| Genre: | Sitcom |
| Endtheme: | "Kiss Me" |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 8 |
| Num Episodes: | 201 (and outtakes special) |
| List Episodes: | List of The Cosby Show episodes |
| Camera: | Videotape |
| Runtime: | 23–24 minutes |
| Company: | Carsey-Werner Productions in association with Bill Cosby |
| Network: | NBC |
| Related: | A Different World |
The Cosby Show is an American television sitcom created by (along with Ed. Weinberger and Michael J. Leeson) and starring Bill Cosby that originally aired on NBC from September 20, 1984, to April 30, 1992, with a total of 201 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons, including an outtakes special. The show focuses on the Huxtables, an upper middle-class African-American family living in Brooklyn, New York; the series was based on comedy routines in Cosby's stand-up comedy act, which in turn were based on his family life. The series was followed by a spin-off, titled A Different World, which ran from September 24, 1987 to July 9, 1993, with a total of six seasons consisting of 144 episodes .
TV Guide listed the series as "TV's biggest hit in the 1980s", adding it "almost single-handedly revived the sitcom genre and NBC's ratings fortunes",[1] while also ranking it 28th on their list of 50 Greatest Shows;[2] with this list, Cliff Huxtable was named as the "Greatest Television Dad" in 2014.[3] In May 1992, Entertainment Weekly stated that The Cosby Show helped to make possible a larger variety of shows with a predominantly black cast, from In Living Color to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.[4]
The Cosby Show spent five consecutive seasons as the number-one rated show on television and, along with All in the Family, is the only sitcom in the history of the Nielsen ratings as the number-one show for five seasons, having spent the series in the top 20 ratings. It also remains the only scripted TV show with a predominantly African-American cast to top the Nielsen ratings, and to do so more than once. Its spinoff, A Different World, also became a ratings hit, featuring in the top 5 of the ratings for four of its six seasons. It launched the extended cast into stardom and Cosby, having already had a successful career on TV, films and stand-up, became the highest paid actor on television.[5]
It was also an international hit, garnering a following from across the world being a regular fixture in markets previously considered unattainable for African-American leads, such as Europe, where the show became a ratings and commercial hit and cemented itself as an international icon of 1980s pop culture. Its effects on Black American portrayal and gender politics on television were a major part of its success. The portrayal of Clair Huxtable, the matriarch of the Huxtable family, by Phylicia Rashad sparked an international wave of working mothers on television dubbed the "Clair Huxtable effect", and Bill Cosby was nicknamed "America's Dad" for his highly celebrated portrayal of Cliff Huxtable. The colourful sweaters he wore as Cliff became a fashion trend for a time which was temporarily revived in the early 2010s. Another sitcom starring Cosby and Rashad, Cosby, aired on CBS from 1996 to 2000, notable for its differences to The Cosby Show, garnering positive reviews.[6]
The show focuses on the Huxtable family, an upper middle class African-American family, living in a brownstone in Brooklyn Heights, New York, at 10 Stigwood Avenue.[7] The father is Cliff Huxtable, an obstetrician and son of a prominent jazz trombonist. The mother is his wife, lawyer Clair Huxtable.[8]
They have four daughters and one son: Sondra, Denise, Theo, Vanessa, and Rudy. Despite its comedic tone, the show sometimes involves serious subjects, like Theo's experiences dealing with dyslexia,[9] inspired by Cosby's dyslexic son, Ennis.[10] and teenage pregnancy when Denise's friend Veronica (Lela Rochon) becomes pregnant.[11]
See main article: List of The Cosby Show episodes.
See main article: Pilot (The Cosby Show). The Cosby Show pilot episode uses the same title sequence as the rest of the first season, and is widely regarded as the first episode. However, it contains a number of differences from the remainder of the series.
In the pilot, the Huxtables have only four children.[12] Following the pilot, the Huxtables have five children, with the addition of their eldest daughter, Sondra (Sabrina Le Beauf), who is mentioned in episode four and appears first in episode 11. The character was created when Bill Cosby wanted the show to express the accomplishment of successfully raising a child who had graduated from college.[13]
Bill Cosby originally wanted Vanessa Williams to play the part of Sondra due to her college education and background in theater arts. However, Williams had recently been crowned the first Black Miss America and pageant officials would not permit her to play the role while she was representing the Miss America pageant. Whitney Houston was also considered for the role of Denise Huxtable, but was unable to commit to the full-time television production schedule in the NBC contract, as she intended to become a full-time music recording artist.[14] [15]
Most of the story in the pilot presentation is taken from Bill Cosby's 1983 comedy film . Cosby's character is called "Clifford" in the early episodes of the first season, but his name was later switched to "Heathcliff".
