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The Cosby Show



 
 
The Cosby Show is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 television
Television program

A television program , television programme , or television show is something that people watch on television. It may be a one-off broadcast or, more usually, part of a periodically recurring television series....
 situation comedy
Situation comedy

A situation comedy, usually referred to as a sitcom, is a genre of comedy programs which originated in radio. Today, sitcoms are found almost exclusively on television as one of its dominant narrative forms....
 starring Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby

William Henry "Bill" Cosby Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a vanguard role in the 1960s action show I Spy....
, first airing on September 20, 1984 and running for eight seasons on the NBC television
Television

Television is a widely used telecommunication mass-media for transmitting and receiving moving , either monochrome or color, usually accompanied by sound....
 network, until April 30, 1992. The show focused on the Huxtable family, an upper-middle class African-American family living in Brooklyn
Brooklyn

Brooklyn is one of the five Borough of New York City, located at the western end of Long Island. An independent city until its consolidation with New York in 1898, Brooklyn is New York City's most populous borough, with 2.5 million residents, and second largest in area....
, New York
New York

The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....
.

According to TV Guide
TV Guide

TV Guide is the name of a North American weekly magazine about Broadcast programming.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews....
, the show "was TV's biggest hit in the 1980s, and almost single-handedly revived the sitcom genre and NBC's ratings fortunes".






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Encyclopedia


The Cosby Show is an American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 television
Television program

A television program , television programme , or television show is something that people watch on television. It may be a one-off broadcast or, more usually, part of a periodically recurring television series....
 situation comedy
Situation comedy

A situation comedy, usually referred to as a sitcom, is a genre of comedy programs which originated in radio. Today, sitcoms are found almost exclusively on television as one of its dominant narrative forms....
 starring Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby

William Henry "Bill" Cosby Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a vanguard role in the 1960s action show I Spy....
, first airing on September 20, 1984 and running for eight seasons on the NBC television
Television

Television is a widely used telecommunication mass-media for transmitting and receiving moving , either monochrome or color, usually accompanied by sound....
 network, until April 30, 1992. The show focused on the Huxtable family, an upper-middle class African-American family living in Brooklyn
Brooklyn

Brooklyn is one of the five Borough of New York City, located at the western end of Long Island. An independent city until its consolidation with New York in 1898, Brooklyn is New York City's most populous borough, with 2.5 million residents, and second largest in area....
, New York
New York

The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....
.

According to TV Guide
TV Guide

TV Guide is the name of a North American weekly magazine about Broadcast programming.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews....
, the show "was TV's biggest hit in the 1980s, and almost single-handedly revived the sitcom genre and NBC's ratings fortunes". Originally, the show had been pitched to ABC, which rejected it. Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly is a magazine published by Time Inc. in the United States which covers movies, television, music, Broadway stage productions, books, and popular culture....
 stated that The Cosby Show helped to make possible a larger variety of shows based on African Americans, from In Living Color
In Living Color

This article is about the television series. For the band, see Living Colour.In Living Color is an American sketch comedy television series, which originally ran on the Fox Broadcasting Company from April 15, 1990 to May 19, 1994....
 to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is an Emmy-nominated American television situation comedy that originally aired on NBC from September 10, 1990 to May 20, 1996....
. The Cosby Show was also one of the first successful sitcoms based on the subject matter of a standup comedian’s act, blazing a trail for other such successful programs as Roseanne
Roseanne (TV series)

Roseanne is an United States situation comedy broadcast on American Broadcasting Company from 1988 in television to 1997 in television starring stand-up comedian Roseanne Barr....
, Home Improvement, The Drew Carey Show
The Drew Carey Show

The Drew Carey Show is an United States sitcom that aired on American Broadcasting Company from 1995 to 2004 and was known for its "everyman" characters and themes....
, Seinfeld
Seinfeld

Seinfeld is an Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award-winning Television in the United States Situation comedy that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in Broadcast syndication....
, and Everybody Loves Raymond
Everybody Loves Raymond

Everybody Loves Raymond is an Emmy Award-winning Television in the United States television sitcom that originally ran on CBS from September 13, 1996 to May 16, 2005....
. The Cosby Show is one of only two American programs that have been #1 in the Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen Ratings

Nielsen Ratings are audience measurement developed by the AC Nielsen Company, to determine the audience size and composition of broadcast programming....
 for five consecutive seasons, along with All in the Family
All in the Family

All in the Family is an United States situation comedy that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971 to April 8, 1979....
. The show spawned the successful spin-off A Different World.

