Over-hated by Power Rangers fans because of its sugary sweet syrupiness and tendency to stray from continuity, what did I think of Alpha’s Magical Christmas? Find out more in my somewhat defense of this direct-to-video holiday special.
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Thank you so much, Rich ManZ, for having me as a guest on your collaboration. It was a major pleasure, and we should definitely do this again some time. Please also subscribe to Rich ManZ’s channel, and I wish you a wonderful evening.
Which of these Black American sitcom patriarchs of the 80s to the 90s do you admire the most to the point where you would consider him to be not only America’s Greatest Dad but your greatest role model ever? A. Philip “Uncle Phil” Banks (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) B. Officer Carl Winslow (Family Matters) C. Dr. Heathcliff “Cliff” Huxtable (The Cosby Show)
Who is your most favourite Fresh Prince of Bel-Air matriarch of all time? A. Vivian “Aunt Viv” Banks B. Viola “Vy” Smith C. Helen Smith D. Janice Smith E. Grandma Hattie Banks
Who is you most favourite Fresh Prince of Bel-Air female character? A. Vivian “Aunt Viv” Banks B. Hilary Banks C. Ashley Banks D. Viola “Vy” Smith E. Aunt Helen Smith F. Aunt Janice Smith G. Hattie “Grandma Hattie” Banks
Who is your most favourite Fresh Prince of Bel-Air male character of all time? A. William “Will” Smith B. Philip “Uncle Phil” Banks C. Geoffrey B. Butler D. Jazz E. Carlton Banks
I have been expanding my reviewing boundaries for a while, especially with my tributes to the four Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Christmas specials which I did nearly six months ago. Since I have been having a nostalgic Black sitcom rewatch, which one of these would you want me to make a review of in the future? A. The Cosby Show B. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air C. Family Matters D. My Wife and Kids E. That’s So Raven
Ladies, gentlemen, and fellow devotees of anything and everything from the 1990s. This is the moment you have all been waiting for if you were travel back to 2001 and tune into your televisions right now. The final scene where Antony returns home after he ran away for a rather short period of time only for Jay to find him in the pool house. Just like what happened to the family, Amanda (Adrienne Bailon), Jay (Jonathan McDaniel aka Lil J’), and Chase (Tahj Mowry) find themselves in a wild goose chase, with Amanda on the wheel, looking for Antony even to the point when Jay calls Carla (Charlotte Church), asking her if Antony is with her. Even Michael (Idris Elba) makes attempts to call the police regarding Antony’s disappearance. The news that Antony is still missing is enough to put Uncle Greg (Mark Dacascos), Aunt Jo (Candace Kita), Howard (David Yost), Kristen (Amy Jo Johnson), Tyler (Walter Emanuel Jones), Rose (Thuy Trang), and Justin (Austin St. John) in a huge state of worry. Jay even gets blamed by Uncle Greg and Aunt Jo for allowing this to happen to Antony with Chase making Uncle Greg and Aunt Jo listen to Amanda’s and Jay’s statements on the both of them being too strict. At least Amanda and Jay try to wring the tape recorder out from Chase. As stated before, Jay finally finds Antony in the pool house. Antony even states that, although he did run away, the Los Angeles streets were far too crazy a 9-year-old boy like him. Just like his dad and mom, he even blames Jay”telling on his parents and cousins about it”. Uncle Jay, Aunt Jo, Howard, Kristen, Tyler, Rose, and Justin would not have found out about the party if it were not for Jay. Jay even states to Antony that senior high school boys are akin to predators who take advantage of innocent little children if they are not cautious, especially when their targets are 126-pound pre-tween boys. Antony would retort by stating that he weighs 124 pounds and is not as innocent as he looks, although he admits that he is. Jay then leads Antony to the family living room to finally face his parents and his cousins/legal guardians. Uncle Jay, Aunt Jo, Howard, Kristen, Tyler, Rose, Justin, Jay, and