Jump to content

"Fresh Prince" alum Janet Hubert: Still Bitter After All These Years


amybrickwallace

Recommended Posts

  • Members

 

True; and I'm sorry neither JH nor her career recovered from her firing, or that she didn't just push ahead until her career HAD recovered (which it would have, I think, had she not let it destroy her).  But how long do you have to toil on a sitcom cursed with piss-poor writing JUST for the paycheck?  Janet needed to jump before she was pushed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 45
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Members

I agree. She played second fiddle to Will because it was his starring vehicle. She knew that when she signed up for it. It was a hit and is probably an even bigger hit in syndication, yet Will has still built an enormous career beyond the show.

Meanwhile, Janet is just chilling on the internet, hating her ass off. Wasn't she on OLTL at one point?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

But Will COULD have been more generous, IMO, and shared a bit more of that spotlight with his co-stars.  Mary Tyler Moore is the best example I can think of.  Her name might have been on the show AND on the company producing it, but what you saw onscreen was a true ensemble series, with good material spread pretty evenly throughout the cast, and not just "Mary Tyler Moore...And Some Other Folks."

 

Aside from Will, of course, and Alfonso, I really don't think FP's serviced its cast as well -- and that's especially true once Winifred Hervey Stallworth left as EP and Will himself effectively became showrunner with Jeff Pollack and Benny Medina.

 

She was.  And she was on AMC, I think, as the woman who was married to Adrian Sword's father.

 

Meanwhile, Telma Hopkins and Sheryl Lee Ralph are yukking it up somewhere with the other members of the Sistahs Who Stay Busy Club.  (Jenifer Lewis was president before Telma and Sheryl, but "Blackish" is just too time-consuming for her.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members


Many have now gotten hip to WS's arrogance. Jada's video didn't help.....to me , it sounded like she was pissed because he didn't get an Oscar nom and wanted other black performers to back her. now if Will had gotten one would she have still made the video? Will's last, what, 4 movies have tanked at the B.O.? with all that being said....time for Janet to move on. IMO.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

And there's also Valerie Harper.  I know things have been said about her in the past, but when she had "Rhoda," she reportedly never complained about Julie Kavner's Brenda receiving so much attention, even though Jim Brooks and others felt "Rhoda" needed to be about Rhoda (and by extension, Rhoda and Joe).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I thought Hubert was wonderful on the show. I know almost everyone but the cast and crew consider the 'real' Aunt Viv - she was a force to be reckoned with any time she was onscreen, and they wrote for her accordingly. I think it's a shame she hasn't parlayed herself into a lot of long-running work like the women mentioned above, but she did it to herself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

I did, too.  But, like I said, I think she was actually too good for that particular show.  She (and James Avery and Karyn Parsons) just deserved so much better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

My favorite JH/Aunt Viv moment on FPOBA:

 

Philip and Vivian have invited over the parents of the girl who has been bullying Ashley at school.  When the girl's parents suggest, via psychiatry buzz-words, that Philip and Vivian are the ones with the problem, Vivian is just beside herself.

 

Mother of Ashley's Bully (played by Tina Lifford): What's the matter, dear? Too many big words for you?

Vivian (gets up from the loveseat): Nah, Miss Thang, but I got a couple of small words for you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

It's sad that she hasn't been able to move on from all of this. "Fresh Prince" was never a very good show, and when Janet left it became downright awful most of the time. She was definitely the best part of the show in my opinion.

