She was fabulous no doubt but don't discount Daphe. She was the first black Homecoming at Northwestern, a very prestigious institution. She also was the first black woman to grace the cover of Glamour Magazine. Her marriage to Tim Reid has lasted the test of time which is not easy in show business. The Reids have dont so much for the arts community in VA. It's wonderful to love Miss Janet I just wish people would give Miss Daphne some credit too.
@@olechristianhenne6583 That wasn't it. Simply put, she was apparently a nightmare to work with and the rest of the cast couldn't stand her. She also pretty much wanted to be the star of the show. It's true she was a more talented and experienced actress at the time, but the show was made to revolve around Will Smith, and she knew what she signed up for.
*I lie to you not! Vivienne Banks had the best style in sitcom history! Decades later I find myself copying her style.. the pencil skirts, the scarfs, the sophisticated look of it all..* ❤
I emulate her appearance, as well. Her level of sophistication and elegance was a remarkable example for us all. Her sartorial choices alone let you know that this is a woman that deserves the utmost respect.
The original aunt Viv and Granny are my favorite characters in the series. Ashley and Hillary are great too, but after Janet Hubert's departure, the show wasn't as fun as before.
I agreed. Her replacement was talented as well and I liked both, but I loved the original and how she played Aunt Viv as a highly educated and classy lady but if needed she could revert back to being a tough Philly chick (like in the episode where Will and Carlton are arrested and she takes off her earrings and says, "It's about to get busy in here.")
@@littlesongbird1 In addition to all what's been said here. There was a great composition between James Avery & Janet Hubert. He was the big round gentle giant and she was a slim, sleek, dark-skinned, glass of fine wine bombshell. They were a better pairing. And the romance and desire (bedroom dialogue scenes) was much more believable.
@@Bull1908 or maybe she just wanted to retain the character strength of aunt Viv because clearly they watered her down with Daphne Maxwell Reid (no fault of hers.) It clearly worked at first
@@sbella6719 if you also watched 2nd and 3rd season you noticed she became comic relief more than the strong parental presence that she was in 1st and half of 2nd.
@@Bull1908 it's been awhile so I don't remember the seasons and I only heard rumors about why she left. I just remember the obvious differences in character once DMR came onboard.
I became a fan of this song thanks to this show!! It originally aired in one of the earliest episodes as the first of many serious audience reactionless episode endings. The one that introduces Phil's parents and his history.
Procurei muito por esse episodio, para saber como se chamava essa musica...detalhe: não sei falar ingles. Mas li sua tradução e juntamente com sua melodia achei linda. Obrigado....
This is my favorite episode: how Will and Carlton think they know about black history and then realize they do not, how their classmates are interested in a topic they are unaware of, the final remarks about the importance of knowing about history... a lot of humor and many important, valuable points. Good script and well acted.
@@hadihatab3126 That's still pretty extreme. Even in my third year of university (which i just finished), my longest essay was no more than 11 pages. And that 11th page was only half filled.
2:45 Perfectly told but one important and amazing contextual point missing. The amazing thing that’s not mentioned here is one of astronomy. The Big Dipper and the Little Dipper are what’s known as circumpolar constellations: they never leave the sky at all during the year because of their proximity to the North Celestial Pole. If you look at photos where the stars are combined to show how they circle around the sky across the years, the Dippers are the stars with the shortest trails. Following the Dipper was guaranteed to send you North regardless of what time of year it was. To Canada. Where slaves were then free.
I remember this episode.Will and Carlton.Despite being the black students of the class were the least interested in it and thought they were getting a free ride having a relative as a teacher.
Can see why Will edged her out. She stole the show way too much for his liking. A beautiful talented, and powerful woman. Was so disappointed when they replaced her.
I think she did get a little offended when he added the finish to the song. Things like those, even for the comedy of the show, would be somehow disrespectful to someone who was talking about a serious part of history such as slavery
@@12mak Will would famously go off script constantly in the first season because he would never remember his lines. So it wouldn't surprise me if he did just throw this on here because Janet and James would constantly get irritated with Will's behavior during filming the first season. It's way the show almost didn't get renewed for a second season
Nah she wanted to be the star of the show and was too controlling she even got into with the other cast members lol will didn’t do anything she just didn’t cut it
the first aunt viv was a strong woman, and knew when to give uncle phill the righteus power, and knew when she was in power, she wasnt a "im a strong woman and no enemy can stop me" she was a woman with flaws, and she knew that, but uncle phill was there to fill those gaps, thats why phill and vivian were such a good couple.
Why are you bashing Daphne Maxwell Reid? She and her Husband Tim Reid have served the African American Community Proud & has been honored by the NAACP, Essence & Soul Train for their works in the Community and Theater. It wasn't her fault what lead to the first Aunt Viv getting fired! She clash with the whole Crew and was fired. Now she made peace with Will and the rest of the crew. Why why keep competing them both? That's almost like your Male Friend Mother companion you to her son's girlfriend before you? Would you like that? Us as black folks we need to stop doing this.