Antony wear the same attire as they did in the previous scene. Amanda is in a black silk dress shirt, black dress pants, and black high-heeled shoes while Chase is in a light blue polo shirt, a grey wool vest, dark grey pants, white and black golf shoes. (The Perez Family Living Room. AMANDA is seated on an armchair in the left. HOWARD, KRISTEN, JUSTIN, ROSE, and TYLER are seated on the sofa in the centre. CHASE is seated on another armchair in the right. GREGORY and JOSEPHINE are pacing around. They are all nervously anticipating ANTONY’S return. JAY enters the living room with ANTONY looking down with remorse, unsure if he is going to face his family.) JAY: Hey, everybody, look what I found. (GREGORY, JOSEPHINE, HOWARD, KRISTEN, JUSTIN, ROSE, TYLER, AMANDA, and CHASE glance at JAY and ANTONY. Knowing what is going to occur between GREGORY, JOSEPHINE, HOWARD, KRISTEN, TYLER, ROSE, JUSTIN, and ANTONY, AMANDA and CHASE depart from the living room in a huff.) KRISTEN (at ANTONY): Are you all right? ANTONY (hesitantly): Yeah, I…I’m all right. (GREGORY is sighing with relief while still angry at ANTONY. JOSEPHINE comforts him.) JAY: Now, we got a volatile situation here. A cannonball if you will. A mishandling of this situation could have repercussions that will reverberate forever. GREGORY: Justin, call your brother and tell him that he’s about to lose a close relative. JOSEPHINE: Indeed. Kristen you do the same and call your sister to tell her the same thing. JAY: Imma call them myself. (JAY departs from the living room, as ANTONY steps forward. He looks down in fear of what is going to occur. GREGORY and JOSEPHINE approach ANTONY.) GREGORY: Look. We can ground you forever. We could put bars on your windows. We could put locks on your doors. JOSEPHINE: Furthermore, we can deprive you of your allowance and bar you from any activity you would have participated in. ANTONY: Mom, dad– GREGORY, JOSEPHINE (in unison): Don’t “mom, dad” us! GREGORY: Do you have any idea what you put this family through?! Running around with God knows what with God knows who! ANTONY: If I had asked you, you wouldn’t have let me go. JOSEPHINE: Exactly! You are nine years old! You have no business at a party with junior and senior high school boys! ANTONY: All my friends were there! GREGORY, JOSEPHINE (in unison): Your friends don’t live here! (GREGORY and JOSEPHINE compose and calm themselves down.) GREGORY: We can’t do this. JOSEPHINE (at HOWARD, KRISTEN, JUSTIN, ROSE, and TYLER still sitting on the couch): You five talk to your cousin. We’re done. (GREGORY and JOSEPHINE depart from the living room to the direction of the dining hall. ANTONY paces forward to HOWARD, KRISTEN, JUSTIN, ROSE, and TYLER on the couch.) ANTONY: You all hate me. (HOWARD turns towards ANTONY.) HOWARD: Antony, if that were true, we wouldn’t care when you did something foolish like this. (GREGORY re-enters the living room stamping and raging while HOWARD, KRISTEN, JUSTIN, ROSE, and TYLER look demurely.) GREGORY: What you have to understand is that we know what’s best for you! It may not seem like it now, but one day you’ll understand that! End of discussion! (GREGORY exits the living room and heads to the stairs. ANTONY peers if his father is returning and moves one step forward towards his cousins/legal guardians on the couch.) ANTONY: Guys, don’t you understand? TYLER: Yes, we understand. ROSE: We understand you…
All right, ladies, gentlemen, and fellow devotees of anything and everything from the 1990s. Here is the moment you have all been waiting for. The first scene of the “It’s a Wonderful Lie”-inspired episode I would have loved to find myself in if I were back in the 90s to the early 2000s as a rising child star. Seeing that this episode would have been filmed and aired back in early 2001, I figured this would have been the first moment that I would have enjoyed performing in. As for the show’s and the episode’s names, the show would have been christened as L.A. Dynasty with Lil J’ rapping the theme song while the episode would have been called “Your Lying Heart”. I would also like to bring up L.A. Dynasty’s version