I cannot help but wonder why Vivian's role was so severely diminished after the actor switch. The first few years she was every bit as important and prominent as Phil, but the last few years she was barely seen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • She would be great, but I of course am thinking of her in What's Love Got to Do with It.
    • Agreed that they had a home in the present tense of the first set of episodes.  But I was wondering if they lived in the mansion in the past when Sophia disappeared, and moved out when Santana got pregnant?  Or even when Danny was born.
    • According to the French Santa Barbara site the Andrades had a house in the early episodes.  I thought I remembered scenes in their home. The Andrade house
    • I always wondered if the Andrades lived at the Capwell Mansion?  Certainly they could've had a living room in their space or wherever they went on days off. But, I felt like it was never clear whether Santana visited Rosa when Kelly and Eden were young, or if she actually lived in the servant's quarters (one hopes modern developers have found a euphemism for that space).  I always imagined that Rosa, Santana, and Reuben lived with CC up until Channing was murdered, and then they found their own place because the kids were mostly over 18 (and Santana was pregnant). I like the idea of Rueban and CC being close until Santana got pregnant.  And then Reuben would've hated the adoption of Brandon.  Which would have meant he hated CC, and would've only continued to work for him to try to get info on whatever happened to his grandson. With regard Ava Lazar, having recently rewatched the pilot for the millionth time, I find her captivating to watch, but her line delivery is so dull. She looks amazing, and I just want her to be more quick witted.
    • I liked the original 4 family set up.  The families were all different from each other and were intertwined.  They should have been given equal airtime. I felt that Lockridges were perfectly cast with the exception of Laken.  She should have been quickly recast.   I liked all 4 of the actors cast as the Andrades and wish they would have been given better writing.  I really thought Ava Lazar (Santana) would have been one of the breakout stars if she had not been replaced. My only issue with the casting of the Perkins family was Robert Alan Browne as John and as much as I liked Mark Arnold he was the wrong actor to recast Joe Perkins. And of course it was ridiculous how badly they screwed up the casting of CC. The other Capwells were well cast.
    • This late 1976 stuff doesn't sound as bad as it has in other versions I've read (weekly recaps from Jon-Michael Reed and SOD synopses). I am surprised that there is a variation of Ian - Meg - Arlene - Tom playing out this late in the game, but it doesn't sound half bad. Ian's involvement with Beaver Ridge and how it impacts Rick and Cal's future also intrigued me  more than I expected. Even the Carrie - Betsy connection having Carrie watch Suzanne while Ben is visiting was a nice surprise. I feel like this all falls apart pretty quickly with the arrival of Mia Marriott, Michael Blake, and a slew of other half baked characters under Upton.  
    • Too bad she ended up on Y&R. Actress Valarie Pettiford might've been "Sharon" because she sings too and does it pretty well.

      Please register in order to view this content

    • @NothinButAttitude thanks for sharing the rough draft. I had bought "Shadows on the Wall" from Kathryn Leigh Scott's website probably 20+ years ago. It's a fascinating read into a very different version of what the show could have been. 
    • @Efulton That's the quote I was refering to. In the bible, at almost the beginning, Rueben and C.C. were compared as being similar as two fathers wanting everything for their children, or something along those lines. I do think the Andrades were intended to have more of a role, but they never even garnered a family set (just Santana's apartment). In 1991, they added the Capwell kitchen which seemed to be a domestic space for Rosa, but clearly not solely Rosa's. I feel like I remember Rosa confronting Santana about her feelings for C.C. being an attempt to recreate her grand fantasy with Channing, Jr. in the kitchen, but more likely that was the bedroom Santana was redecorating (C.C.'s master suite) utilizing the designsshe had envisioned for herself and Channing, Jr.  
    • On the French Santa Barbara site Ismael Carlo did not hold back about how he felt about the Dobsons. http://santabarbara-online.com/index2.htm How did you start in Santa Barbara ? My recollection is that I auditioned for the role. After a couple of weeks of contract negotiations I was told that all was in order and that I would start work in a couple of weeks or so. But that's when the sh*t hit the fan. In her high petulant way she (Bridget Dobson) commenced to tell me how all her South American workers were beholding to her. How she treated them, "like children". I said to her, "I'm not a child". She got upset and started to cry. I told her that if she did not want me on the show, all she had to do was break the contract and pay me. It never happened. The Dobsons, who were the producers, where a pair of what you would call in your country aristocrats in their minds. I almost quit just before I started. But like any actor at the time I stuck it out all because of the work. I don't think I will ever sell my soul again. I was also able to perform with the lead actor and director in a production of his: Romeo & Juliet. I played Papa Capulet.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy