Page 70 - Will Smith: A Biography of a Rapper Turned Movie Star

Will Smith
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with a wrap party. Will could not resist acting like a teenager
again. Things got out of hand when he started a friendly cake
fight. The rest of the cast got into it, and soon they all ended up
with icing and crumbs on their faces and hair.
In the last episode, broadcast on May 20, 1996, the
Banks family sells its mansion and moves back to
Philadelphia. Will is the only family member who stays
in Los Angeles, to finish college. In a clever touch, the
Bankses show their house to potential buyers that
include characters from old television comedies such
as Diff ’rent Strokes (which ran from 1978 to 1986) and
The Jeffersons (1975–1985).
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was never a huge hit, but
it was a solid one. A total of 148 episodes were broadcast. 8
The show was televised not only in North America but
in more than ten other countries, including Spain
(where it was called El Principe de Bel-Air ), Croatia
(Princ s Bel-Aira ), Israel (Hanasih Hamadlik MiBel-Air)
and Denmark (Rap fyr I L.A. ). Reruns of the show were
shown on the Nickelodeon Network’s nighttime
programming segment Nick at Nite until 2009. After
that, ABC Family began airing the reruns.
While The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was first and foremost
a comedy, Smith later said that his favorite episodes were the
ones dealing with serious issues: “From the fan mail I’ve
received, I know the show helped many teens get through
difficult situations. Even if we couldn’t offer them solutions,
our show had shown them that they’re not alone.”9