Vinson, Chuck

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air - The Complete First Season

Will Smith stars as a teenager from inner city Philadelphia who's sent to California to live in with his wealthy relatives in the hopes that they will "straighten him out and teach him some good old-fashioned values" but Will soon takes his rightful place as The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.Running Time: 587 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS UPC: 012569593909

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air - The Complete Second Season

Will Smith stars as a teenager from inner city Philadelphia who's sent to California to live with his wealthy relatives in the hopes that they will "straighten him out and teach him some good old-fashioned values. On Season 2 Bel-Air is starting to feel like the hood for Will. His Philly roots run deep but even a street-smart rapper can wrap his mind around croissants and credit cards and his arms around upscale hotties. Guest stars include Queen Latifah Milton Berle and Zsa Zsa Gabor.Running Time: 562 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS UPC: 012569707696

Before he became one of the biggest movie stars in the world, Will Smith (Independence Day, Men in Black) spent six seasons as a poor kid from Philadelphia who gets sent to his wealthy aunt and uncle in California to learn some class--leading to a classic sitcom collision of street smarts and pampered privilege. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air - The Complete Second Season finds the show in a happy groove. Will and the Banks family snipe and bicker cheerfully while grappling with problems ranging from true-to-life to truly preposterous. The more realistic side of life is found in episodes such as when Will's mother Vy (Vernee Watson-Johnson) has a new boyfriend and Will gets jealous, or when Will finds himself attracted to a girl (Queen Latifah, Bringing Down the House), but won't take her to the prom because she's overweight. The ridiculous side bursts out when Will and his pompous cousin Carlton (Alfonso Ribeiro) decide to make money by becoming strippers.

But whether realistic or silly, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air stays a crisp, clean sitcom, with snappy writing and brisk, capable interplay among the cast, which also included James Avery and Janet Hubert-Whitten as Mr. and Mrs. Banks, the tolerant and usually sensible parents; Karyn Parsons as the spoiled, narcissistic Hilary; Tatyana M. Ali as the cute, sassy Ashley; and Joseph Marcell as the droll British butler Geoffrey. Despite living in a fantasyland of wealth, the show regularly touched on racial and class issues--lightly, but not turning a blind eye to the complexities of American life. When Will's aunt Janice (Charlayne Woodard, The Crucible) wants to marry a white man, Vy refuses to accept the match; Geoffrey falls in love with a neighbor, but rejects her when he learns that she's an heiress and not a housekeeper. The writers are clever enough to subvert expectations, such as when Will loses a basketball game so another player can catch the eye of a pro scout--only to learn that the other player thinks professional sports are an absurd gamble and doesn't want that kind of career. Through it all, Will Smith kept the show from being just a showcase for himself; he's secure enough to let the other actors take the spotlight, but carries episodes easily when they're built around him. No longer a rookie in this season, his comic chops start to equal his cocky charm, making the second season particularly strong. --Bret Fetzer

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air - The Complete Fourth Season

The fourth season of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (which aired on television for six years) finds Will (Will Smith) and Carlton (Alfonso Ribeiro) as college freshmen trying to fit in on campus. Carlton's mom, Vivian, who was played by Janet Hubert-Whitten, is now portrayed by the attractive but not-as-funny Daphne Maxwell Reid. And supermodel Tyra Banks shows up as Will's latest girlfriend, Jackie. While not quite as strong as the series' first two years, this fourth season--which aired from 1993 to 1994--still packs plenty of laughs. Smith, who at the time was busily parlaying his TV success into a film career, had not yet become a huge movie star. His charm and likeability were more important at this time than his acting skills, but Smith's charisma is undeniable. Whether he's manipulating his indulgent uncle Philip (James Avery), bossing around his bumbling cousin Carlton, or basically pimping out his other cousin Hilary (Karyn Parsons) to a professor in order to get a good grade, Will comes across as a good boy who does stupid things. There is always a lesson learned and, just as often, a lesson forgotten. Though played for laughs, the series also deals with serious subject matters in an evenhanded way. After Philip is told to diet and exercise, Will thinks he's doing his uncle a favor by sneaking him fatty meals. When Philip has a heart attack, Will has to deal with the consequences of what he did. Did he give Philip the snacks to make his uncle happy, or because it made him feel good to go against authority? When Will is accepted into a snooty African-American fraternity that rejects Carlton, he learns what it's like to discriminate against your own people.

