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''The Cosby Show'' is an American television
sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...
co-created by and starring Bill Cosby, which aired Thursday nights for eight seasons on NBC between September 20, 1984, until April 30, 1992. The show focuses on an upper middle-class African-American family living in
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, New York. ''The Cosby Show'' spent five consecutive seasons as the number-one rated show on television. ''The Cosby Show'' and '' All in the Family'' are the only sitcoms in the history of the
Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
to be the number-one show for five seasons. It spent all eight of its seasons in the top 20. According to ''
TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corporat ...
'', the show "was TV's biggest hit in the 1980s, and almost single-handedly revived the
sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...
genre and NBC's ratings fortunes." ''TV Guide'' also ranked it 28th on their list of 50 Greatest Shows. In addition,
Cliff Huxtable Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the NBC sitcom ''The Cosby Show,'' which aired from 1984 to 1992. He was portrayed by actor and comedian Bill Cosby and appeared in all 201 episodes of the show. Cliff ...
was named as the "Greatest Television Dad". In May 1992, ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...
'' 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 ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' is an American television sitcom created by Andy and Susan Borowitz for NBC. It aired from September 10, 1990, to May 20, 1996. The series stars Will Smith as a fictionalized version of himself, a street-smart ...
''. ''The Cosby Show'' was based on comedy routines in Cosby's
stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...
act, which in turn were based on his family life. The show led to the spinoff ''
A Different World ''A Different World'' is an American sitcom (and a spin-off of '' The Cosby Show'') television series that aired for six seasons on NBC from September 24, 1987 to July 9, 1993. The series originally centered on Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet) a ...
'', which ran for six seasons from 1987 to 1993.


Premise

The show focuses on the Huxtable family, an African-American upper middle class family, living in a
brownstone Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material. Type ...
in Brooklyn Heights, New York, at 10 Stigwood Avenue. The father is
Cliff Huxtable Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the NBC sitcom ''The Cosby Show,'' which aired from 1984 to 1992. He was portrayed by actor and comedian Bill Cosby and appeared in all 201 episodes of the show. Cliff ...
, an obstetrician and son of a prominent jazz trombonist. The mother is his wife,
lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solicit ...
Clair Huxtable Clair Huxtable is a fictional character who appears on the American sitcom '' The Cosby Show'' (1984–1992). Portrayed by actress Phylicia Rashad, Clair, the wife of Cliff Huxtable and mother of their five children, is the matriarch of the show ...
. They have four daughters and one son:
Sondra Sondra is a feminine Greek given name meaning protector of man. By 2013, the name reached the verge of extinction in the United States; it had reached a peak of usage in 1939. The name may refer to: People: * Sondra Erickson (born 1942), America ...
, Denise, Theo, Vanessa, and Rudy. Despite its comedic tone, the show sometimes involves serious subjects, like Theo's experiences dealing with
dyslexia Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...
, inspired by Cosby's dyslexic son, Ennis. The show also deals with
teenage pregnancy Teenage pregnancy, also known as adolescent pregnancy, is pregnancy in a female adolescent or young adult under the age of 20. This includes those who are legally considered adults in their country. The WHO defines adolescence as the period be ...
when Denise's friend Veronica ( Lela Rochon) becomes pregnant.


Episodes


Pilot

''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. 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. 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 Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "Honorific nicknames in popular music, The Voice", she is Whitney Houston albums discography, one of the bestselling music artists ...
was also considered for the role of Sondra 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. Most of the story in the pilot presentation is taken from Bill Cosby's 1983 comedy film '' Bill Cosby: Himself''. 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.


Background and production


Conception and development

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 The Carsey-Werner Company (previously known as Carsey-Werner Productions and Carsey-Werner-Mandabach Productions, before that, Carsey Productions and also known as Carsey-Werner Television) is an independent production company founded in 1981 by ...
. 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. The career of Bill Cosby, who starred in two failed sitcoms during the 1970s, produced award-winning stand-up comedy albums, and had roles in several different films, was relatively static during the early 1980s. According to a ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' article from July 1985, despite Carsey and Werner's connection to the network, Lewis Erlicht, president of
ABC Entertainment The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Calif ...
, 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. Cosby originally proposed that the couple should both have
blue-collar worker A blue-collar worker is a working class person who performs manual labor. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involving manufacturing, warehousing, mining, excavation, electricity generation and powe ...
jobs, with the father a
limousine A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment. A very long wheelbase luxury sedan (with more than four doors) driven by a pr ...
driver, who owned his own car, and the mother an electrician. 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. 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 New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
instead of
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
, where most television programs were taped. The Huxtable home exterior was filmed at 10 St. Luke's Place near 7th Avenue in
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
's
Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
(although in the show, the residence was the fictional "10 Stigwood Avenue").