Additionally, Vanessa refers to Theo as "Teddy" twice in the dining room scene. The interior of the Huxtables' home features an entirely different living room from subsequent episodes, and different color schemes in the dining room and the master bedroom. Throughout the remainder of the series, the dining room is reserved for more formal occasions.
In the early 1980s, Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner, two former executives at ABC, left the network to start their own production company: Carsey-Werner.[16] At ABC, they had overseen sitcoms such as Mork & Mindy, Three's Company, and Welcome Back, Kotter. The two partners decided that to get a sitcom to sell for their fledgling company, they needed a big name behind it. Bill Cosby had had performed stand-up comedy with award-winning albums and starred in several genres in TV and film in the 1960s and 70s, but his career had become more static by the early 1980s. According to a Chicago Tribune article from July 1985, despite Carsey and Werner's connection to the network, Lewis Erlicht, president of ABC Entertainment, passed on the show, prompting a pitch to rival network, NBC.
Outside of his work on his cartoon series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, Cosby was doing little in film or television, but Carsey and Werner were fans of Cosby's stand-up comedy and thought it would be the perfect material for a family sitcom.[17]
Cosby originally proposed that the couple should both have blue-collar jobs, with the father a limousine driver,[18] who owned his own car, and the mother an electrician.[19] With advice from his wife Camille Cosby, though, the concept was changed so that the family was well-off financially, with the mother a lawyer and the father a physician.[20] [21]
Cosby wanted the program to be educational, reflecting his own background in education. He also insisted that the program be taped in New York City instead of Los Angeles, where most television programs were taped.[22] The Huxtable home exterior was filmed at 10 St. Luke's Place near 7th Avenue in Manhattan's Greenwich Village (although in the show, the residence was the fictional "10 Stigwood Avenue").[23]
Early episodes were videotaped at NBC's Brooklyn studios (subsequently JC Studios).[24] The network later sold that building, and production moved to the Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens.[25] Even though the show was set to take place in Brooklyn, the exterior façade was actually of a brownstone townhouse located in Manhattan's Greenwich Village at 10 Leroy Street/ 10 St. Luke's Place.[26] The pilot was filmed in May 1984, with season one's production commencing that July, and the first taping on August 1 (Goodbye Mr. Goldfish).[27] [28]
During its original NBC run, it was one of five successful sitcoms on the network that featured predominantly African-American casts. The others were 227 (1985–90), Amen (1986–91), Cosby Show spin-off A Different World (1987–93) and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990–96).
Although the cast and characters were predominantly African-American,[29] the program was unusual in that issues of race were rarely mentioned when compared to other situation comedies of the time with predominantly African-American casts, such as The Jeffersons.[30] However, The Cosby Show had African-American themes, such as the Civil rights movement, and it frequently promoted African-American culture and culture of Africa represented by artists and musicians such as Jacob Lawrence, Miles Davis, James Brown, B. B. King, Stevie Wonder, Sammy Davis Jr., Lena Horne, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and Miriam Makeba.[31]
The spin-off, A Different World, dealt with racial issues more often.[32] The Cosby Shows series finale, taped March 6, 1992,[33] aired during the 1992 Los Angeles riots, with Cosby quoted in media at the time pleading for peace.[34] [35]
During the third season, Rashad was pregnant with her daughter Condola. Rather than write this pregnancy in, the producers simply greatly reduced Rashad's scenes or filmed in such a way that her pregnancy was not noticeable.[36]
Another main cast member pregnancy, that of Bonet, almost caused the actress to be fired, especially coming in the wake of appearing in the film Angel Heart, which contained explicit sexual scenes with actor Mickey Rourke. Cosby strongly disapproved of Bonet's role, but allowed her to continue on World until returning to Cosby after her pregnancy. Tensions remained, however, and Bonet was eventually fired in April 1991.[37]
The show's theme music, "Kiss Me", was composed by Stu Gardner and Bill Cosby.[38] Seven versions of this theme were used during the run of the series, making it one of the few television series to use multiple versions of the same theme song over the course of a series. For season four, the theme song music was performed by musician Bobby McFerrin.[39] [40]
Due to legal complications regarding the background mural, the opening for season seven was filmed on August 17, 1990, at Kaufman Astoria Studios in New York City, New York was replaced with the one from the previous season.[41] [42] [43] The original season seven opening, with slight modifications, returned to use in the beginning of season eight.
