends him to live with his aunt and uncle in Bel-Air. Since Smith grew up in a completely different environment than his cousins Carlton, Ashley, and Hilary, there are plenty of jokes from their indifferences. Like many, I grew up watching this show and I have very fond memories of it. Before my review of season two, it had been a few years since I last saw an episode and I was looking forward to seeing the Prince in action once again. Unfortunately I found that the show was not nearly as funny as I used to think it was. After watching season four, I found the opinion held. The show is funny enough to offer a few good episodes to watch here and there, but comes with limited replay value. Be sure to check out DVD Talk's reviews of season one, season two, and season three for more details about the series.

Season four introduces some new faces. First off, Janet Hubert-Whitten, who played Vivian Banks left the series. Her replacement is Daphne Maxwell Reid. Reid's performance as Vivian is on par with Hubert-Whitten. While a change in the main cast lineup can affect a series, Vivian was never a really strong part of the comedy and Reid's portrayal of the character did not affect the cast dynamic negatively or positively. Tyra Banks also guest stars in several episodes as Jackie, Will's long lost love from Philadelphia. She makes a good supporting character. Jewel (Karen Malina White) is another reoccurring character added this season. She is Jazz's wife. In addition to the character changes, season four sees some setting changes as well. Will and Carlton embark in their first year of college at the University of Los Angeles, where they both take jobs at the Peacock Stop (a student bookstore and cafeteria) and live in the pool house. Many of the stories take place in the Peacock Stop, as well as the Banks Mansion and pool house.

The stories addressed in this season include Ashley continuing to grow into a beautiful young woman, as well as her growing interest in the opposite sex, Will and Carlton try living on their own and eventually move into the pool house, Hillary deals with the untimely death of Trevor, Will's father pays a visit, the family visits Philadelphia, Jazz marries Jewel, Jazz asks Will for a very special favor, and much more.

The season begins with the two-part episode "Where There's a Will There's a Way". In this episode, Will and Carlton move out of the Bel-Air mansion into their first apartment together. The entire family is reluctant to their leaving, but Will and Carlton are intent on living by themselves. However, they quickly find life in the real world is not pretty. The two end up living in the pool house at the mansion before they know it. There is also a big storyline setup for Hillary in this episode. In the middle of Trevor's marriage proposal, he died (bungee jumping accident). Throughout the rest of the season, Hillary has to cope with her loss. This episode also introduces Tyra Banks as Jackie, the student manager of the Peacock Stop.

In "It's Better to Have Loved and Lost It...", Carlton loses his virginity with an older woman, who turns out to be married! It is an exciting, yet shocking experience for Carlton as he believes he has finally met the woman of his dreams. It is just too bad she is the university dean's wife (someone he wants to impress, oh the irony). "Blood Is Thicker Than Mud" touches on the topic of discrimination. Will and Carlton are considering different fraternities to join and they decide to pledge an African-American fraternity. While going through pledge week, the pledge master treats Carlton worse than everyone else because he believes Carlton's Bel-Air upbringing has made him a bad person. In the end, Will is accepted and Carlton is rejected from the fraternity. Will does the right thing and refuses to join the fraternity for not letting Carlton in due to his upbringing.

"Fresh Prince After Dark" is an experience in its own. Playboy is doing a feature on female weather reporters and due to Hillary's success as one, she got their attention. They ask her to pose for the magazine, which sets the household in an uproar. Philip is angry Hillary would even consider it, while Vivian believes Hillary should be able to do whatever she likes. On the day of Hillary's photo shoot, she takes Will and Carlton to the Playboy mansion, where the two have a field day chasing after Playboy bunnies. The story ends on a happy note with Hillary posing for a very tasteful picture. "Home Is Where the Heart Attack Is" is another somewhat dramatic episode. Ashley fears for her father's health, as he eats pure junk. She forces him onto a healthy diet and exercise, which does not help when Will starts sneaking him food. Unfortunately, Philip's awful diet catches up to him and he suffers a minor heart attack. Will feels he is responsible.

