HBO Max came out swinging by releasing a HUGE catalog of television shows. I will unveil a new series in which I watch the pilot episode from the catalog and tell you if it’s worth binging.

Today I am going to tackle one of my all-time favorite shows, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

A streetwise, poor young man from Philadelphia is sent by his mother to live with his aunt, uncle and cousins in their Bel-Air mansion.

S1E1: Pilot

You know when you first put it on, you get that spectacular opening jingle. I would love to hear the back story of pitching this opening to the network. Because albeit it is wonderful, it is a long opening before anything transpires.

The first thing you notice when Will walks into the room is his charisma, not only is he having fun, but he was born to play this role. Will has this ability to take the dialogue given him and take it to the next level in his delivery.

James Avery casting as Phil Banks is just as good as Will Smith. He plays that tough old-man that worked his ass off to get where he is today. He delivers that speech towards the end of the episode that was powerful, meaningful, and you get a glimpse of that Phil wants so much better for Will he had.

The simple piano playing at the end of the episode showed us a glimpse of that talent that is within Will hiding under that off the wall, funny guy he tries to be.

The script for the first episode was brilliant. It showcased to us “the viewer” a little piece from each character for what was to come for each character.

The Verdict:

The script for the first episode was brilliant. When watching a pilot, you want to feel connected to the world of the characters. It was the perfect pilot, we were introduced to our characters, and they set up for the future. Anyone ever trying to make a pilot should use Fresh Prince as a reference.

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