See main article: List of The Cosby Show characters.
| Actor | Character | Seasons | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | ||
| Bill Cosby | Cliff Huxtable | colspan="8" | |||||||
| Phylicia Rashad | Clair Huxtable | colspan="8" | |||||||
| Lisa Bonet | Denise Huxtable Kendall | colspan="3" | colspan="2" | colspan="2" | |||||
| Malcolm-Jamal Warner | Theodore Huxtable | colspan="8" | |||||||
| Tempestt Bledsoe | Vanessa Huxtable | colspan="8" | |||||||
| Keshia Knight Pulliam | Rudy Huxtable | colspan="8" | |||||||
| Sabrina Le Beauf | Sondra Huxtable Tibideaux | colspan="7" | |||||||
| Geoffrey Owens | Elvin Tibideaux | colspan="2" | colspan="5" | ||||||
| Joseph C. Phillips | Lt. Martin Kendall | colspan="5" | colspan="2" | ||||||
| Raven-Symoné | Olivia Kendall | colspan="5" | colspan="3" | ||||||
| Erika Alexander | Pamela "Pam" Tucker | colspan="6" | |||||||
The show's portrayal of a successful, stable black family was praised by some for breaking racial stereotypes and showing another part of the African-American experience.[44] [45] However, it was criticized by others, including Henry Louis Gates Jr., for allowing white audiences to think that racism and poverty were problems of the past. Phylicia Rashad claimed that when she met Nelson Mandela, he told her that he "is eternally grateful for the show and its influence on Apartheid and us Black people. [The inmates in prison] watched the show while in prison."[46] As a result of the Bill Cosby sexual assault cases, Malcolm-Jamal Warner has stated that the show's legacy is "tarnished".
The Cosby Show had generated in television revenue, including from television advertisement,[47] and from syndication.[48]
The Cosby Show aired on Thursdays at 8:00 pm for all eight seasons.[49] In its first season, the show was the beginning of a Thursday NBC schedule that was followed by Family Ties, Cheers, Night Court, and Hill Street Blues.[50]
The Cosby Show is one of three television programs (All in the Family and American Idol being the others) that were number one in the Nielsen ratings for five consecutive seasons.[51] [52] [53]
| Season | Time slot (ET) | Episodes | First aired | Last aired | TV season | Rank | HH rating | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | rating | Viewers (millions) | Date | HH rating | Viewers (millions) | ||||||
| 1 | Thursday 8:00 pm | 24 | September 20, 1984 | 21.6[54] | May 9, 1985 | 24.1[55] | 1984–85 | 3 | 24.2 | ||
| 2 | 25 | September 26, 1985 | 31.6[56] | May 15, 1986 | 31.8[57] | 1985–86 | 1 | 33.7 | |||
| 3 | 25 | September 25, 1986 | 33.5[58] | May 7, 1987 | 26.4[59] | 1986–87 | 1 | 34.9 | |||
| 4 | 24 | September 24, 1987 | 31.5[60] | April 28, 1988 | 23.2[61] | 1987–88 | 1 | 27.8 | |||
| 5 | 26 | October 6, 1988 | 24.2[62] | 37.6 | May 11, 1989 | 20.4[63] | 31.5 | 1988–89 | 1 | 25.6 | |
| 6 | 26 | September 21, 1989 | 26.1[64] | 39.3 | May 3, 1990 | 18.5[65] | 28.3 | 1989–90 | 1 | 23.1 | |
| 7 | 26 | September 20, 1990 | 19.8[66] | 30.5 | May 2, 1991 | 15.2[67] | 22.1 | 1990–91 | 5 | 17.1 | |
| 8 | 25 | September 19, 1991 | 18.6[68] | 28.1 | April 30, 1992 | 28.0[69] | 44.4 | 1991–92 | 18 | 15.0 | |
The Carsey-Werner Company handles domestic distribution, while Paramount Global's unit CBS Media Ventures handles international distribution of the series, and has done so since 1997. In the United States, The Cosby Show began its television syndication run in September 1988 in broadcast syndication, shortly before the show's fifth-season premiere, and was at the time distributed by Viacom; many stations that carried the series were Big Three television networks affiliates. As time went on, this moved to lower-profile timeslots, independent station and minor network affiliates.
Fort Worth, Texas–based independent station KTVT carried the series until 1995, when it ceased operating as a regional cable superstation and became an affiliate of CBS. TBS, then a national cable superstation, carried the series for nearly a decade beginning in 1999. Fellow superstation WGN America began carrying the series shortly thereafter, and continued to until September 2010. Viacom's Nick at Nite began airing reruns of the series in March 2002, and its sister network TV Land began airing reruns in 2004, making The Cosby Show one of the few series that were shown on both Nick at Nite and TV Land at the same time. The series was also available to stream on Hulu.[70]
The French version just called Cosby Show aired on M6 in 1988.
