The Cosby Show

The Cosby Show

1984
The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show

The Cosby Show

7.4 | TV-PG | en | Comedy

The Cosby Show is an American television situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992. The show focuses on the Huxtable family, an upper middle-class African-American family living in Brooklyn, New York.

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Seasons & Episodes

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EP25  And So We Commence (2)
Apr. 30,1992
And So We Commence (2)

As Theo graduates from NYU, Cliff remembers how a 14 year old Theo received D's in 9th grade and had no desire to attend college at all. Denise telephones and reveals that she is pregnant. Olivia leaves to join Denise and Martin in Singapore.

EP24  And So We Commence (1)
Apr. 30,1992
And So We Commence (1)

Theo prepares to graduate from New York University. An elated Cliff continues to invite additional people to the ceremony, despite the fact that Theo only has a limited number of tickets.

EP23  Some Gifts Aren't Deductible
Apr. 23,1992
Some Gifts Aren't Deductible

Kenny turns to Rudy and Cliff for help after lying to his girlfriend about plans for her birthday party. Cliff and Clair work on their income tax return.

EP22  You Can't Stop the Music
Mar. 26,1992
You Can't Stop the Music

Cliff and Clair go to a local radio station for a live salsa performance. Kenny babysits Olivia.

EP21  Rudy's Retreat
Feb. 27,1992
Rudy's Retreat

Cliff and Clair see Rudy changing. While preparing their wills, Sondra and Elvin try to determine who should be the twins' legal guardian if the couple should both die. Charmaine and Lance prepare to visit Hillman College.

EP20  Clair's Reunion
Feb. 20,1992
Clair's Reunion

Clair and her college friends plan a retirement party for one of their former professors from Hillman. Vanessa brings home a Senegalese exchange student.

EP19  Cliff and Theo Come Clean
Feb. 13,1992
Cliff and Theo Come Clean

Theo decides to turn down the corporate job in San Francisco and attend graduate school in New York. One of the students at the community center finds $600.

EP18  Cliff Gets Jilted
Feb. 06,1992
Cliff Gets Jilted

Vanessa and Dabnis announce that they have broken their engagement ... and would-be father-in-law Cliff is devastated.

EP17  The Getaway
Feb. 06,1992
The Getaway

Sondra, Elvin, and the twins finally move into their own house in New Jersey.

EP16  Eat, Drink and Be Wary
Jan. 30,1992
Eat, Drink and Be Wary

Rudy and her friends want to go on the subway.

EP15  Bring Me the Lip Gloss of Deirdre Arpelle
Jan. 16,1992
Bring Me the Lip Gloss of Deirdre Arpelle

Kenny pretends that he is dating another girl, in order to make Rudy jealous and force Stanley out of the picture.

EP14  The Price Is Wrong
Jan. 09,1992
The Price Is Wrong

Pam, Lance, Charmaine, and a group of senior citizens protest a grocery chain that gives preferential treatment to customers in wealthier neighborhoods.

EP13  Theo's Future
Jan. 02,1992
Theo's Future

Theo is accepted to graduate school at NYU, but faces a tough decision when he is unexpectedly offered a chance to interview for a corporate job in San Francisco.

EP12  Clair's Place
Dec. 19,1991
Clair's Place

As Christmas approaches, Clair gets a wonderful present: the completion of her special room.

EP11  Two Is a Crowd
Dec. 05,1991
Two Is a Crowd

Vanessa and Dabnis have relationship problems, as do Rudy and Stanley.

EP10  Olivia Comes Out of the Closet
Nov. 21,1991
Olivia Comes Out of the Closet

Olivia tries to delay Martin's return to Asia. Last appearance of Joseph C. Phillips as Martin.

EP9  For Men Only
Nov. 14,1991
For Men Only

Cliff teaches a class "for men only" at the community center.

EP8  Olivia's Field Trip
Nov. 07,1991
Olivia's Field Trip

Cliff chaperones Olivia's field trip to the museum; Theo falls victim to a scammer while ordering T-shirts for the community center.

EP7  The Iceman Bricketh
Oct. 31,1991
The Iceman Bricketh

Vanessa's grandparents Russell Huxtable and Carrie Hanks are desperate to meet her fiancé Dabnis, who bonds with Cliff over a plumbing job.

EP6  It's Apparent to Everyone
Oct. 24,1991
It's Apparent to Everyone

Winnie and Nelson drive Cliff and Clair crazy around the house while Elvin and Sondra wait to move into their new house.

EP5  Warning: A Double-Lit Candle Can Cause a Meltdown
Oct. 17,1991
Warning:  A Double-Lit Candle Can Cause a Meltdown

Anxious to see a famous rapper, Rudy and her friends lie to their parents in order to get into a club for 16 year olds and up. Cliff and Clair secretly send Pam, Lance and Charmaine to keep an eye on them.

