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.