When did The Fresh Prince appear to go downhill?

[waichingliu81]

i'd say when daphne replaced janet as vivian banks later on, the introduction of baby nicky as the latest member of the banks family, the whole will and lisa relationship got to a stage where it appeared to go nowhere in the end and that whilst the first few seasons were just great- they were downright funny and brilliant- the latter seasons often got more soppy and too serious for it's own liking. despite these faults though, i still love the fresh prince of bel air

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by waichingliu81

i'd say when daphne replaced janet as vivian banks later on, the introduction of baby nicky as the latest member of the banks family, the whole will and lisa relationship got to a stage where it appeared to go nowhere in the end and that whilst the first few seasons were just great- they were downright funny and brilliant- the latter seasons often got more soppy and too serious for it's own liking. despite these faults though, i still love the fresh prince of bel air

when Hilary got her own talk show

[waichingliu81]

[when hilary got her own talk show]

yeah, i thought that was stupid as well. whoever thought of that idea had gone nuts

[GeorgiaboyJeff!]

You can tell when the show went downhill was in the last season, it seemed to turn into the Carlton and Will show. Almost every episode dealt with Will & Carlton getting stuck in some situation. However I still enjoyed these eps though.

[waichingliu81]

there were 2 episodes during the later seasons which i felt had bothered me to a certain extent. they were when will's father returned and when will accidently gave carlton some drugs. i think that was what happened in one of the episodes. i'm sorry but not only did i find them hard to watch but it took itself too seriously. i didn't like those episodes in truth. they dealt with the issues of will's biological father who left him and his mother which is a strong subject to deal with, and drugs. personally, i dislike it when a sitcom- be it the fresh prince or whatever- deals in the subject of drugs and it is part of the storyline because i don't think that comedy- or to be more precise sitcom is the ideal tv genre to deal with issues such as that. drama yes but not sitcoms. and besides, when the issue of drugs is tackled in sitcoms it's always done in such a way that is almost embarassing and unwatchable. as for the episode when will's dad appeared-only to take off again, i thought that was really depressing to watch. that was a sad episode in many respects anyway, but i felt that it went too far with the storyline involving will and his estranged dad and the ending of that episode was so sad

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by GeorgiaboyJeff!

You can tell when the show went downhill was in the last season, it seemed to turn into the Carlton and Will show. Almost every episode dealt with Will & Carlton getting stuck in some situation. However I still enjoyed these eps though.

Why?-lol Who would you have preffered the eps to be about? Uncle Phil and Vivian? Ashely and Hilary? Will and Carlton was the main characters of the show

[GeorgiaboyJeff!]

Originally Posted by TheAnalyzer

Why?-lol Who would you have preffered the eps to be about? Uncle Phil and Vivian? Ashely and Hilary? Will and Carlton was the main characters of the show

Oh no! I didn't have a problem with Will and Carlton front & center. It just seemed like the eps in the last season dealt with more of them together than anything. I mean the earlier eps dealt with other issues with Will and the other characters. Will wasn't always with Carlton. But in the last season, almost every episode dealt with their crazy adventures. The show was even better to me personally. But I think the writers were running out of ideas, that's when they just sorta made it the Carlton and Will show LOL.

[waichingliu81]

for me, will and carlton, alongside geoffery were my favourite characters overall on the fresh prince and perhaps, i would say that with their relationship as relatives, even though they'd have the odd arguments or two, i would assume that will and carlton had developed overnight and they didn't argue as much as they did in the early seasons. also, will did mature a lot as a character, not just as he got older, the longer the show progressed. but the thing is that the last few seasons of the fresh prince of bel air were slightly dissapointing. it wasn't as amusing and brilliant as the first three seasons of the show.

i do think it is when a sitcom that not just runs out of ideas but becomes all soap opera-ish with it's storylines and becomes much less funnier and hilarious and takes itself too seriously later on in the series, that as a result it loses some of the brilliance that it had from the very beginnings, and the fresh prince was one of those sitcoms that did this. don't get me wrong, it's still one of my all-time favourite sitcoms and the fresh prince and the cosby show were extremely successful on mainstream american tv in particular, however, with the fresh prince it did lose its ground slightly. being female myself, i wasn't a fan of either the second vivian, of ashley and hilary, although the fact that they didn't feature as much as they should in some of the storylines for those characters to develop fully was a major contributing factor to this. if anything, they were more than less 'watered down' versions of what they were and who they were from the earlier seasons- although i still dislike and cannot stand hilary

[moeee]

Originally Posted by waichingliu81

i'd say when daphne replaced janet as vivian banks later on, the introduction of baby nicky as the latest member of the banks family, the whole will and lisa relationship got to a stage where it appeared to go nowhere in the end and that whilst the first few seasons were just great- they were downright funny and brilliant- the latter seasons often got more soppy and too serious for it's own liking. despite these faults though, i still love the fresh prince of bel air

Like you said, will and lisa relationship is when they went downhill.

[andress_jade]

Definitely when Daphne Maxwell Reid replaced Janet Hubert Whitten. In my opinion, Janet was the better Vivian to me and when she left, it wasn't the same.

[PrettyinPink55]

I think when they brought Lisa in. The episodes after that are my least favorite.

[waichingliu81]

yeah, i know where you are coming from. she was okay from the beginning, but i found her to be quite bland, personality-wise. to be honest, she didn't really offer anything new or different, although lisa was probably more down-to-earth, compared to the previous girls will dated before in the show

[mstewart]

Originally Posted by andress_jade

Definitely when Daphne Maxwell Reid replaced Janet Hubert Whitten. In my opinion, Janet was the better Vivian to me and when she left, it wasn't the same.

Same here. I thought Janet Hubert-Whitten was a good sitcom actress given it was her first TV series. Too bad Will Smith, at the time, was immature about the whole situation and ran her off the show. It sounded like Janet was discriminated against because of her pregnancy. Yes, she was an outspoken person but anyone would if they want their show to be of good quality. Bonnie Franklin had to do the same thing with One Day At A Time to bring the show to true form. After Janet left the show became cartoonish and Daphne was not the one to do the role. It was watered down and Vivian became non-existent viritually.

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by mstewart

Same here. I thought Janet Hubert-Whitten was a good sitcom actress given it was her first TV series. Too bad Will Smith, at the time, was immature about the whole situation and ran her off the show. It sounded like Janet was discriminated against because of her pregnancy. Yes, she was an outspoken person but anyone would if they want their show to be of good quality. Bonnie Franklin had to do the same thing with One Day At A Time to bring the show to true form. After Janet left the show became cartoonish and Daphne was not the one to do the role. It was watered down and Vivian became non-existent viritually.

They could have done without the HYPNOTIST ep when Will was acting 4 years old

[waichingliu81]

Originally Posted by TheAnalyzer

They could have done without the HYPNOTIST ep when Will was acting 4 years old

oh god, now that you mentioned it, i absolutely HATED that episode as it was so stupid