As far as I'm concerned, Janet Hubbard is the only real, true mom from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. When she was replaced by Daphne Reid (who, for some reason, down played her own acting skills on the show), I was too through. The original Vivian Banks was funny, entertaining, strong, and a fabulous actress. She should have never been replaced.
Janet Hubbard has said before that she was treated very unfairly when they dropped her from the sitcom, and now she's written a book about it. Go Janet. Tell it all, girl!
I know that many people will say, "Oh she's lying" or "Why is she trying to bring Will Smith down now?" And to those naive people I have this to say: #1 - How can a Janet Hubbard bring down a Will Smith? Black women don't care enough about black women to stop supporting Will, and the industry sure doesn't give a rat's tooth about some black chick who was dismissed from a sitcom staring a MEGA star. #2 - You don't know anything about the industry. You're merely a person with eyes who turns on the TV and laughs or cries. You have no earthly clue about the cut throat industry that Will Smith now dominates.
To but it bluntly, Janet Hubbard was too much woman, too black, and too talented of an actress to survive on The
From Janet's book:
In the book, Hubert lashes out at Smith and accuses the then-hip hop superstar of sabotaging her and other talented actors who worked on the 30-minute NBC comedy.
In one excerpt from the tome, given to BV Buzz exclusively, Hubert writes: "Smith had people around him who made sure no one outshone him. I was happy to see Don Cheadle become the quality actor that he is, and often wondered how he made it past one episode, as Hilary's boyfriend, being such a fierce actor. No one could be on 'The Tonight Show,' that first season, except Will. And I mean no one."
In an effort to drive the point home, Hubert also recalled an incident where another actor was cut from a guest spot on the show after being too impressive at an early rehearsal for that episode.
"I recall the lovely and incredibly talented Countess Vaughn coming to guest star. Oh my God! The day of table read, she was pee-in-your-pants funny. The writers were howling, we were howling, so I knew she was history – banished into the cornfield. Many years later, after she had her own show, I had to tell her when she asked me why. 'Miss Janet why did I get cut from the episode,' she asked? Simply, my darling, you were too good," she recollected.
Hubert also vividly details her termination from 'Fresh Prince of Bel Air,' something she claims to have never anticipated.
She writes: "My agent called; it was time. He had a very funny sound to his voice, not the usual wonderfully funny Michael that I knew. 'Jaaaannnet,' he said, 'I got the offer and you're not gonna like it. They offered you 10 episodes.' Now, to the layperson who doesn't know what this means, each show is an episode, and the usual amount is 22, with perhaps two extra. But the show was a hit so they would order 26, with each show taking a week to shoot. I remember swallowing very, very hard. [My son] Eli was only three and half months old. That meant a cut in salary of more than $100,000." Read More Here
Janet hasn't done very much since being tossed from The Fresh Prince either, and that saddens me:
Janet was also featured in a 2002 episode of Friends as Chandler's boss.
In 2005, she began playing the recurring role of Lisa Williamson, mother of attorney Evangeline Williamson on the soap opera One Life to Live. The character has made occasional appearances since then.
She was also featured as Michel Gerard's mother in an episode of the CW show Gilmore Girls. On top of that, she also made an appearance in an episode of The Bernie Mac Show, playing Bernie's overbearing Mother-In-Law.
Why is it that the comedian and/or the rapper is always elevated to stardom, but the serious actress has to settle for guest spots and touring stage plays? WHO is elevating the buffoon and stiffling the talented? Not to say that Will Smith is a buffoon NOW, but he darn sure started as one.
I always loved Janet Hubbard. She was beautiful and one of the very few dark-skinned Black women doing her thing on TV. I wish she would be given more work! I don't find what she writes hard to believe at all.
ReplyDeletedarn sure? cracking me up. Really she is telling her side.
ReplyDelete“The real reason I left– it was a contractual thing. It was definitely inspired internally, but it was basically a case of my salary being cut by more than half. I was offered 10 weeks of work out of 27 weeks, and told that I couldn’t work anywhere else. How could I work with that? How was I supposed to survive? So I said no– and they didn’t re-negotiate. That was it. They didn’t come back and say, ‘Ok, how about 12 weeks?’ They just left it. It was as if they were saying, ‘Take this bone, lady.’”
http://www.jazzyjefffreshprince.com/forum/topic/12657-will-smith-owes-me-an-apology/