Today, September 10, 2018, marks the 28th Anniversary of the hit TV sitcom, ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel Air’. The NBC comedy ran for 6 seasons with 148 episodes until May 20, 1996. Executive Produced by Quincy Jones and Created by Andy & Susan Borowitz, the Warner Bros. Distributed show became the most iconic 90’s TV series of a generation.
Here are 5 Things You Didn’t Know About ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel Air’:
1. Jada Pinkett Smith Auditioned To Play Will Smith’s On-Screen Girlfriend
The part of ‘Lisa Wilkes’ was given to Nia Long. However, it wasn’t soon after that Will and Jada started dating in real life.
2. Will Smith Was In Debt When He Accepted The Part
Evading taxes early on in his music career, as rapper ‘The Fresh Prince’, left Smith to pay off a $2.8 M tax bill.
3. ‘The Carlton’ was inspired by Courtney Cox & Eddie Murphy
Alfonzo Ribeiro (Carlton) adapted his character’s signature dance from Courtney Cox & Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Dancing In The Dark’ music video combined with Eddie Murphy’s ‘white man dance’.
4. Jazz & Will Were BFF’s In Real Life
The pair initially teamed up as ‘DJ Jazzy Jeff’ and ‘The Fresh Prince’ to give us hits like ‘Summertime’ and ‘Parents Just Don’t Understand’ before taking on the TV sitcom circuit together.
5. Uncle Phil’s Law Firm Was a Nod To ‘Earth Wind & Fire’
Executive Producer Quincy Jones was a big Earth Wind & Fire fan, which inspired the firm’s name, ‘Firth, Wynn and Meyer’.