Having aired for 201 episodes, The Cosby Show is the third-longest running U.S. comedy with a predominantly African-American cast, surpassed only by The Jeffersons
The Jeffersons

The Jeffersons is an United States situation comedy that was broadcast on CBS from January 18, 1975, through June 25, 1985, lasting 11 seasons and a total of List of The Jeffersons episodes produced by Tandem Productions from 1975-1982 and Embassy Television from 1982-1985....
 and Family Matters.

History

The genesis of the show was in the early 1980s. Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner
Tom Werner

Thomas C. "Tom" Werner is the Chairman of the Boston Red Sox, as well as an United States television producer and businessman.Werner was born in to a wealthy New York area family....
, two former executives at ABC, left the network to start their own production company. They turned ABC in the late 1970s into the top network in television with their great eye for sitcoms like Mork & Mindy, Three's Company
Three's Company

Three's Company is an American sitcom that aired from 1977 in television to 1984 in television on American Broadcasting Company. It is a remake of the British sitcom Man About the House....
 and Welcome Back, Kotter
Welcome Back, Kotter

Welcome Back, Kotter is an Television in the United States sitcom that originally aired on the American Broadcasting Company network from September 9, 1975 to June 8, 1979....
.

The two decided in order to get a sitcom to sell for their fledgling company, they needed a big name behind it. Bill Cosby, who during the 1970s starred in two failed sitcoms, produced award-winning stand-up comedy albums, and had roles in several different films, was relatively quiet during the early 1980s. Outside of his work on his cartoon series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids

Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids is an list of animated television series created, produced, and hosted by comedian Bill Cosby, who also lent his voice to a number of characters, including the titular one....
, he was doing little in the fields of film and television. The two watched his stand-up comedy film, Bill Cosby: Himself
Bill Cosby: Himself

Bill Cosby: Himself is a 1983 in film stand-up comedy film featuring the comedic routines of Bill Cosby. Filmed before a live audience at the Hamilton Place Theatre, in Hamilton, Ontario Cosby gives audiences his comedic views ranging from marriage and parenthood....
. They loved the routine and decided they wanted to build a television series around a comedian's subject material which, with Cosby, was observations of life and family.

After meeting with them, Cosby returned to Carsey and Werner with his own ideas: the family would be blue-collared, with a stay at home mother and a limousine driving father with two sons and two daughters. Carsey and Werner convinced Cosby to make the family well-off financially, with both parents in lucrative and challenging fields. That way, the focus of the show would be Cosby's comedic material from his stand-up routines.

Overview

The show focused on the Huxtable family, an upper-middle class African-American family living in a brownstone
Brownstone

Brownstone is a brown Triassic sandstone which was once a popular building material. The term is also understood to be a terraced house clad in this material....
 in Brooklyn Heights, New York
New York

The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....
, at 10 Stigwood Avenue. The patriarch was Heathcliff "Cliff" Huxtable, an obstetrician
Obstetrics

Obstetrics is the surgery speciality dealing with the care of a woman and her offspring during pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium . Midwifery is the non-medical equivalent....
. The matriarch was his wife, attorney
Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an Attorney at law, counsel or solicitor; a person licensed to practice fraud." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain stability, and deliver justice....
 Clair (Hanks) Huxtable. Despite its comedic tone, the show sometimes involved serious subjects, such as son Theo's experiences dealing with dyslexia
Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a learning disability that manifests itself primarily as a difficulty with Writing, particularly with Reading . It is separate and distinct from reading difficulties resulting from other causes, such as a non-neurological deficiency with vision or hearing, or from poor or inadequate reading instruction....
, inspired by Cosby's child Ennis
Ennis Cosby

Ennis William Cosby was the son of comedian-actor Bill Cosby and Camille Cosby. He was murdered in 1997 on the shoulder of Los Angeles' I-405 by Mikhail Markhasev....
, who was also dyslexic.

Cosby had an unusually high level of creative control over the show. He 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 City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
 rather than Los Angeles
Los Ángeles

Los ?ngeles is the Capital of the Biob?o Province, in the municipality of the same name, in Regions of Chile VIII , in the center-south of Chile....
, where most television programs were taped.