EP4  Pam Applies to College
Oct. 10,1991
Pam Applies to College

Pam begins to realize that, because of her below average grades earlier in high school, she will not be able to attend the same college as her best friend.

EP3  Particles in Motion
Oct. 03,1991
Particles in Motion

During his first parent-counselor meeting, Theo and a single mother discover mutual attraction. Rudy meets Stanley and the two are immediately smitten with each other, much to the chagrin of a jealous Kenny.

EP2  There's No Place Like This Home
Sep. 26,1991
There's No Place Like This Home

Cliff announces plans to add a new room to the house for Clair ... and only Clair. Sondra and Elvin are on the verge of purchasing their first house.

EP1  With This Ring?
Sep. 19,1991
With This Ring?

18 year old Vanessa reveals that she is engaged to a 29 year old Head Caretaker of her University ... and has been for six months.

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7.4 | TV-PG | en | Comedy , Family | More Info
Released: 1984-09-20 | Released Producted By: Carsey-Werner Company , Bill Cosby Country: United States of America Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website:
Synopsis

The Cosby Show is an American television situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992. The show focuses on the Huxtable family, an upper middle-class African-American family living in Brooklyn, New York.

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The tv show is currently not available onine

Cast

Bill Cosby , Phylicia Rashād , Malcolm-Jamal Warner

Director

Tom Werner

Producted By

Carsey-Werner Company , Bill Cosby

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Reviews

fspappa Thirty years ago this show premiered about a successful family who happened to be African American. Looking at it now, it has aged well at all. It is average. Bill Cosby was funny doing stand up and his earlier show in which he played a single man and was a gym teacher was funnier. This one was average. I look at it now and saw I wasted those 8 years it was on. It was the most sexist show on television. I hated Claire. She was the most arrogant, stuck up, self rightgeous,smug woman I've ever seen. How Cliff stayed married with her was beyond. Why did Cosby allow male bashing on that show? That what it was. All the men were whipped and the women stomped over them. Not only Claire but Sondra and Rudy joined in. Tempest I liked. (The only episode I loved was the male pregnancy one and at least the women were more sympathetic.) Not all black people lived like this. I'm black and I know more black people who were more middle and lower class. Cosby should have address more reality like interracial dating which would have more interesting story lines. I'm glad I never want to appear on that show. If you want a good sitcom about an African American family, watch Blackish. Anthony Anderson is an actor who can be funny and serious. The mother is flawed and not perfect unlike Claire who thinks she is so perfect and that make me burn! Blackish explores racism which Cosby avoided. Even Family Matters was better until they focus too much on Urkle. So once again if you have the time, watch Blackish. I'll get the Cosby male pregnancy episode on DVD but that is all. After that, I never want to see this trash again.
v-mars-19-7324 I've always loved this show, it's somehow comforting especially the earlier episodes. Who doesn't want to grow up with parents like Cliff and Claire? Phylicia Rashad is just a stunning woman I really enjoyed her character as a young female it was always inspiring that she towed the line of professional and mother so well especially during a time that was just getting used the to concept of professional working mothers. I didn't love all the children characters, Sondra and Vanessa were not at the top of my list but all in all it's always my go to show to cheer up. The mother/father chemistry between Rashad and Cosby was just fantastic and I rarely see that nowadays, you really believed they were Claire and Cliff.
jrm23july@aol.com In television's Golden Age, the 1950's, there was "Father Knows Best" and "Leave it to Beaver". The 1960's had "The Danny Thomas Show". In the 1970's there was of course "The Brady Bunch". Then in the 1980's came another feel good family comedy called "The Cosby Show" which was the first time this TV genre was devoted to an all African American cast.The patriarch of this loving, and well structured nuclear family was none other than veteran actor/comedian Bill Cosby himself. Cosby played an obstetrician named Heathcliff Huxtable, with a loving,loyal yet very independent and professional wife Claire, played by Phyllicia Rashad.Cliff and Claire a litigation attorney by trade, had five kids ranging in age from kindergarten to college. Rudy, the youngest (Keshia Knight Pulliam), Vanessa (Tempest Bledsoe), Theo (Cliff and Clair's only son played by Malcolm Jamal Warner), Denise (Lisa Bonet) and oldest child Sandra (Sabrina Lebeauf) living away at Princeton."The Cosby Show" went through the trials and tribulations of all of the kids growing up and their adolescent problems. Even though the sitcom was centered around the dean of comedy, Bill Cosby, the only irreplaceable member of this show, the other actors were well cast and their characters were well drawn out. Claire was also fabulous as the 80's do it all mother, hard working and strong willed yet conscientious and nurturing to all of her children.Of course Bill Cosby was perfectly cast as the patriarch of the Huxtable clan. He was a father who could do it all. Spend quality time with all his kids, always give them good advice, tend to all of their problems many of them being silly and trivial, and still hold down a great full time career.There was one