In the Italian version of the show, the family name is not Huxtable but Robinson. The whole show is named I Robinson (The Robinsons) airing on Canale 5 & K2 from 1986 until 1993.
Reruns of The Cosby Show have been pulled from several networks and venues as a result of the Bill Cosby sexual assault cases. In November 2014, TV Land pulled the series from its lineup.[71] [72] "Episodes have been pulled immediately for the foreseeable future ... TV Land even removed references to The Cosby Show from its website on Wednesday afternoon as the scandal accelerated." In December 2014, the Magic Johnson–owned network Aspire removed the show from its lineup.[73]
BET's Centric (another Viacom unit), along with Bounce TV, ceased airing reruns of The Cosby Show. At the same time, barter syndicator The Program Exchange ceased distributing the show.[74] Bounce TV resumed airing the series in December 2016[75] but pulled the show on April 26, 2018 — the day Cosby was convicted of sexual assault.[76] [77] TV One began airing reruns of the show in May 2017.[78] It is the only American network to offer the series. The series is available on Amazon Prime Video and Philo.
See main article: A Different World. The Cosby Shows producers created a spin-off series called A Different World that was built around the "Denise" character (portrayed by actress Lisa Bonet), the second of the Huxtables' four daughters. Initially, the new program dealt with Denise's life at Hillman College, the fictional historically black college from which her father, mother, and paternal grandfather had graduated.
Denise was written out of A Different World after its inaugural season, due to Bonet's pregnancy, and the following season was revamped, with the addition of director Debbie Allen (Phylicia Rashad's sister) and new characters.[79] Denise later became a recurring character on The Cosby Show for seasons four and five, and a regular again in seasons six and seven.
Peabody Award (1986)
Emmy Awards
Golden Globe Awards
Two albums were produced that included various theme and background music from the show. The albums were presented by longtime Cosby collaborator Stu Gardner. They were:
In the Philippines, the show aired on GMA Network from 1985 to 1991, PTV-4 in from 1992 to 1996, and ABC-5 from 1997 to 2001 (Tagalized). In the United Kingdom it was broadcast on Channel 4.[100]
All eight seasons of The Cosby Show have been released on DVD in Region 1. Seasons one and two were released by UrbanWorks which was subsequently acquired by First Look Studios, who then released the remaining six seasons. Seasons One and Two contain special features, including the ninety minute retrospective documentary entitled The Cosby Show: A Look Back, which aired on NBC in May 2002.
It contains interviews with cast members, bloopers, deleted scenes and audition footage. In December 2010, First Look Studios filed bankruptcy, and all its assets were subsequently acquired by Millennium Entertainment, who also took over distribution of The Cosby Show DVD releases. As of 2013, these releases have been discontinued, and are now out of print.
On November 5, 2013, it was announced that Mill Creek Entertainment had acquired the rights to the series. They have subsequently re released all eight seasons on DVD.[101] [102] [103] [104] On September 1, 2015, Mill Creek released a sixteen disc complete series set entitled The Cosby Show – The Complete Series.[105]
In Region 4, Magna Pacific has released all eight seasons on DVD in Australia and New Zealand. The first two seasons have similar artwork to the North American copies, although season two is red rather than blue. Each Australian cover also features the tagline "In a house full of love, there is always room for more".
Universal Studios Home Entertainment has released Seasons 1 to 4 in Region 2 (United Kingdom).
| DVD title | Ep # | Release dates | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | |||
| Season 1 | 24 | August 2, 2005 | May 19, 2008 | October 4, 2006 | |
| Season 2 | 25 | March 7, 2006 | August 25, 2008 | February 7, 2007 | |
| Season 3 | 25 | June 5, 2007 | October 13, 2008 | April 4, 2007 | |
| Season 4 | 24 | June 5, 2007 | February 9, 2009 | November 7, 2007 | |
| Season 5 | 26 | November 6, 2007 | March 5, 2008 | ||
| Season 6 | 26 | November 6, 2007 | July 9, 2008 | ||
| Season 7 | 26 | April 8, 2008 | January 13, 2010 | ||
| Season 8 | 25 | April 8, 2008 | January 13, 2010 | ||
| 25th Anniversary Commemorative Edition | 201 | November 11, 2008 | |||
| Collector's Edition | 201 | August 6, 2014 | |||
Note: The Millennium Entertainment release of season one contains the edited versions of the episodes aired in syndication. However, all subsequent DVD releases (including the complete series set) contain the original, uncut broadcast versions. In 2011, Millennium quietly released season one uncut in Region 1, which featured the special features from The Complete Series set.