The earliest episodes of the series were videotaped at NBC's Studio One facility in Brooklyn. The network later sold that building, and production moved to the Kaufman Astoria Studios
Kaufman Astoria Studios

File:Kaufman Univ Studio LIC jeh.JPGThe 'Kaufman Astoria Studios' is located in Queens, New York, and home to productions like Sesame Street, Johnny and the Sprites, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego , Power of 10, The Cosby Show, Swan's Crossing, Law & Order, Million Dollar Password, Video Power and S...
 in Queens
Queens

Queens is the largest in area, the second-largest in population, and the easternmost of the Borough which form the New York City. The Borough of Queens' boundaries are identical to those of the County of Queens , a Administrative divisions of New York#County of the State of New York in the Northeastern United States United States....
.

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, such as The Jeffersons
The Jeffersons

The Jeffersons is an United States situation comedy that was broadcast on CBS from January 18, 1975, through June 25, 1985, lasting 11 seasons and a total of List of The Jeffersons episodes produced by Tandem Productions from 1975-1982 and Embassy Television from 1982-1985....
. However, The Cosby Show had African-American themes, such as civil rights marches, and it frequently promoted African-American and African culture represented by artists and musicians such as Jacob Lawrence
Jacob Lawrence

Jacob Lawrence was an African American Painting; he was married to fellow artist Gwendolyn Knight. Lawrence referred to his style as "dynamic cubism", though by his own account the primary influence was not so much French art as the shapes and colors of Harlem....
, Miles Davis
Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an United States jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Davis was at the forefront of almost every major development in jazz from World War II to the 1990s: he played on various early bebop records and recorded one of the first cool jaz...
, James Brown
James Brown

James Joseph Brown, Jr. was an United States entertainer. He is recognized as one of the most influential figures in 20th century popular music and was renowned for his vocals and feverish dancing....
, Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. A prominent figure in popular music during the latter half of the 20th century, Wonder has recorded more than thirty US top ten hits, won twenty-two Grammy Awards , plus one for Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, won an Academy Award for Best Song, an...
, Lena Horne
Lena Horne

Lena Mary Calhoun Horne is an American singer and actress. She has recorded and performed extensively, independently and with other jazz notables, including Artie Shaw, Teddy Wilson, Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington, Charlie Barnet, Benny Carter, and Billy Eckstine....
, Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and bandleader.Duke Ellington was recognized during his life as one of the most influential Jazz royalty, if not in all American music and he is of only four jazz musicians ever to have been featured on the cover of Time magazine ....
, Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie [/g?'l?spi/] was an United States jazz trumpeter, bandleader, singer, and composer. He was born in Cheraw, South Carolina, the youngest of nine children....
 and Miriam Makeba
Miriam Makeba

Miriam Makeba was a South African singer and civil rights activist. The Grammy Award winning artist is often referred to as Mama Afrika....
.

Cast

  • Bill Cosby
    Bill Cosby

    William Henry "Bill" Cosby Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a vanguard role in the 1960s action show I Spy....
     as Heathcliff "Cliff" Huxtable
  • Phylicia Rashad
    Phylicia Rashad

    Phylicia Rashad is a Tony Award-winning United States Actor, best known for her role as List of The Cosby Show characters#Clair Olivia Hanks-Huxtable on the 1984-1992 NBC sitcom The Cosby Show....
     as Clair Olivia Hanks Huxtable
  • Sabrina LeBeauf as Sondra Huxtable Tibideaux (1985-1992, recurring previously)
  • Geoffrey Owens
    Geoffrey Owens

    Geoffrey Owens is an African American actor.As son of United States Congressman Major Owens, he is perhaps most remembered for his role as Elvin Tibideaux, husband of Sondra Huxtable on the final five seasons of National Broadcasting Company's situation comedy The Cosby Show....
     as Elvin Tibideaux (1987-1992, recurring previously)
  • Lisa Bonet
    Lisa Bonet

    Lisa Michelle Bonet is an Emmy Award-nominated United States actor. She is best known for portraying the character of Denise Huxtable on The Cosby Show and its Spin-off A Different World ....
     as Denise Huxtable Kendall (1984-1987, 1989-1991)
  • Joseph C. Phillips
    Joseph C. Phillips