of Geoffrey the Butler who would have been played Idris Elba, be christened as Michael Wellington, and be just as sardonic, sassy, brash, and flash as Joseph Marcell if not a whole lot sassier than Marcell. For those of you who remember the scene where Ashley gets dragged home by Will and is confronted by Uncle Phil and Aunt Viv where she actually was, i.e. instead of ice-skating she was kissing a linebacker at a college party, you will remember how the scene ends with Uncle Phil and Aunt Viv demanding that Ashley go up to her room and think about what she has done while Will interjected that the guy Ashley was kissing not a fullback but a linebacker. Even before this scene, Will has even lied to his girlfriend Lisa that he had basketball practice before finding out what was actually going on. Just as Will is about to fetch Lisa’s jacket in the bedroom, he finds out that Ashley was making out with a college linebacker. Where my character Antony is concerned, he states to his parents and cousins/legal guardians that he is going to the arcade with his friends, but is actually going to a party hosted by junior and senior high school students at Aristotle Academy’s common room, which is the same one Jay (Jonathan McDaniel aka Lil’ J) is going to and where his girlfriend Carla (Charlotte Church) ends up confronting him about his lie about partaking in a basketball game. Just as Carla demands that Jay fetch her jacket in the backroom, he finds not one, not two, not three, but four high school jocks leaving the premises. One muscular jock is tan-skinned with brown hair by the name of Hercules. The second is fair-skinned, orange-haired, and more muscular than Hercules by the name of Ares. The third is also tan-skinned, silver-haired, blue-eyed, and muscular by the name of Triton. The fourth and final one is lean and fair-skinned with jet black hair by the name of Hermes. After the four of them scramble out of the backroom, Antony comes out, as Jay screams, “LITTLE BOY, NO!” You can only guess what Antony, a 9-year-old sixth-grader, was doing with four 18-year-old senior high-schoolers. Antony then gets dragged home by Jay and Carla, who are still arguing while he is screaming to Jay that he is not a little boy anymore. Jay sardonically exclaims to Carla that she should explain to him what these high school parties are about. Carla even exclaims to him that, in junior and senior high school parties, there are a bunch of pathetic guys who want to take advantage of anybody naive. The first scene with my character, my cousin/surrogate older brother Jay (Jonathan McDaniel aka Lil’ J), my parents Gregory “Uncle Greg” and Josephine “Aunt Jo” (Mark Dacasos and Candace Kita), and my cousins/legal guardians Howard, Kristen, Tyler, Rose, and Justin (David Yost, Amy Jo Johnson, Walter Emanuel Jones, Thuy Trang, and Austin St. John) ensues after Carla leaves, and it takes place in the Perez mansion, specifically in the family kitchen. My character Antony wears a black sweatshirt with blue jeans and black sneakers. Jay wears a white and blue jacket, khaki pants, and silver sneakers. Gregory wears a purple sweater, beige pants, and brown leather shoes. Josephine is in a magenta dress shirt, white dress pants, and gold high-heeled shoes. Howard is in blue, Kristen is in pink, Tyler is in black with a purple vest, Rose is in yellow with a black and gold vest, and Justin is in a red sleeveless shirt just like the clothes David Yost, Amy Jo Johnson, Walter Emanuel Jones, Thuy Trang, and Austin St John wore in the “Five a Day” commercial. JAY: Antony! Listen! I am not playing with you, boy, now what is your problem? ANTONY: It is none of your business, Jay! JAY: Oh, I find my 9-year-old little brother from another mother locked in the backroom with a linebacker, a weightlifter, a swimmer, and a triathlete and that ain’t none of my business? (GREGORY and JOSEPHINE enter the kitchen, overhearing what JAY exclaimed to ANTONY, and they are not pleased, given their icy glares at JAY and ANTONY. JAY and ANTONY turn to see GREGORY and JOSEPHINE glaring at them.) JAY: Hey, peeps. (GREGORY and JOSEPHINE