Some of the characters on The Fresh Prince by now have overstayed their welcome. Hilary has become a caricature of the spoiled and ineffectual rich girl. And as with many sitcoms based around their young stars, Philip and Vivian are superfluous add-ons now. But Carlton's baby sister Ashley (Tatyana Ali), who is growing into a lovely young woman, exhibits spunky exuberance as she tackles the rituals of dating and trying to show her parents she's not a little girl anymore. Ali also gets to show off her singing chops this season, tackling Aretha Franklin's "Respect." As for the show's celebrity guest stars (Donald Trump, Hugh Hefner), it's Smith's former rapping partner DJ Jazzy Jeff who makes the most refreshing appearance as (what else?) Will's buddy from back in the day. --Jae-Ha Kim

Combining urban edge with sizzling sitcom style, Will Smith gives a graduate course in comedy in a 4-disc collection that features all 26 fourth-season episodes of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Your homework assignment is to watch 'em all. You'll laugh large!

Martin: The Complete Third Season

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Genre: Television: HBO
Rating: NR
Release Date: 6-NOV-2007
Media Type: DVD

Martin - The Complete Second Season

Wazzup? Superstar Martin Lawrence (Open Season Big Momma's House) is back in 27 uproarious episodes from the hilarious second season of his classic show! Whether he's stepping into the boxing ring delivering a baby or running amok in Hollywood Martin never ceases to amaze and amuse. With his long-suffering girlfriend Gina and core crew of Tommy Cole and Pam by his side as well as an outrageous group of oddballs: back-sassing Sheneneh clueless Jerome and wise-cracking Mama Payne Martin proves that a second helping is even better than the first!Running Time: 810 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 026359365324 Manufacturer No: 93653

Sabrina, the Teenage Witch - The Second Season

When Sabrina Spellman is informed by her aunts Hilda and Zelda that she is a witch on her 16th birthday she is hesitant to believe them. Having been sent to live with them in Massachusetts by her Warlock father and mortal mother Sabrina learns the tricks of magic in order to receive her witch's license. Along the way she gets into many scrapes while figuring out how certain spells work. She also has to keep the secret from her boyfriend Harvey friends Jenny and later Valerie stuck-up nemesis Libby and her ever-suspicious vice-principal Mr. Kraft. System Requirements:TRT: 375 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 097361226941 Manufacturer No: 122694

Maturation is a process fraught with insecurity and angst, and Sabrina (Melissa Joan Hart) is experiencing all the normal teenage emotions while simultaneously trying to hide her powers as a witch, and fit in at a normal high school. Imagine her surprise when, on her 17th birthday, Sabrina discovers that on top of her already packed schedule she must somehow find time to study for a test to earn her witch's license. What's worse, her Quizmaster (Alimi Ballard) from the other realm can be counted upon to throw a pop quiz whenever Sabrina least expects it. From mandatory enrollment in witch boot camp to working on the school parade float with her snooty nemesis Libby (Jenna Leigh Green) and joining her class on a field trip to Disneyworld, Sabrina's 17th year yields lots of important lessons about taking responsibility for her actions, nurturing a compassion for others, overcoming jealousy, and identifying the truly important things in her life. Luckily Sabrina's Aunts Hilda (Caroline Rhea) and Zelda (Beth Broderick), talking cat Salem (Nick Bakay), boyfriend Harvey (Nate Richert), and new friend Valerie (Lindsay Sloane) can be counted upon to lend their support and help Sabrina through even the most stressful days. A huge cast of guest stars throughout the 26-episode season include John Ratzenberger as Santa and Johnny Mathis as himself in "Sabrina Claus," Patrick Thomas O'Brien as Cupid in "The Equalizer," and a performance by 10,000 Maniacs in "A River of Candy Corn Runs Through It." (Ages 8 and older) --Tami Horiuchi

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air - The Complete Third Season