thing I always loved and admired about Bill Cosby as Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable, the father. He never lost his temper with his kids, despite their immaturity and bad decisions.At least Heathcliff never showed it in his demeanor to his kids,whether it was Theo failing in school, or Sandra living in squalor with her husband Elvin, or Vanessa refusing to leave Cliff and Claire alone for the night because she was having nightmares of a R-Rated movie Claire forbid her to see.Cliff never lost his temper with Denise, even with all of her contemptuous boyfriends, her weird outfits, and high strung personality. Densise never really fit well into the feel good, well structured authoritarian Huxtable household. She was always like a rebel without a cause, and when her rebellious boyfriend (Kristoff St. John) broke bread with Cliff and Claire for the first time, Denise decided to join his cause, even though she didn't really know what it was. David James was a vegetarian and not for ethical or environmental reasons, but because he had a vendetta against the medical establishment. He also had a vendetta against the legal establishment too, Claire's profession.When David came to dinner with intentionally wearing mismatched socks, he looked like the perfect boyfriend for bandanna wearing, nose piercing, totally 80's hip Denise. But she quickly broke it off with him. HE WASN'T HER TYPE."The Cosby Show" drew light on many of these new teen fashion trends, which used to make parents blood boil, but today are commonplace. Remember the episode when Theo came home with an earring, and was desperately trying to hide it from his dad. Today half of all young males who weren't born when this episode originally aired in 1984 have their ears pierced.Cliff always knew the right things to say to all kids, the good ones as well as the rebels. He was kind, considerate, sociable, yet still fatherly and authoritarian. Bill Cosby himself was always a master at relating to kids of all ages, from toddlers all the way through the oldest college students. It was fun seeing his character Heathcliff play fatherly figure to some of Denise and Theo's weird and drug using friends, yet also be able to warm up to insecure Vanessa and hers, and of course little Rudy and her little gang of rug-rats.Cliff had so many great moments with Rudy, like when he was trying to teach her that eventually everything that lives, dies, like her poor little goldfish "Lamont", that she kept feeding even though it was floating on its back. Rudy was upset but got over it quickly, and Cliff got carried away with the goldfish's "funeral".Vanessa unlike Rudy always had a problem with insecurity and lack of perseverance. She would always try a new activity, but would lack the motivation to excel at what she did. This reminds me of myself. This just brought out some of the immaturity of the Huxtable kids.The only major problem I had with "The Cosby Show" is that it did not accurately and truthfully portray the average middle class American family, and certainly did not portray the average, urban African American family. How many average black families, all right, how many white families live in a beautiful Brooklyn townhouse where the father is a successful medical doctor, and the mother is a successful lawyer? And of course both still have more than enough time to devote to their kids without a live in nanny. I think that two lesser known but above average sitcoms from the 1970's "What's Happening!!" and "Good Times" were a more realistic portrayal of urban African American life."The Cosby Show" was written more in the style of feel good family sitcoms from the 1950's and 1960's like "The Brady Bunch", "My Three Sons" and "Leave it to Beaver", than a realistic portrayal of the mainstream African American family. Nevertheless "The Cosby Show" is among the fifty greatest sitcoms in television history. This show was a Thursday night 1980's classic.
MikeSmash Bill Cosby's brainchild "The Cosby Show" gave us a glimpse into the everyday existence of the Huxtables, an African American family consisting of successful obstetrician Heathcliff(Bill Cosby), law firm partner Claire(Phylicia Rashad), & five children ranging from college to elementary school age. From oldest to youngest are Princeton student Sondra(Sabrina Le Beauf), high school senior Denise(Lisa Bonet), Jr. high school student Theo(Malcolm-Jamal Warner), middle school student Vanessa(Tempest Bledsoe) & elementary school student Rudy(Keisha Knight Pulliam). Each child comes with their own set of problems & mishaps. The show centers around how Cliff & Claire handle each situation related to their family dynamic & the results. No matter in the good or bad times, both parents deal with their & their children's lives with understanding, patience, humor, & lots of love. Along the course of the show's long run, we get to meet other family members such as Cliff's parents & Claire's parents, cousin Pam Tucker(Erika Alexander) & family friend regulars like Cockroach, Peter, & Kenny. Also, new members join the cast in Elvin/Geoffrey Owens(Sandra's husband), Martin/Joseph C. Phillips(Denise's Navy husband), stepdaughter Olivia/Raven Symone'(Martin's daughter), & Dabnus Brickey(Vanessa's fiancé). All in all, a wonderful comedic/dramatic sitcom that the whole family will enjoy. The show is in syndication, so everyone can watch until taken off the air. A pleasure since its inception (1984), "The Cosby Show" broke stereotypes of African American culture & career achievements by displaying the Huxtables as "successful", not poor & struggling like "Good Times". The show won T.V. awards & achieved the accolades not reached by Black dominated sitcoms to this era. Times do ever change, & "The Cosby Show" proved that notion.