10 TV Episodes That Broke All The Rules
8. Mistaken Identity - The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air
The whole premise of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was game changing. Not only did it take a successful music star in Will Smith and transplant him into a sitcom, but it was also one of the first regular depictions Black, middle-class family on television.
Naturally, race was often a focal point of the show's plots, particularly in the Season 1 episode Mistaken Identity.
Whilst driving a Mercedes belonging to a family friend, Will and his cousin, Carlton, are pulled over by police. Suspicious of two young Black men in a nice vehicle, the cops arrest Will and Carlton for the "theft" of the car.
The episode explores just how unfair the situation is for the two boys. Whether they cooperate with the police or protest against them, they are still blamed for a crime that never happened.
In amongst the usual Fresh Prince laughs, this is a deeply troubling episode about the state of the US justice system. It was so rare to see this sort of thing played out in a big TV show and, unfortunately, Mistaken Identity is still as relevant today as it was when it first aired in 1990.