In "Who's the Boss?", Carlton's good grades in his business course lands him the manager position at the Peacock Stop. To Will's dismay, he has to follow Carlton's overzealous lead in business. Unfortunately for Carlton, his ideas may sound great on paper, but they are far too impractical and put the Peacock Stop in ruins. "Stop Will! In the Name of Love" is Ashley's final breaking point with how her family treats her. On Valentine's Day, Ashley's boyfriend Roger wants to take her out. Philip is reluctant to let his daughter out alone with a boy for the evening. Will changes Philip's mind by agreeing to chaperon Ashley and Roger on a double date. However on the double date, Will gets very protective of Ashley and ruins the evening. The episode ends with Ashley making a statement for respect by singing "Respect".

The episodes "The Ol' Ball and Chain" and "Mother's Day" feature Jazz and his newlywed wife Jewel. In "The Ol' Ball and Chain", the two tie the knot and the events get a little complicated when she hits on Will. In "Mother's Day", Jazz and Jewel ask Will for a big favor. They want to have a child, but they find out Jazz's "swimmers" are not the strongest. They want to use Will's sperm for in vitro fertilization. In "Papa's Got a Brand New Excuse", Will's deadbeat dad Lou Smith (Ben Vereen) makes an appearance. He shows up at the Peacock Stop and slowly rekindles a relationship with his son. Will quickly opens his heart to his father, while Philip becomes enraged at the situation. It ends on with an emotional upset for Will, which was exactly what Philip feared would happen. It is sad episode.

Overall, I can't say I enjoyed this season anymore than the previous seasons. While I used to love this show when I was younger, there really isn't a lot to keep you coming back for more. Fans of the series will definitely want to give this a whirl, and others who enjoy light-hearted family-oriented sitcoms should get a kick out of this season set. It should make for a decent rental.

Episode Guide
1. Where There's a Will, There's a Way Part 1
2. Where There's a Will, There's a Way Part 2
3. All Guts, No Glory
4. Father of the Year
5. It's Better to Have Loved and Lost It...
6. Will Goes a-Courtin'
7. Hex and the Single Guy
8. Blood Is Thicker Than Mud
9. Fresh Prince After Dark
10. Home Is Where the Heart Attack Is
11. Take My Cousin... Please
12. You've Got to be a Football Hero
13. 'Twas the Night Before Christening
14. Sleepless in Bel-Air
15. Who's the Boss?
16. I Know Why the Caged Bird Screams
17. When You Hit Upon a Star
18. Stop Will! In the Name of Love
19. You'd Better Shop Around
20. The Ol' Ball and Chain
21. The Harder The Fall
22. "M" Is for the Many Things She Gave Me
23. Mother's Day
24. Papa's Got a Brand New Excuse
25. For Sale by Owner
26. The Philadelphia Story

The DVD

Video:
The video has been re-mastered for DVD. It looks pretty good and is presented in its original television aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame color. The picture gets a little grainy and the darker segments tend to show it off more. There are hints of edge enhancement and color distortions from video compression. Overall a pretty average looking release.

Audio:
The audio is given in English 2.0 Dolby digital stereo sound. The quality is average with respect to most TV on DVD releases. The track is fairly flat, dialogue is clear and easy to understand, and it includes a laugh track. There is little distinction between left and right channels. The release comes with subtitles in French, and Spanish. It also supports English closed captioning.

Extras:
There are no extras.

Final Thoughts:
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is one of many television series that I hold in high regard. I grew up watching episodes of Will Smith getting into crazy situations with the Banks family and always enjoyed them. However, I have come to realize that the show is not quite as rich as some other sitcoms in its stories or dialogue. The characters are goofy enough to make you laugh, but typically the focus on comedy is the same thing in each episode. This season set is fun and worth sitting through, but I believe it has fairly low replay value.