1st place in Derby #287: The '90s, with 312 votes.

3 things you probably didn't know about the Fresh Prince:

1. The show was originally made to launch the acting career of the couch that sat in the middle of the living room. However, the other actors' collective charisma was so overshadowing that they were soon made the focal point. The couch's one-man show, "You've Destroyed Me, Bill Zmith and Company," opened off-off-broadway to mixed reviews.

2. Will Smith, a big supporter of the Naked Eye Movement popular among celebrities in the 90s, refused to wear sunglasses for the show. For all scenes requiring sunglasses, the director used an elaborate Will Smith puppet. This puppet later allowed the show to continue for three years following Will Smith's quiet departure from the cast in 1993.

3. Joseph Marcell grew so obsessed with perfecting his character, Geoffrey the butler, that he began to believe the things happening in the show were real. The director did nothing to prevent this; in fact, he encouraged it as it added an extra layer of believability to Marcell's performance. When the show began winding down, however, the producers saw fit to enlist several noted psychologists to assist the actor in regaining his grasp of reality. Tragically, none of them were successful, and so, to this day, "Geoffrey" roams the abandoned Fresh Prince set tending to the varied tasks of a smarmy butler.

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