The other day I caught an episode of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on Much Music, because I was looking for something family-friendly to put on while I made dinner. The kids wandered in halfway through and actually recognized Alfonzo Ribeiro, who played Carlton on that show. In fact, in their world, Alfonso is a pretty big star, because he won Dancing With The Stars last year, and made a couple of guest appearances on the show this season as the returning champ. Plus, he’s the host of a cheesy game show called Catch 21 which I have been known to watch, because I am the hugest game show slut in the world, AND he was recently announced (on DWTS no less) as the new host of Gal Smiley’s favourite show, America’s Funniest Videos.

So yeah, they knew who Alfonso was.

This particular episode featured the aunt and uncle returning to the set of Soul Train, a dance show, where they got engaged 25 years ago, and as a result of the parents angle and the dancing angle, Carlton had a huge storyline and a 10 minute dance solo at the end. I tried to explain that Alfonso was not, in fact, the star of this show, but rather that other guy in the too-big pants and backwards ball cap, but they did not actually believe me.

Then, yesterday, they were watching a Disney teen show – A.N.T. Farm – and the girl on there mentioned how she’d love to meet Will Smith, and the Captain said, “Who the heck is Will Smith, anyway?”

Who would have guessed back in 1992 that the Fresh Prince would have to step aside for Carlton in the next generation? It’s like I don’t know the world AT ALL.