still do not say a word and are still glaring angrily.) JAY (hesitantly): Um. We was just talking about a movie we had just seen. Um. The movie. It was about four athletes and a high school. You know, and Philip Seymour Hoffman played the coach. GREGORY and JOSEPHINE: Shut up, Jay! JAY: Is that the family room? (JAY departs from the kitchen and goes to the PEREZ family living room. ANTONY is glancing down and shaking nervously, as GREGORY and JOSEPHINE still glare at him. ANTONY knows he is caught red-handed.) JOSEPHINE: All right, young man, out with it. ANTONY: All right. I didn’t go to the arcade. I went to a party. And, yes, I was with four guys, but I was just touching their muscles– GREGORY: You have no…
Hello, everybody. Antoni, here. Ever since I have been watching and rewatching The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, I thought to myself, what if I were a child actor from the mid to late 1990s to the early 2000s who was also more than thirty to fifty pounds lighter than when I was a child? This thought sprung forth as I was watching Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’s “It’s a Wonderful Lie” on repeat as well as the “5 A Day” commercial starring David Yost as Billy, Amy Jo Johnson as Kimberley, Walter Emanuel Jones as Zack, Thuy Trang as Trini, and Austin St. John as Jason. As for the whole child actor of the 90s to 2000s deal, I would have found myself playing the intellectual yet impish youngest child, Antony, of the Perez family with Mark Dacasos as my father Gregory, Candace Kita as my mother Josephine, David; Amy Jo; Walter; Thuy; and Austin as my cousins/legal guardians Howard, Kristen, Tyler, Rose, and Justin, Jason David Frank and Catherine Sutherland as Austin’s older brother Jordan and Amy Jo’s younger sister Caitlin, Adrienne Bailon as my eldest sister Amanda, Jonathan McDaniel aka Lil J’ as my cousin/surrogate elder brother Jay, and Tahj Mowry as my second elder brother Chase. Therefore, I would have been the Ashley Banks to Mark’s and Candace’s Uncle Phil, David’s; Amy Jo’s; Walter’s; Thuy’s; and Austin’s Aunt Viv, Jason’s and Catherine’s Aunt Vy, Adrienne’s Hilary, Jonathan’s Will, and Tahj’s Carlton, thus making Jonathan aka Lil’ J the main star of the show, having it be a multiracial and multiethnic late 90s/early 2000s version of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air still set in Los Angeles, and airing on NBC just like its predecessor from 1998 to 2002. Furthermore, Quincy Jones, Benny Medina, Andy and Susan Borowitz, and even Will Smith and Alfonso Ribeiro would have had a hand at making this show come to fruition. Although Lil J’, character name Jay, would be the show’s main star as a relative who ends up living with a wealthy multiethnic family and becomes integrated in high society while pulling off his set of hijinks, my character, Antony, would begin the show as a dutiful, respectful, prodigious, and intellectual youngest son who is smart beyond his years and is so loving towards his parents, his cousins/legal guardians, and his surrogate elder brother while being peeved yet inwardly loving towards his eldest sister and his elder brother. Out of all his family members, Antony would have the closest relationship with his cousins/legal guardians Howard, Kristen, Tyler, Rose, and Justin, who are also college students training to become teachers, because, whenever Antony’s dad and mom have to deal with Amanda’s materialism, Jay’s shenanigans, and Chase’s high and mighty attitude, he would always flock to them for advice and a lot of unconditional love. Antony might have begun the show as an inquisitive second-grader of 6 years old, but in the “It’s a Wonderful Lie”-inspired episode, which would have aired back in 2001, he would be a mouthier 9-year-old sixth grader with an attitude as well as ambitions of becoming an R&B star. Just because Antony ended up skipping grades because of his prodigious intellect did not mean he was emotionally mature as proven by this episode. I hope you enjoyed this basic picture of how this is going to unfold. Stay tuned for the real thing, everybody.