    Joseph Connor Phillips is an United States actor and a conservative, Christian commentator and writer. He is the son of Dr. Clarence Phillips, a Denver pediatrician....
     as Martin Kendall (1989-1991)
  • Malcolm-Jamal Warner
    Malcolm-Jamal Warner

    Malcolm-Jamal Warner is an American television actor, director, and musician, known primarily for his roles in sitcoms, movies and television. He is best known for his role as Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show....
     as Theodore Aloysius "Theo" Huxtable
  • Tempestt Bledsoe
    Tempestt Bledsoe

    Tempestt Bledsoe is an United States actress best known for her role as Bill Cosby's daughter and fourth child, Vanessa Huxtable, on the popular 1984-1992 situation comedy The Cosby Show....
     as Vanessa Huxtable
  • Keshia Knight Pulliam
    Keshia Knight Pulliam

    Keshia Knight Pulliam is an Emmy Award-nominated and NAACP Image Award-winning American actress. She is most recognized for her childhood role as List of The Cosby Show characters#Dr....
     as Rudith Lillian "Rudy" Huxtable
  • Raven-Symoné
    Raven-Symoné

    Raven-Symon? Christina Pearman...
     as Olivia Kendall (1989-1992)
  • Erika Alexander
    Erika Alexander

    Erika Alexander is an United States actor....
     as Pam Tucker (1990-1992)


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 is notable for 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
Sabrina Le Beauf

Sabrina went to St Matthias Catholic Girls High School in Huntington Park CaliforniaSabrina Le Beauf is an American actress who is best known for her portrayal of Sondra Huxtable Tibideaux on the National Broadcasting Company situation comedy, The Cosby Show....
). The character was created when Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby

William Henry "Bill" Cosby Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a vanguard role in the 1960s action show I Spy....
 wanted the show to express the accomplishment of successfully raising a child (e.g., a college graduate). Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston

Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an United States singer, songwriter,actress, record producer, film producer, and former model . Houston rose to international fame in the mid-1980s and her crossover success opened doors for many other African American women to find success in booty shaking & pop music and movies....
 was considered for the role of Sondra Huxtable. Sabrina LeBeauf almost missed out on the role because she is only 10 years younger (b. 1958) than Phylicia Rashad
Phylicia Rashad

Phylicia Rashad is a Tony Award-winning United States Actor, best known for her role as List of The Cosby Show characters#Clair Olivia Hanks-Huxtable on the 1984-1992 NBC sitcom The Cosby Show....
 (b. 1948), who played her mother.

Bill Cosby's character is called "Clifford" in the early episodes of the first season (as evidenced by his name plate on the exterior of the Huxtable home). 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.

Opening credits

Cs Cosby Cast
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.

Due to legal complications regarding the background mural, the Season 7 opening was replaced with the one from the previous season. The original Season 7 opening, with slight modifications, was used in the eighth and final season.

To open the series' final episode (which was 60 minutes in length), an entirely new version of Kiss Me was used, while the credits featured clips from the openings from the previous seasons (excluding Season 1).

Ratings

The Cosby Show is one of two television shows (All in the Family
All in the Family

All in the Family is an United States situation comedy that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971 to April 8, 1979....
 being the other) that was #1 in the Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen Ratings

Nielsen Ratings are audience measurement developed by the AC Nielsen Company, to determine the audience size and composition of broadcast programming....
 for 5 consecutive seasons.

These were the ratings for each season, according to ClassicTVHits.com at the end of the season, were:
Season Ratings Rank
1984-1985 #3
1985-1986 #1
1986-1987 #1
1987-1988 #1
1988-1989 #1
1989-1990 #1 (tied with Roseanne
Roseanne (TV series)

Roseanne is an United States situation comedy broadcast on American Broadcasting Company from 1988 in television to 1997 in television starring stand-up comedian Roseanne Barr....
)
1990-1991 #5
1991-1992 #18


Awards, nominations and honors


Awards won

Emmy Awards
  • Outstanding Comedy Series (1985)
  • Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series (1984) Michael J. Leeson
    Michael J. Leeson

    Michael J. Leeson is an American screenwriter ....
     and Ed. Weinberger


Golden Globe Awards
  • Best TV Series-Comedy (1985)
  • Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series-Comedy Bill Cosby
    Bill Cosby

