The Cosby Show

The first season of the Cosby Show made it one of the finest shows on television. However, I do feel that as the show wore on it became a little bit preachy. However, it still had its moments. I really enjoyed the episodes that dealt with Theo and his struggles with school. I could relate to that because I had troubles with school at times. I also could not get how people could begrudge the show because it showed African Americans that were part of the upper class and as positive images and not the negative stereotypes that were so prevalent. Also, you could see the evolution of the various characters, especially Rudy who went from a precocious five year old to a teenager throughout the course of the show. All in all though, it still was a good show.

Bill Cosby had been on television throughout the 1960s and 1970s. His success had been adequate, but far from impressive. By 1984, NBC wanted to have a show that would be endeared not only by minority groups, but also by white America. Enter "The Cosby Show", the very definition of a Nielsen Ratings Monster as it devoured competition, along with cohort "Cheers", for the better part of the 1980s and early-1990s. The series is basically the life of Cosby with a few creative twists. Cosby, an obstetrician, lives in New York with his wife Phylicia Rashad (an attorney) and their four children (Lisa Bonet, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Tempestt Bledsoe and Keshia Knight-Pulliam). Comedy and drama would always dominate the series, but an early criticism of "The Cosby Show" was that it had no real point to it. Enter eldest child Sabrina Le Beauf who was created the middle of season one. This child was away at college and receiving a first-class education at an Ivy League School. And that is the point of "The Cosby Show"---two parents doing their best to give their five children the life and opportunities that they have taken advantage of. The Le Beauf character was a culmination of everything that Cosby and Rashad did with the four younger children. As the series grew, the cast grew to include performers like Geoffrey Owens, Joseph C. Phillips, Deon Richmond and scene-stealer Raven-Symone. The greatest problem that most had with the show was that critics said it did not show accurate African-American life in this country. To be perfectly honest, this show does not show typical life for the vast majority of this nation's population. There are not many white children in this nation that have a doctor and a lawyer as parents so that criticism lacks substance and social research. Cosby always kept the show somewhat light-hearted and sometimes shied away from some key issues of the time period, but keep in mind that his name was on the program and everything was written as if the characters were sometimes walking on eggshells. Bonet created the controversy for the series during its run, especially in 1987 with her very adult-oriented role in "Angel Heart". That did not deter, but rather engross an even larger audiences tuned in by the late-1980s. Slowly the younger performers grew up and grew out of their roles and the series finally began to show its age by the 1990s. But for a few fleeting moments in the 1980s, was there anyone bigger than Bill Cosby? I think not. 5 stars out of 5.

As a series, The Cosby Show was groundbreaking, portraying a middle-upper black American family. Definitely not Good Times from the 70s. The writing was memorable, with episodes dealing with the issues that any middle-upper black American family must contend with.

In the late 80's, the newborn second channel of Morocco provided some of the best programs we ever saw, yet without the decoder, we could only enjoy a few hours of non-encrypted programs, which was fine… until they aired "The Cosby Show".

Indeed, there were those who enjoyed the show, and the others who knew what they missed thanks to a fantastic word-of-mouth. So we subscribed... and I'll never forget that "Hallelujah" feeling when I finally discovered the Huxtables. We enjoyed the "Physican of the Year" then the "First Day of School" episodes but the show won us with "The Juicer". There was something unique in the way Clair Huxtable (Phylicia Rashad) handled the incident with little Rudy (Keshia Knight Pulliam), and such a beautiful moment when Cliff (Bill Cosby) hugged her. And I still remember that glee in my Dad's eyes in the following scene where Clair, like a good lawyer, confronted Cliff to his own responsibility and he had no other choice than naughtily pleading guilty. No other show had such inspiring displays of good education and a marital chemistry that was very sexy under a family-friendly cover. The show became an instant favorite.

To make it better, my father had to record it for his sister who didn't have the decoder, which ended with an interesting collection of Cosby VHS tapes we've been borrowing from her for years and years. These are not gratuitous anecdotes, they illustrate the power of the best family sitcom: to be deeply connected with your own family memories, this is how big 'Cosby' was at that time. And I still remember my 4-year old brother answering the phone saying "Huxtable Residence", imitating Cosby's groovy moves at the end of the second season's intro or "zerbutting" on my father's cheek… the show affected our life. And when I heard the "Night time" song in the film "Ray", I immediately remembered that hilarious anniversary episode, and "I Just Called" still brings me back to that magnificent episode with Stevie Wonder. "The Cosby Show" was THE wonder and we were familiar with names like Malcolm-Jamal Warner or Tempest Bledsoe before any Bruce Willis or Julia Roberts… and even at 8, I understood why the show was titled by the name of his main actor.