@@perrysaunders331 Actually you need to get your facts checked. The original aunt viv was sacked by will because he saw her as a threat and the whole cast actually treated HER poorly
Yeah i think Will just came up with an excuse for being lazy and failing his latest history test. He also thought he would be taught stuff he THOUGHT he knew on black history and hoped it was more Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King then what he got
The sad thing is where I live we had a professor fired for this exact reason. Teaching lessons like this. She was a smart women with a masters in psychology, history and math. Was dedicated to her job and taught for 35 plus years at the same university. Apparently some snow flakes couldn't handle a white women teaching black history saying it was racist. 35 years of teaching history, psychology and math to students only to be fired for doing her job. Did more for that university then anyone I ever seen. Just a small town local university that had exceptional education due to professors like her. Former students came to defend her a majority of them being black, Hispanic and Asian. We are a small town of 12,000 with a population swelling up to 20,000 for summer time when workers come down for harvest season and training. A majority of the families have kids who come here for college because it's cheaper, smaller and the education is excellent. Without people like her small town universities would diminish.
I am so sorry, that pisses me off. This is coming from a proudly Hispanic man. I don't care if someone's white, or what-have-you, if they know their subject matter and have a good delivery then I'm all for it.
I hope she was able to keep her job. I understand as a teacher how hard it is to talk/handle students. We’re all just trying to do our best, and it’s not always easy
Harriet Tubman was a Union spy during the Civil War. Her codename was Moses. When the slaves sang about Moses in the fields, they weren't singing about the guy in the old testament.
I know they’re doing it for the moment, but Viv really could’ve just told Carlton and Will at home “Boys, just so you know, at school you will refer to me as Professor Banks, not Mom or Aunt Viv.” Like she had to know it would come up.
Eastern Cherokee woman, grew up singing these songs too. The Drinking Gourd is the Big Dipper, pointing to the North Star. I taught it to my Jewish husband a few nights ago.We also have a tradition of walking in shallow streams to cover our tracks .
lol I'm imagining your black citroen racing through puddles to "avoid leaving tracks" :') not alot of shallow streams to walk through in my part of europe though, seems like a nice thing to do
The only spirituals I ever heard of where “swing low sweet chariot” and “follow the drinking gourd” but I never knew the drinking gourd meant the Big Dipper.
💥This is why they wanted to remove Aunt Viv from the show. Yeah Will and Janet had beef but the network executives and the establishment wanted Aunt Viv gone. She was a dark skinned, intelligent, beautiful, sexy, accomplished, college educated Black woman on a super popular, crossover, mainstream tv show. That image wasn’t something they wanted promoted. Not then and not even now. I believe the beef between them was instigated to remove the positive role model Aunt Viv was. How else could you explain how the show changed after her absence. Hilary and Carlton were dumbed down, the study was removed and talks concerning education, civil rights, and the arts was all but removed.
Its because of themes like this, and actors like this that this show wasn't just another sitcom. I feel that it was super funny but still so deep, which is why I can rewatch it several times (something like Friends, not so much).
One measure taken to counter the underground railroad was the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. In a nutshell it stated that any runaway slaves in free territory must be returned to their masters and that officials and citizens of the free states had to cooperate in doing so. When the Civil War broke out there were union armies that would hold runaway slaves as contraband of war, employ them as scouts or other things. When the owners would request that the salves be returned in accordance with the FSA some (not all) would refuse, claiming that the FSA did not affect a foreign country, which is exactly what the Confederacy was claiming to be. In one sense you gotta hand it to these union officers for exploiting this interesting loophole. On the other hand I find myself disappointed that these people after having escaped bondage are simply captured or put to work again instead of being allowed to go free.
The sad truth is that in the movie, Hoodlum, starring Laurence Fishbourne, there was a scene where his friend was drunk and fed up with the way things were going in the gangster lifestyle and left. As he was walking on the way home, a police car rolled up as the officer and his men came out, the man said he was out of that life, but the officer replied and asked if he was having trouble learning, then he said, "They should've told you long ago that once you're in, you can't get out.", so they took him, tortured him, and interrogated him, but he refused to answer, so they killed him. The moral is that you can run, but no matter how far you go and how close you get to freedom, they will catch you and bring you right back for questioning, then punish you for life.
What's great about the scene, besides the educational value and funniness of it, is that, right around that time, there was a rap song called Hey Little Walter that was really popular, which was based on Wade in the Water
I would have loved to have Professor Banks as my teacher. She is tough but fair and actually pushes students to reach their full potential. Teachers these days just give a shit ton of homework and don't really care about teaching at all and just do power trips.
The part where she says her name is not mom kinda reminds me of a teacher in middle school where a student often called her Mrs. Mom & her name was Mrs. Moss. Other students sometimes called her mom by accident then she would call them son or daughter.
2023. I am 22 years old and I am german. I watched this series on VHS casettes because my aunt, white biological german, loved this series. She wanted me to know that the 90s where a great time for a Teenager growing up in Europe. "Back than, most people in Europe were colorblind" I love Aunt Vivian. She is the opposite of a 2020s Mary Sue. She is the mother or aunt kids nowadays need.
one thing about will smith once someone starts singing he allways has to finish it off even if everyone else has stopped he will carry on probably to the next periods witch will smith will probably be still in the classroom on his own after everyone else has left for the next period i can see this happening one day