    William Henry "Bill" Cosby Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a vanguard role in the 1960s action show I Spy....
     (1985-86) 2 wins


NAACP Image Awards
  • Outstanding Comedy Series (1988)
  • Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series Bill Cosby
    Bill Cosby

    William Henry "Bill" Cosby Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a vanguard role in the 1960s action show I Spy....
     (1989, 1993) 2 wins
  • Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series Phylicia Rashad
    Phylicia Rashad

    Phylicia Rashad is a Tony Award-winning United States Actor, best known for her role as List of The Cosby Show characters#Clair Olivia Hanks-Huxtable on the 1984-1992 NBC sitcom The Cosby Show....
     (1988, 1989) 2 wins


People's Choice Awards
People's Choice Awards

The People's Choice Awards is an awards show recognizing the people and the work of popular culture. The show has been held annually since 1975 and is claimed to be based on the opinions of the general public....
  • Favorite New TV Comedy Program (1985)
  • Favorite TV Comedy Program (1985-1989) 5 wins
  • Favorite TV Comedy Series (1990, 1992) 2 wins
  • All-Time Favorite TV Program (1989)
  • Favorite Male Program in a New TV Program Bill Cosby
    Bill Cosby

    William Henry "Bill" Cosby Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a vanguard role in the 1960s action show I Spy....
     (1985)
  • Favorite Female Program in a New TV Program Phylicia Rashad
    Phylicia Rashad

    Phylicia Rashad is a Tony Award-winning United States Actor, best known for her role as List of The Cosby Show characters#Clair Olivia Hanks-Huxtable on the 1984-1992 NBC sitcom The Cosby Show....
     (1985)
  • Favorite Male TV Performer Bill Cosby
    Bill Cosby

    William Henry "Bill" Cosby Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a vanguard role in the 1960s action show I Spy....
     (1986-1992) 7 wins
  • Favorite Female TV Performer Phylicia Rashad
    Phylicia Rashad

    Phylicia Rashad is a Tony Award-winning United States Actor, best known for her role as List of The Cosby Show characters#Clair Olivia Hanks-Huxtable on the 1984-1992 NBC sitcom The Cosby Show....
     (1989)
  • Favorite All-Around Male Entertainer Bill Cosby
    Bill Cosby

    William Henry "Bill" Cosby Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a vanguard role in the 1960s action show I Spy....
     (1986-1988, 1990-1991) 5 wins
  • Favorite All-Around Male Star Bill Cosby
    Bill Cosby

    William Henry "Bill" Cosby Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a vanguard role in the 1960s action show I Spy....
     (1989)
  • Favorite Young TV Performer Keshia Knight Pulliam
    Keshia Knight Pulliam

    Keshia Knight Pulliam is an Emmy Award-nominated and NAACP Image Award-winning American actress. She is most recognized for her childhood role as List of The Cosby Show characters#Dr....
     (1988)


Awards nominated

Emmy Awards
  • Outstanding Comedy Series (1986-87) 2 nominations
  • Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Phylicia Rashad
    Phylicia Rashad

    Phylicia Rashad is a Tony Award-winning United States Actor, best known for her role as List of The Cosby Show characters#Clair Olivia Hanks-Huxtable on the 1984-1992 NBC sitcom The Cosby Show....
     (1985-86) 2 nominations
  • Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Lisa Bonet
    Lisa Bonet

    Lisa Michelle Bonet is an Emmy Award-nominated United States actor. She is best known for portraying the character of Denise Huxtable on The Cosby Show and its Spin-off A Different World ....
     (1986)
  • Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Keshia Knight Pulliam
    Keshia Knight Pulliam

    Keshia Knight Pulliam is an Emmy Award-nominated and NAACP Image Award-winning American actress. She is most recognized for her childhood role as List of The Cosby Show characters#Dr....
     (1986)
  • Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Malcolm-Jamal Warner
    Malcolm-Jamal Warner

    Malcolm-Jamal Warner is an American television actor, director, and musician, known primarily for his roles in sitcoms, movies and television. He is best known for his role as Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show....
     (1986)


Golden Globe Awards
  • Best TV Series-Comedy (1986-87) 2 nominations
  • Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series-Comedy Bill Cosby
    Bill Cosby

