Opening Doors for Movie Stars in Bel Air

Iiiiiiin West Philadelphia born and raised... yes, most of us know that catchy little tune by heart. It has been nearly 19 years since the first episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air aired featuring one of the most successful actors of our generation. Will Smith can thank The Fresh Prince for much of his success. Without him we may not have even heard of him. Right before he signed a contract with NBC to do the show, he was nearly bankrupt, as he underpaid his income taxes early in his career as a rapper. He owed the IRS 2.8 million dollars.

If you haven't seen the show, I suggest you do so immediately. Basically, it is about a hoodlum from West Philly who moves in with his Aunt's family in their mansion in Bel-Air. It is mainly a comedy although there are scenes that are more of the drama genre. Watching it, you only get a taste of what you would see in Will Smith's acting later in his career.

The show ended in 1996. From there on he went to feature films. He has been in many hit films such as Independence Day, Men in Black, Hitch,I Am Legend, and Seven Pounds. He received an Oscar nomination for best actor in his role in the movies Ali and The Pursuit of Happyness.

Will Smith is the only actor to have eight films in a row where he was the lead actor to gross over $100 million domestic at the box office. He is also the only actor to have eight consecutive films to open at #1 on the domestic box office.

Will Smith is one of the most successful actors of our time. He is also one of my favorite (not purely comedic) actors. He is turning 41 this year (I was surprised to hear that) and I am sure he has more great movies to come. I am sure Will Smith is very thankful to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air for giving him a chance to be put out there and get a fan base.

Well, that is all I have to say. He is one of the biggest successes of an actor going from a sitcom to the big screen, now, get out of my house.

Going down to South Park gonna have ourselves a time..........

South Park.

I got a text from my brother on Wednesday reminding me to watch the new episode of South Park. It was the season premiere. South Park has been around for 13 seasons! It is so hard to believe that this show premeired in 1997 when I was NINE! That is a little younger than the main characters in the show.

If you haven't seen the show, it revolves around a group of four friends (Pictured from left to right: Kyle, Cartman, Stan, and Kenny). The show follows their everyday life, which is way more exciting than any fourth grader's life. In earlier episodes, South Park tended to revolve around more outrageous circumstances such as aliens in the first episode "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe." In the past years, the episodes have been more satirical. Many of the episodes point out fads or other popular culture such as the World of Warcraft craze and the "Metrosexual" fad (both of these episodes along with every other episode ever created can be watched in their entirety on southparkstudios.com, pretty cool, huh?).

Because of the computer animation creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker use, an episode of South Park can be made in a week. Actually, last season, season 12 episode 12 "About Last Night" depicted Barack Obama winning the presidential election just 23 hours after he actually won the election. This shows how fast these episodes can be made which, I believe, is the reason they are such a hit. South Park was named 12th best TV show in the past 25 years by Entertainment Weekly.

One of the reasons for South Park's success over the years has been their ability to push the envelope. No one is spared (Jews, blacks, asians, and gays alike) in these potty mouth boys' dialog (especially Cartman) and in the rest of the show. Some extreme episodes in the past have been "The Passion of the Jew" where Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of the Christ" convinces Cartman that he is to exterminate the Jews. Another is "It Hits the Fan" where the "S-H word" is used, unedited, 162 times.

South Park is either a love it or hate it show. As it has a huge fan following, there are probably just as many that oppose it. Either way, it is the most popular show on Comedy Central and single-handedly put Comedy Central in the TV spotlight. So, those that have seen it, do you love it or do you hate it? For those that haven't seen it, go here to make an educated guess!

Sitcoms and the Internet

Okay, let us jump in the time machine children. We are going back ALL the way to 1998 (hard to believe it has been 11 years, huh?). It was around this time when I, personally, saw my first video from the new-fangled internet on an imac computer (wow i laughed at all the "features" of the imac- Plays audio CDs!). The video was a downloaded clip of a music video for the song Pretty Fly (For a White Guy) by The Offspring. I remember it took FOREVER to download and when we saw the fuzzy picture of the music video playing on the computer we went nuts- how innovative. Jump back in the time machine.

We have arrived back to 2009. I have missed my favorite sitcom of all time- "The Office" for some reason or another. Back in 1998 this would have been a problem. If I hadn't set the VCR (remember those things) timer to record, I would have been screwed, wait for a rerun I guess. But no, a couple weeks ago I missed the new episode of "The Office." It is dissappointing not seeing it right when it airs, but, has become a regular occurrence because of my busy schedule. Nowadays, all I have to do is wake up the next morning (it takes a night to get it on the website, i guess), go on to my computer, go to http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/video/, click on the new episode, sit back and enjoy.

WHAT A BRILLIANT INVENTION! It takes maybe 15 seconds (with a decent internet connection) to load and there are only like 5 commercials in the WHOLE 22-MINUTE EPISODE! This has revolutionized the way I watch sitcoms. There have been weeks where I have went without turning on my TV at all. I simply switch from nbc.com and southparkstudios.com and that gives me enough television entertainment without the hassle of long commercial breaks.

However, with all of these television shows almost immediately streaming on the internet, how will the shows get the viewers they once had? Also, what's the point of buying cable if your favorite shows are easily accessed to the internet? It will only be a matter of time until we find out. I'm sure it will be a SHAMWOW of a problem for the cable companies and advertisers.

(If you think I'm crazy for saying shamwow look at my previous post on catchphrases, thanks.)

Whatchutalkinbout Zack?

What's the high-point of some sitcoms but never actually happens in real life? -catchphrases

What is a catchphrase? thefreedictionary.com describes it as "a well-known phrase or slogan associated with a particular entertainer or other celebrity." In a sitcom this would be Gary Coleman in Different Strokes saying "Whatchutalkinbout" or everyone in the Cheers yelling "Norm!"

There were many great sitcom catchphrases in the last few decades but this fad seems to be dying out (with some exceptions). I remember the glory days of television sitcom catchphrases. Back in my day, one of my early favorite television sitcoms was Family Matters. Who can forget Steve Urkel's famous question "Did I do that?" after doing horrendous damage to the Winslow house or making some other wacky mistake? This was a pretty famous catchphrase for a guy who was only supposed to be a one-shot character.

Or, for you old folks out there, who can forget "sit on it" from Happy Days. From my research, this catchphrase seemed to be used by the whole gang on the show. However, I believe that it was first used by the Fonz. It was a nice way to say "screw you."

What is your favorite catchphrase? Being a The Office fanatic, I would have to say that my favorite MODERN catchphrase is "That's what she said." When I was younger watching reruns on TV Land, my favorite was "Whatchutalkinbout Willis?"

I love sitcom catchphrases and I miss the days where you could flip on the TV and hear one of these gems in a matter of minutes. I think that more sitcom catchphrases should make a comeback. In fact, I think every single person should come up with their own signature catchphrase. It could slowly make the world a better, more exciting place to live. I think my new catchphrase will be "Shamwow!"