There's a lot hip-hoppenin' in the Fresh Prince's third season showcased in this fabulous 4-Disc Set: Philip runs for Superior Court judge (and runs into plenty of comic complications). Vivian develops a taste for sardines and Rocky Road (guess who's pregnant). Hilary lands a gig as a TV weather reporter (although she probably thinks an occluded front is a new kind of bustier). But the biggest story is that Will is ready to graduate. He's checking colleges (including sororities from alpha to gamma to bad-mama jamma). And choking when his mom wants him to come back to Philly ? because this homeboy realizes that home now means the fly flair of Bel-Air!Running Time: 554 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 012569733749 Manufacturer No: 73374

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's third season simultaneously provided some of the best and worst episodes of the show's six-year run. Set up as a classic collision of streets and society, the show soon found Will (Will Smith) beginning to adapt a little too well to his upper-crust home. He transfers to the same prep academy as Carlton (Alfonso Ribeiro), peruses Ivy League colleges, and truly starts to believe everything comes to him easily. Two spoiled characters (Carlton and Hilary, played by Karyn Parsons) are tolerable, but three begins to get grating. Five is even worse, if you count parents Philip and Vivian Banks (James Avery and Janet Hubert-Whitten), who jumped on the whining bandwagon just enough for their tired butler, Geoffrey (Joseph Marcell) to abruptly quit for one episode.

While strong family core values remained the show's focus (Avery and Hubert-Whitten are good role models for parents who don't try to be their children's buddy), Will became less of a good-natured jokester and more of a flagrant womanizer, going as far as to trick an abstinent girl (Kim Fields) into thinking they had married to get her into bed. Other less entertaining storylines included Philip's run for Superior Court judge against his sleazy mentor (Sherman Helmsley), and Will's possession of drugs, which Carlton accidentally consumes and nearly dies from (leading to the first of Smith's clumsy attempts at teary confrontations; in later seasons he would prove more successful at them). The show also wrote in Hubert-Whitten's pregnancy resulting in a new baby for the Banks, and gave Hilary a "real" job as a weather girl. Season three's highlights include the Banks family's appearance on Oprah, and more instances of Carlton's famous dance to Tom Jones' "It's Not Unusual" -- with guest appearance by Jones as his guardian angel. And that, we can never get enough of.--Ellen A. Kim

Martin - The Complete First Season

Follows the life of a brash radio personality, his forgiving girlfriend, and the characters he hangs out with.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 2-JAN-2007
Media Type: DVD

It's a pleasure to be reminded, after years of increasingly lazy movie performances, that Martin Lawrence was once a hungry, crackling young comic. His 1990s sitcom Martin, in which Lawrence played a radio shock jock juggling the demands of his friends and his girlfriend, was nothing new--it's your basic "gee, men and women sure are different" setup with an African-American flavor. But Lawrence threw himself into the show with gusto. In addition to the central character of Martin Payne, Lawrence played Payne's mother, his trashy neighbor Sheneneh, pompous player Jerome, and numerous others, some of whom were integrated into the main stories, some of whom just appeared in stand-alone segments at the opening of the show. (Ironically, many of the show's fans are more enthusiastic about these side characters than about Martin Payne.) No one will ever accuse Lawrence of subtlety, but his reckless energy is undeniable. That, combined with a good supporting cast (including Trisha Campbell as Gina, his long-suffering girlfriend; Saturday Night Live's Garrett Morris as Stan, his penny-pinching boss; and Carl Anthony Payne II, Tomas Mikal Ford, and Tichina Arnold as Martin and Gina's friends), gave the show a solid dynamic that raised it above the often formulaic scripts. Martin: The Complete First Season includes all 27 episodes; the extras, unfortunately, are only a highlights feature and a standard blooper reel. --Bret Fetzer

Sinbad: Nothin' But the Funk

This live stand-up performance by comedy star Sinbad was filmed at the Guillermo P. Trinidad Theatre in Aruba and originally aired on HBO's Comedy Hour series.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY/STAND-UP UPC: 855280001595 Manufacturer No: CM0159DVD

Clarissa Explains It All - Season One

CLARISSA EXPLAINS IT ALL focuses on the life of teenage Clarissa and her family, consisting of her annoying know-it-all younger brother, Ferguson, her eccentric health-conscious mother, Janet and her architect father, Marshall.