    William Henry "Bill" Cosby Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a vanguard role in the 1960s action show I Spy....
     (1987)


Honors

  • In 1999, Entertainment Weekly
    Entertainment Weekly

    Entertainment Weekly is a magazine published by Time Inc. in the United States which covers movies, television, music, Broadway stage productions, books, and popular culture....
     placed the The Cosby Shows debut at #28 in its list of the "100 Greatest Moments in Television".
  • In 2002, TV Guide
    TV Guide

    TV Guide is the name of a North American weekly magazine about Broadcast programming.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews....
    placed The Cosby Show at #28 in its list of the 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time
    TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time

    The 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time is a list of Television in the United States TV series compiled by TV Guide as a Article for the week of May 4, 2002....
    .
  • In 2007, Time
    Time (magazine)

    Time is a weekly United States newsmagazine, similar to Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report. A European edition is published from London....
    magazine placed the show on its unranked list of "100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME".
  • In 2007, USA Today
    USA Today

    'USA TODAY' is a national United States daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Allen Neuharth. The paper has the widest newspaper circulation of any newspaper in the United States , and among English-language broadsheets, it comes second worldwide, behind only the 2.6 million daily paid copies of The Times of...
    s web site ranked the show as #8 in its list of the "top 25 TV moments of the past quarter century".
  • In 2008, in the 1000th issue of Entertainment Weekly
    Entertainment Weekly

    Entertainment Weekly is a magazine published by Time Inc. in the United States which covers movies, television, music, Broadway stage productions, books, and popular culture....
    , Cliff Huxtable was selected as the Dad for "The Perfect TV Family."


Criticisms

In a 1992 book, authors Sut Jhally
Sut Jhally

Sutinder "Sut" Jhally is a professor of Communication studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and is a cultural studies scholar in the area of advertising, mass media, and consumption ....
 and Justin Lewis
Justin Lewis

Justin Lewis is Professor of Communication and Head of the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University. He returned to Britain in 2000, having worked for 12 years in the United States at the University of Massachusetts....
 use the results of an audience study to argue that The Cosby Show obscured the issues of class
Social class

Social class refers to the hierarchy distinctions between individuals or groups in societies or cultures. Usually most societies have some notion of social class , but concretely defined social classes are not found in every known type of human societies....
 and race and reinforced the belief that African-Americans have only themselves to blame if they don't succeed in society, ignoring that racism still exists and can be a factor in society.

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)


DVD releases

All eight seasons were released on DVD in Region 1 by UrbanWorks which was subsequently acquired by First Look Studios
First Look Studios

First Look Studios is an independent United States film studio that specializes in home video releases of films and TV series....
 starting in early 2006.

Magna Pacific has released seasons one through four of The Cosby Show on DVD in Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
 and New Zealand
New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
, with similar artwork to the North American copies, although season two is red rather than blue. Each Australasian cover also features the tagline "In a house full of love, there is always room for more".

The Season 1 only 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.

DVD TitleEp #Region 1Region 2Region 4
Season 1 24 August 22005 May 192008 October 42006
Season 2 25 March 72006 Aug 25 2008 February 72007
Season 3 25 June 52007 Oct 13 2008April 42007
Season 4 24 June 52007 Feb 9 2009November 72007
The Best of the Cosby Show 10 September 25 2007  
Season 5 25 November 62007 March 52008
Season 6 25 November 62007  
Season 7 26 April 82008  
Season 8 24 April 82008  
25th Anniversary Commemorative Edition 201 November 112008  


Spin-off

The Cosby Shows producers created a spin-off
List of television spin-offs

A spin-off in television is a new series which contains either characters or theme elements from an old series. They are particularly common in situation comedy....
 series called
A Different World that was built around the "Denise" character (portrayed by actress Lisa Bonet
Lisa Bonet

Lisa Michelle Bonet is an Emmy Award-nominated United States actor. She is best known for portraying the character of Denise Huxtable on The Cosby Show and its Spin-off A Different World ....
), 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

Historically black colleges and universities are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before 1964 with the intention of serving the black community....
 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
Debbie Allen

Deborrah Maye ?Debbie? Allen is an United States actress, choreographer, television director, television producer, and a member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities....
 and new characters. Denise later became a recurring character on
The Cosby Show for Seasons 4-5, and a regular again in Seasons 6-7.

External links

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