The Cosby Show

The Cosby Show is an American television sitcom created by and starring Bill Cosby, along with Ed. Weinberger and Michael J. Leeson. It aired on NBC from September 20, 1984, to April 30, 1992, with a total of 201 episodes over eight seasons. The show focused on the Huxtables, an upper middle-class Black American family living in Brooklyn, New York. Many of the stories were inspired by Cosby's own family life and his stand-up comedy routines.

The Cosby Show became one of the most popular shows on television, staying at the top of the ratings for five years. It was important because it showed a Black family in a positive and successful way, and it helped open the door for more shows with Black leads, like In Living Color and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The show's portrayal of Clair Huxtable, played by Phylicia Rashad, inspired many working mothers and was called the "Clair Huxtable effect." Bill Cosby's character, Cliff Huxtable, became known as "America's Dad," and his colorful sweaters even started a fashion trend.

Premise

The show is about the Huxtable family, an upper middle class African-American family, living in a brownstone in Brooklyn Heights, New York. The father is Cliff Huxtable, a doctor, and the mother is his wife, lawyer Clair Huxtable.

They have four daughters and one son: Sondra, Denise, Theo, Vanessa, and Rudy. Even though it is a comedy, the show sometimes talks about important topics, like Theo's trouble with reading and writing, and a friend's news about being pregnant.

Episodes

Main article: List of The Cosby Show episodes

Pilot

Main article: Pilot (The Cosby Show)

The first episode of The Cosby Show is called the pilot. It is like the rest of the first season but has some small differences. In the pilot, the Huxtable family has only four children. Later, they have five children, with their oldest daughter, Sondra, joining in. This change happened because Bill Cosby wanted to show a family with a child who had finished college.

Background and production

In the early 1980s, Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner left ABC to start their own company. They wanted to create a sitcom and thought Bill Cosby would be perfect to help. Cosby had done stand-up comedy and TV shows before but hadn’t done much recently. He wanted to make a show about a family, and with his wife’s help, they decided the family would be wealthy, with the dad as a doctor and the mom as a lawyer.

The show was taped in New York City, not Los Angeles like most TV shows. The theme song, “Kiss Me,” was written by Cosby and Stu Gardner. There were several versions of the theme song used over the years. The show was one of the few successful sitcoms on NBC with an African-American cast, and it often showed African-American culture and artists.

Cast and characters

Main article: List of The Cosby Show characters

Reception and legacy

The show was praised for showing a successful black family, which helped break some old ideas about black people. Some people thought it made others believe that problems like unfair treatment and hard times were no longer issues. One actor said a famous leader told her he was very happy about the show and that even people in prison watched it.

Because of later events involving the main actor, some people feel the show’s good name has been hurt.

The Cosby Show made a lot of money over the years from ads and reruns.

Broadcast history and ratings

The Cosby Show aired every Thursday night for eight years. It was the start of a popular line-up of shows on NBC that included Family Ties, Cheers, Night Court, and Hill Street Blues.

The show was one of only three TV programs, along with All in the Family and American Idol, to be the most-watched show for five years in a row.

Syndication

The Carsey-Werner Company manages how The Cosby Show is shown in the United States, while Paramount Global’s CBS Media Ventures handles showing it in other countries, and has done so since 1997. In the United States, the show started being shown again on TV in September 1988, just before the fifth season began. At first, it was shown on many TV stations that were part of the main networks, but later it moved to less popular times and to independent stations and smaller networks.

Some TV stations stopped showing the show in the 2010s because of serious issues involving the main actor. Networks like TV Land and others removed it from their schedules. However, it can still be watched on Amazon Prime Video and Philo.

The show was also popular in other countries. In France, it was called Cosby Show and aired on M6 in 1988. In Italy, the family name was changed to Robinson, and the show was called I Robinson (The Robinsons) and aired on Canale 5 from 1986 to 1993.

Spin-off

Main article: A Different World

The Cosby Show's producers made a new show called A Different World. This show followed the character Denise, one of the Huxtable daughters, as she went to Hillman College, a made-up school where her parents and grandfather had also studied.

After the first season, Denise left the show because the actress was expecting a baby. The next season changed with new characters and ideas. Denise came back to The Cosby Show for a few seasons later.