On a sad note, this is why I've been thinking for a long time that Malcolm Jamal Warner died: because my grandma told me that 'the son of Cosby' died, it was his real-life son, Ennis, shot dead in 1997. And the fact that Cosby and Huxtable almost make one might explain why the series is being tarnished by the rape scandal, to the point it's pulled off the air almost everywhere. It was even more revealing when my favorite website made a list of the greatest TV dads and overlooked Cliff Huxtable. But should all the harm Cosby might have done cancel all the positive things the show provided? Can we just ignore a show of such historical magnitude and with so many great messages to the youth?

Remember the pilot, Theo confesses, during a heartfelt speech, that he might not be a doctor or a lawyer like his parents but that they should love him as a son anyway. The long pause, followed by the audiences applauses are instantly swept off by Cliff's iconic answer "that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard"... there's no pride in being an underachiever if you give up before trying. Cosby was the father of five children, whose names started with 'E' as in Excellency, and his hymn to efforts was not just typical 80's inspirational stuff, it was ahead of its time because it made the 'obvious' race issue look insignificant. We never cared for the Huxtables family being Black, they were a regular successful family "happening to be Black"... but it certainly encouraged many Black young people to go to college. Should such a positive model be banned from TV?

The show was also ahead of its time on another topic: feminism. Forget "Girls", "Desperate Housewives" or "Sex and the City", "The Cosby Show" was the first feminist show and with four daughters and a mother of such classy strong-mindedness as Clair Huxtable, it was unavoidable although this "battle of the sexes" aspect annoyed me a little when the "woman-always-right" became a pattern for redundant and uninspired episodes (from the "perfect parents with imperfect kids", the series became about a "perfect mother"). I also never bought the way poor Elvin (Geoffrey Owens) was branded as a macho when most of the time, he should have grown a pair and tells Sondra (Sabrina Lebeauf) how he felt, but I guess it makes it all the more ironic that the show's reputation is ruined because of a scandal involving women.

Now, I wish I could speak about the best and the worst of the show, how I could pinpoint the start of the decline with Rudy's story episode in Season 4, the attempt to replace her with Olivia not to mention the infamous Muppet nightmare (literally), but the series needs kinder words, reminding how important it was back then, when every 80's/90's sitcom, whether to copy the model ("Growing Pains") or work on a blue-collar level ("Roseanne"), was an answer to "The Cosby Show", starting with its the biggest rival, "The Simpsons", still airing today maybe because, contrarily to "The Cosby Show", kids couldn't age and time was frozen, so the appeal stayed the same. And now, every sitcom is an answer to "The Simpsons", but that doesn't diminish the legacy of its 'big brother' "The Cosby Show", on the contrary. And ignoring this legacy by pulling the show off the air is as harmful to the show as it is to the people it inspired and can inspire in the future.

And speaking for myself, I can't ignore the show just as I can't ignore my best family memories, which the show is part of.

I grew up with a crush on Clair, Sandra and Denise (who didn't like Denise?) and most of all I grew up watching him on TV, (it was still running live telecasts when I was born). I really loved the ways that Cliff Huxtable dealt with the kids and I am sure that many parents across America ventured to be more like him and deal with their kids as he did (although it would be nice if we could). The best thing about the show was that while it did show a well-off black family, it was not preachy about the plight of blacks and was woven gently into the plots with humor, with humor you can remember it a lot easier than if someone just preached it at you. It was a vehicle that did in fact continue the "movin' on up" legacy that shows like The Jeffersons and Good Times started but most of all making it about family life and how parents and children relate to each other thus, making it timeless.

Some shows are for a time, but this show most of all, will be on as long as time exists.

For the critics of the show, it was a little ideal and a bit unrealistic for the people who say that I say this: THis is TV but TV is based on real life, and if you sit for 30 minutes in any household, it will be boring as all crap, and more importantly a lot of work goes into creating & writing sitcoms, critics should be writers themselves before they criticize a show, because is too easy to criticize but not to rework it to be accessible as you see it Thank you