The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Mistaken Identity
TV Flash files “Mistaken Identity” as a desk essential hour — The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990–1996) on NBC, season 1, episode 6, aired 1990-10-15, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E06: listed hour 6 of 148 in the The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air guide, hour 6 of 25 in season 1. It aired 1990-10-15 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Homeboy, Sweet Homeboy” (S01E05). Next is “Def Poet's Society” (S01E07).
Essential hour: “Mistaken Identity”. Mistaken identity as a still that will not stay funny. A Mercedes is not armor; the laugh track has to wait.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
While Philip and Vivian go on a trip to Palm Springs in Mrs. Furth's helicopter, Will and Carlton are paid to drive Mr. Furth's Mercedes-Benz there as well. They get pulled over by a police officer for "stealing" the car. Luckily, Will is able to get Philip and Vivian's attention by making a phony confession on TV and he and Carlton are acquitted, Phillip even going so far as to lambaste the officers on duty for immediately writing the two off as criminals instead of going through the proper procedures. This turns into an argument between Will and Carlton about racial profiling after they get home with Carlton insisting that the justice system is not flawed, but when Philip recounts a similar experience, Carlton thinks it over with himself. Meanwhile, Hilary babysits Ashley and proves to be an unhealthy influence on the young girl when she gives her too much coffee.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Mistaken Identity sit in the The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air guide?
S01E06 is listed hour 6 of 148 — hour 6 of 25 in season 1, season 1 episode 6.
When did The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air S01E06 air?
Mistaken Identity aired 1990-10-15 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Is this only a Will Smith star vehicle?
It is a star vehicle that learned to be a family sitcom. Smith is the launchpad. James Avery's Uncle Phil is the gravity. The hours that last are the ones where the mansion has to hold both.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Not just the theme song you already know: a star being minted in public, a recast the internet still litigates, and the rare network sitcom that could stop dancing long enough to land a father-wound heard around the mansion.
Flash: the theme song was a red carpet you could rap. September 10, 1990, a kid from West Philadelphia lands in Bel-Air and the country learns a zip code as a punchline. Will Smith did not walk into a sitcom. He walked into a launchpad wearing a baseball cap, and NBC treated the arrival like a premiere even when the set was a mansion with a laugh track. Someone's publicist called it fish-out-of-water. The afterparty called it a star being minted in public.
Filed against
- Will Smith as Will Smith
Will Smith turned The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air into a language — West Philadelphia to Bel-Air, a star vehicle minted in public, theme-song ubiquity, and an Aunt Viv recast the internet never forgave. The hours that dropped the smile still…
- James Avery as Philip Banks
James Avery’s Philip Banks is The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’s gravity in a three-piece — Uncle Phil as the mansion’s law, laugh, and landing pad. Will Smith walked into a launchpad; Avery was the house that launchpad needed. On TV Flash he…
- Janet Hubert as Vivian Banks
Janet Hubert’s Vivian Banks is the original Aunt Viv — The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’s first mansion matriarch, and the recast discourse that still behaves like a family argument. Will Smith’s launchpad needed a wife who could match Uncle…
- Daphne Maxwell Reid as Vivian Banks
Daphne Maxwell Reid walked into The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air for season four as Vivian Banks — a recast the internet never forgave and a mansion sitcom that could still drop the smile. Theme-song ubiquity around a household that had to…
- Alfonso Ribeiro as Carlton Banks
Alfonso Ribeiro’s Carlton Banks made The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air a dance-floor language — Tom Jones, khakis, and brotherly friction as sitcom soft power. The Carlton dance outlived the original run and still owns reunions. TV Flash files…
- Karyn Parsons as Hilary Banks
Karyn Parsons’s Hilary Banks is The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air as a look book — mansion photocalls, star-vehicle heat, a cousin who photographs like a premiere. NBC’s zip-code punchline with fashion as character. On TV Flash she is 1990s…