Awards and honors

Awards won

Emmy Award

• Outstanding Comedy Series (1985)
• Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series (1985) – Michael J. Leeson and Ed. Weinberger for the pilot episode
• Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series (1985) – Jay Sandrich for "The Younger Woman"
• Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series (1986) – Jay Sandrich for "Denise's Friend"
• Outstanding Guest Performer in a Comedy Series (1986) – Roscoe Lee Browne for "The Card Game"
• Outstanding Editing for a Series – Multi-Camera Production (1986) – Henry Chan for "Full House"

Golden Globe Awards

• Best TV Series – Comedy (1985)
• Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series – Comedy – Bill Cosby (1985, 1986) 2 wins

NAACP Image Awards

• Outstanding Comedy Series (1988)
• Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series – Phylicia Rashad (1988, 1989) 2 wins
• Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series – Bill Cosby (1989, 1993) 2 wins

Peabody Award (1986)

People's Choice Awards^{[citation needed]}

• Favorite New TV Comedy Program (1985)
• Favorite Male Performer in a New TV Program – Bill Cosby (1985)
• Favorite Female Performer in a New TV Program – Phylicia Rashad (1985)
• Favorite TV Comedy Program (1985–89) 5 wins
• Favorite Male TV Performer – Bill Cosby (1986–92) 7 wins
• Favorite All-Around Male Entertainer – Bill Cosby (1986–88, 1990–91) 5 wins
• Favorite Young TV Performer – Keshia Knight Pulliam (1988)
• All-Time Favorite TV Program (1989)
• Favorite Female TV Performer – Phylicia Rashad (1989)
• Favorite All-Around Male Star – Bill Cosby (1989)
• Favorite TV Comedy Series (1990, 1992) 2 wins

Nominations

Emmy Awards

• Outstanding Technical Direction/Electronic Camerawork/video control for a series – 1985
• Outstanding Live and Tape Sound Mixing and Sound Effects for a series – (1985) 2 nominations
• Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series – (1985–86)
• Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series – Phylicia Rashad (1985–86) 2 nominations
• Outstanding Comedy Series (1986–87) 2 nominations
• Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – Lisa Bonet (1986)
• Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – Keshia Knight Pulliam (1986)
• Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series – Malcolm-Jamal Warner (1986)
• Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy Series or a Special – (1986–87)
• Outstanding Editing for a Series (multi camera production) – (1987)
• Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series – Jay Sandrich (1987)
• Outstanding Comedy Series – (1987)
• Outstanding Guest Performer in a Comedy Series – Eileen Heckart (1988)
• Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series – Sammy Davis Jr. (1989)

Golden Globe Awards

• Best TV Series – Comedy – (1986–1987) – Two nominations
• Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series – Comedy – Bill Cosby (1987)

Other honors

• 1993: TV Guide named The Cosby Show the All-Time Best Family Show in its issue celebrating 40 years of television.
• 1997: TV Guide ranked the episode "Happy Anniversary" #54 on their list of the TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time
• 1999: Entertainment Weekly placed show's debut at #24 in its list of the "100 Greatest Moments in Television"
• 2002: TV Guide placed The Cosby Show at #28 in its list of the TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time
• 2004: TV Guide ranked Cliff Huxtable number 1 on its 50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time list
• 2004: Bravo ranked Cliff Huxtable #44 on its list of the 100 Greatest TV Characters
• 2007: Time magazine placed the show on its unranked list of "100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME"
• 2007: _USA Today'_s web site ranked the show as #8 in its list of the "top 25 TV moments of the past quarter century"
• 2008: Entertainment Weekly selected Cliff Huxtable as the Dad for "The Perfect TV Family"
• 2013: TV Guide ranked The Cosby Show #26 on its list of the 60 Best Series.
• 2013: The Writers Guild of America ranked The Cosby Show #29 on their list of the 101 Best Written TV Series.
• 2023: Variety ranked The Cosby Show #90 on its list of the 100 greatest TV shows of all time.

Albums

Two albums were made that had music from the show. They were put together by a friend of Bill Cosby named Stu Gardner. The albums are:

• A House Full of Love: Music from The Cosby Show (1986)
• Total Happiness (Music from the Bill Cosby Show, Vol. II) (1987)

In popular culture

During the show, Cliff Huxtable often wore colorful knit sweaters with unique patterns. People called these "Cosby sweaters" because they looked bold and unusual. In 2008, Bill Cosby’s daughter sold some of these sweaters on eBay to support a charity in memory of her brother Ennis.

A character named Dr. Hibbert from The Simpsons was inspired by Cliff Huxtable. The writers created Dr. Hibbert as a fun version of Cliff after The Simpsons moved to the same night as The Cosby Show on the Fox network.

In an episode of Teen Titans Go!, a character mentions wanting to watch a made-up show called “The Crosby Pudding Half-Hour Show of Sweaters.”

Home media

All eight seasons of The Cosby Show are available on DVD in Region 1. The first two seasons were released by UrbanWorks, and later by First Look Studios, which also released the other six seasons. These early releases included special features like a documentary called The Cosby Show: A Look Back, interviews with cast members, bloopers, deleted scenes, and audition footage.

In 2010, First Look Studios went bankrupt, and Millennium Entertainment took over the DVD releases. However, these were later discontinued. In 2013, Mill Creek Entertainment acquired the rights and re-released all eight seasons on DVD. On September 1, 2015, they released a complete series set in sixteen discs.

In Australia and New Zealand, Magna Pacific released the show on DVD. The first two seasons had similar artwork to the North American versions, but with some differences in color.

Universal Studios Home Entertainment released the first four seasons in the United Kingdom.