The drama’s grandest aim is to take the idea of a privileged family looking after their disadvantaged relative, and use it to examine the guilt of the black upper-middle class. Take Will himself, whose insistence on maintaining his Philly smarts was fuel for a thousand funny comebacks when he was a sitcom protagonist: as played by the restless Jabari Banks, the new Will’s refusal to adapt to his surroundings – a cliched fantasy of walk-in closets, Lexuses and neon-lit pool parties – turns him into an annoying caricature of stubborn teen ingratitude, ranged against Uncle Phil (Adrian Holmes) as a stiff scold who constantly goes on about how Will’s behaviour will affect “my campaign”. The limited characterisation that doesn’t necessarily matter in a comedy, but does in a straight drama, is no more detailed than in the original Fresh Prince. With an hour an episode and no jokes to make, Bel-Air has all the time in the world to fashion drama about race, class and coming-of-age, but it ends up being less layered and guileful than its source material.
Photograph: Peacock/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images One of the countless magical properties of the sitcom format is that it has a particular ability to create moving dramatic moments, because viewers are wrongfooted when the clown mask suddenly drops: the Fresh Prince episode where Will and Carlton find themselves the victims of racist policing, for instance, or the one where Will’s neglectful father reappears and then abandons his son again, have extra power because they sneak up in the cloak of a gag-filled comedy. Since Bel-Air has chosen to retain the premise, character names and some of the title of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, it invites comparisons. Cousin Hilary is an Instagram influencer, because apparently there’s a law now that says someone in every new show has to be, while her brother Carlton has undergone the most profound change: instead of the preppy buffoon of old, he’s a pseudo-Shakespearean vortex of toxic pride and fractured self-image who is to be Will’s nemesis. Aunt Viv is an artist and elegant socialite.
Uncle Phil is now a focused, muscly lawyer with ambitions to be elected district attorney, and own a colossal mansion rather than just a nice house.
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