Production notes

Early episodes were videotaped at NBC's
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
studios (subsequently
JC Studios JC Studios was a film and television studio located at 1268 East 14th Street in the Midwood section of Brooklyn, New York. The land on which the studio buildings were situated can trace its motion picture history back to around 1903, when it ser ...
). The network later sold that building, and production moved to the
Kaufman Astoria Studios The Kaufman Astoria Studios is a film studio located in the Astoria section of the New York City borough of Queens. The studio was constructed for Famous Players-Lasky in 1920, since it was close to Manhattan's Broadway theater district. The p ...
in
Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
. 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. 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''). 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 Year 227 ( CCXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Senecio and Fulvius (or, less frequently, year 980 ''Ab urbe condi ...
'' (1985–90), '' Amen'' (1986–91), ''Cosby Show'' spin-off ''
A Different World ''A Different World'' is an American sitcom (and a spin-off of '' The Cosby Show'') television series that aired for six seasons on NBC from September 24, 1987 to July 9, 1993. The series originally centered on Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet) a ...
'' (1987–93) and ''
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' is an American television sitcom created by Andy and Susan Borowitz for NBC. It aired from September 10, 1990, to May 20, 1996. The series stars Will Smith as a fictionalized version of himself, a street-smart ...
'' (1990–96). Although the cast and characters were predominantly African-American, 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''. However, ''The Cosby Show'' had African-American themes, such as the
Civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...
, and it frequently promoted
African-American culture African-American culture refers to the contributions of African Americans to the culture of the United States, either as part of or distinct from mainstream American culture. The culture is both distinct and enormously influential on Ameri ...
and culture of Africa represented by artists and musicians such as
Jacob Lawrence Jacob Armstead Lawrence (September 7, 1917 – June 9, 2000) was an American painter known for his portrayal of African-American historical subjects and contemporary life. Lawrence referred to his style as "dynamic cubism", although by his own ac ...
,
Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...
,
James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the hono ...
, B.B. King,
Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, pop, s ...
, Sammy Davis Jr.,
Lena Horne Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American dancer, actress, singer, and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years, appearing in film, television, and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of th ...
,
Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was bas ...
,
Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but a ...
and Miriam Makeba. The spin-off, ''A Different World'', dealt with racial issues more often. The series finale (taped March 6, 1992) aired during the
1992 Los Angeles riots The 1992 Los Angeles riots, sometimes called the 1992 Los Angeles uprising and the Los Angeles Race Riots, were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, in April and May 1992. Unrest began in So ...
, with Cosby quoted in media at the time pleading for peace. 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. 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.


Theme song and opening sequence

The show's theme music, "Kiss Me", was composed by Stu Gardner and Bill Cosby. 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. Due to legal complications regarding the background mural, the opening for season seven was filmed on August 17, 1990, at
Kaufman Astoria Studios The Kaufman Astoria Studios is a film studio located in the Astoria section of the New York City borough of Queens. The studio was constructed for Famous Players-Lasky in 1920, since it was close to Manhattan's Broadway theater district. The p ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
was replaced with the one from the previous season. The original season seven opening, with slight modifications, returned to use in the beginning of season eight.


Cast and characters


Reception and legacy

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. However, it was criticized by others, including
Henry Louis Gates Jr. Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950) is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker, who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African Amer ...
, for allowing white audiences to think that racism and poverty were problems of the past. As a result of the
Bill Cosby sexual assault cases It emerged in late 2014 that Bill Cosby, an American media personality, sexually assaulted dozens of women throughout his career. Cosby made significant contributions to American and African-American culture, and is well known in the United State ...
, Malcolm-Jamal Warner has stated that the show's legacy is "tarnished". ''The Cosby Show'' had generated in television revenue, including from
television advertisement A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...
, and from syndication.


Broadcast history and ratings

''The Cosby Show'' aired on Thursdays at 8:00 pm for all eight seasons. In its first season, the show was the beginning of a Thursday NBC schedule that was followed by '' Family Ties'', ''
Cheers ''Cheers'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, with a total of 275 half-hour episodes across 11 seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association w ...
'', '' Night Court'', and ''
Hill Street Blues ''Hill Street Blues'' is an American serial police procedural television series that aired on NBC in prime-time from January 15, 1981, to May 12, 1987, for 146 episodes. The show chronicles the lives of the staff of a single police station loca ...
''. ''The Cosby Show'' is one of three television programs ('' All in the Family'' and ''
American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to ...
'' being the others) that were number one in the
Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
for five consecutive seasons.


Syndication

The Carsey-Werner Company handles domestic distribution, while ViacomCBS' Unit
CBS Media Ventures CBS Media Ventures, Inc. (formerly CBS Television Distribution, Inc. and CBS Paramount Domestic Television, Inc.) is an American television distribution company owned by CBS Studios, part of CBS Entertainment Group, a division of Paramount Glob ...
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 In the United States, there are three major traditional commercial broadcast television networks — CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System), NBC (National Broadcasting Company), and ABC (American Broadcasting Company) — that due to their lon ...
affiliates. As time went on, this moved to lower-profile timeslots,
independent station An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, marke ...
and minor network affiliates.
Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the List of cities in Texas by population, fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the List of United States cities by population, 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, T ...
–based independent station KTVT carried the series until 1995, when it ceased operating as a regional cable
superstation ''Superstation'' (alternatively rendered as "super station" or informally as "SuperStation") is a term in North American broadcasting that has several meanings. Commonly, a "superstation" is a form of distant signal, a broadcast television sign ...
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 Nick at Nite (stylized as nick@nite) is an American nighttime basic cable television channel that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon. It typically broadcasts Mondays to Thursday nights from 9 p.m. - 6:30 a.m. ET/ PT, Friday nights fr ...
began airing reruns of the series in March 2002, and its sister network
TV Land TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division. Originally a spinoff of Nick at Nite consisting exclusively of classic television shows, the channel now airs a combination of recent and cl ...
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 Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television series ...
. 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 Canale 5 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel of Mediaset, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It was the first private television network to have a national coverage in Italy in 1980. On 4 December 2012, Mediaset launched Canale 5 HD, a ...
& K2 from 1986 until 1993.


2010s removal from syndication

Reruns of ''The Cosby Show'' have been pulled from several networks and venues as a result of the
Bill Cosby sexual assault cases It emerged in late 2014 that Bill Cosby, an American media personality, sexually assaulted dozens of women throughout his career. Cosby made significant contributions to American and African-American culture, and is well known in the United State ...
. In November 2014, TV Land pulled the series from its lineup. "(E)pisodes 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 Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player. He is often regarded as the greatest point guard of all-time and has been compared with Stephen Curry. Johnson played 13 seasons in the ...
–owned network Aspire removed the show from its lineup.
BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...
's Centric (another Viacom unit), along with
Bounce TV Bounce TV is an American digital multicast television network owned by Katz Broadcasting, a subsidiary of E. W. Scripps Company. Promoted as "the first 24/7 digital multicast broadcast network created to target African Americans", the channel fe ...
, ceased airing reruns of ''The Cosby Show''. At the same time, barter syndicator
The Program Exchange The Program Exchange was a syndicator of television programs. It was founded as DFS Program Exchange in 1978, which became elongated to the DFS-Dorland Program Exchange from 1986 to 1987. From 1986 to 2008, it was a division of Saatchi & Saatch ...
ceased distributing the show. Bounce TV resumed airing the series in December 2016 but pulled the show on April 26, 2018 — the day Cosby was convicted of sexual assault. TV One began airing reruns of the show in May 2017. It is currently the only American network to offer the series. The series is also available on FilmRise,
Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service pr ...
, and
Sling TV Sling TV is an American streaming television service operated by Sling TV LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dish Network. Unveiled on January 5, 2015, at the Consumer Electronics Show, the virtual multichannel video programming distributor a ...
.


Spin-off

''The Cosby Show''s producers created a
spin-off Spin-off may refer to: *Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work *Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity * Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gov ...
series called ''A Different World'' that was built around the "Denise" character (portrayed by actress
Lisa Bonet Lilakoi Moon (born Lisa Michelle Bonet; November 16, 1967), known professionally as Lisa Bonet (), is an American actress. She is known for playing Denise Huxtable on the sitcom '' The Cosby Show'' (1984–1992), for which she earned widespread ...
), the second of the Huxtables' four daughters. Initially, the new program dealt with Denise's life at Hillman College, the fictional
historically black college Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...
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 Deborah Kaye Allen (born January 16, 1950) is an American actress, dancer, choreographer, singer-songwriter, director, producer, and a former member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. She has been nominated 20 times for an ...
(Phylicia Rashad's sister) and new characters. Denise later became a recurring character on ''The Cosby Show'' for seasons four and five, and a regular again in seasons six and seven.


Awards and honors


Awards won

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
* Outstanding Comedy Series (1985) * Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series (1985) – Michael J. Leeson and
Ed. Weinberger Edwin B. "Ed." Weinberger is an American screenwriter and television producer. Life and career Born in 1938 and raised in Philadelphia, the only son of Jewish butcher Leon and his wife Helen Weinberger, Ed. Weinberger began his TV career after ...
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 Roscoe Lee Browne (May 2, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American actor and director. He resisted playing stereotypically black roles, instead performing in several productions with New York City's Shakespeare Festival Theater, Leland Hayward ...
for "The Card Game" * Outstanding Editing for a Series – Multi-Camera Production (1986) – Henry Chan for "Full House"
Golden Globe Awards The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...
* 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 The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...
(1986)
People's Choice Awards The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the general public and fans. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined using Gallup Polls until ...
* 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 Lilakoi Moon (born Lisa Michelle Bonet; November 16, 1967), known professionally as Lisa Bonet (), is an American actress. She is known for playing Denise Huxtable on the sitcom '' The Cosby Show'' (1984–1992), for which she earned widespread ...
(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 TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corporat ...
'' 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 ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...
'' 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 ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
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 ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...
'' 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.


Albums

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: *'' 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 series' run, the character of Cliff Huxtable frequently wore an array of knit sweaters that were often brightly colored and featured abstract, asymmetrical patterns or themes. The sweaters were erroneously thought to be designed by the Australian clothing company Coogi, but were actually designed by Dutchman Koos Van Den Akker. :They were dubbed "Cosby sweaters", a term that is used to describe sweaters that are generally deemed garish and unappealing. In May 2008, Cosby's daughter Evin auctioned a batch of the sweaters that her father had kept on
eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...
. The proceeds of the sales went to the Hello Friend/Ennis William Cosby Foundation, a non-profit charity named for Ennis Cosby. Ennis, Cosby's only son, was murdered in January 1997. * The character of
Dr. Hibbert Dr. Julius Michael Hibbert, M.D. is a recurring character on the television animated sitcom ''The Simpsons''. He is Springfield's most prominent medical professional. Although he has a kind and warm persona, he is also often characterized as gree ...
, who is featured on the long-running animated sitcom ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, ...
'', is modeled after Dr. Cliff Huxtable. ''The Simpsons'' writing staff decided to make Dr. Hibbert a parody of Cliff Huxtable after the Fox network moved ''The Simpsons'' to Thursday nights airing opposite the top-rated ''The Cosby Show''.Groening, Matt; Jean, Al; Kogen, Jay; Reiss, Mike; Wolodarsky, Wallace (2004). Commentary for " Bart the Daredevil", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Second Season'' VD 20th Century Fox. *In the '' Teen Titans Go!'' episode "Oil Drums", Starfire says "I would like to watch ''The Crosby Pudding Half-Hour Show of Sweaters''. Theo, get your glorp-nops off the kitchen table. Rudy!"


International broadcast

In The Philippines The Show aired on
GMA Network GMA Network (Global Media Arts or simply GMA) is a Philippine free-to-air television and radio network. It is the flagship property of publicly traded GMA Network, Inc. Its first broadcast on television was on October 29, 1961. GMA Network (f ...
, in 1985-1991 PTV-4 in 1992-1996 &
ABC-5 TV5 (also known as 5 and formerly known as ABC) is a Philippine free-to-air television network based in Mandaluyong, with its alternate studios located in Novaliches, Quezon City. It is the flagship property of TV5 Network, Inc. with Cignal ...
in 1997-2001 (Tagalized)


Home media

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. On September 1, 2015, Mill Creek released a sixteen disc complete series set entitled ''The Cosby Show – The Complete Series''. In Region 4,
Magna Pacific Magna Home Entertainment was an independent home entertainment distributor headquartered in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, operating within Australia and New Zealand. As of February 2009, Magna Home Entertainment became a fully owned subsidia ...
has released all eight seasons on DVD in
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
and
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...
. 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). 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.


Notes


References


External links


Official Bill Cosby Site



Carsey-Werner - ''The Cosby Show''
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cosby Show, The Bill Cosby 1984 American television series debuts 1992 American television series endings 1980s American sitcoms 1990s American sitcoms 1980s American black sitcoms 1990s American black sitcoms Best Musical or Comedy Series Golden Globe winners Brooklyn in fiction Dyslexia in fiction English-language television shows NBC original programming Nielsen ratings winners Peabody Award-winning television programs Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series winners Television series about families Television series by Carsey-Werner Productions Television series created by Ed. Weinberger Television series created by Bill Cosby Television shows filmed in New York City Television shows set in Brooklyn