The Cosby Show
The cast of The Cosby Show in 1989.
Created by	Ed. Weinberger Michael J. Leeson William Cosby Jr., Ed.D.
Starring	Bill Cosby Phylicia Rashād Sabrina LeBeauf (1985-92) Lisa Bonet (1984-87, 1989-91) Malcolm Jamal Warner Tempestt Bledsoe Keshia Knight Pulliam Geoffrey Owens (1985-92) Joseph C. Phillips (1989-91) Raven-Symoné (1989-92) Erika Alexander (1990-92)
Opening theme	"Kiss Me" - written by Stu Gardner & Bill Cosby performed by: Bobby McFerrin (Season 4) Oregon Symphony (Season 5) Craig Handy (Seasons 6-7) Lester Bowie (Season 8)
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	8
No. of episodes	201 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	24 minutes (per episode)
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 20, 1984 – April 30, 1992

The Cosby Show is an American television sitcom starring Bill Cosby, first airing on September 20, 1984 and running for eight seasons on the NBC television network, until April 30, 1992. The show focused on the Huxtable family, an upper-middle class African-American family living in a brownstone building in Brooklyn, New York.

According to TV Guide, the show "was TV's biggest hit in the 1980s, and almost single-handedly revived the sitcom genre and NBC's ratings fortunes".^[1] Entertainment Weekly stated that The Cosby Show helped to make possible a larger variety of black shows, from In Living Color to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.^[2] The Cosby Show is one of only two American shows (All in the Family being the other) that has been #1 in the Nielsen Ratings for 5 consecutive seasons. The show spawned the successful spin-off A Different World.

The show focused on the Huxtable family, an upper-middle class family living in a brownstone in Brooklyn Heights, New York, at 10 Stigwood Avenue.^[3] The patriarch was the very playful, humorous, and fun-loving Heathcliff "Cliff" Huxtable, an obstetrician. The matriarch was his just as playful, yet very eloquent, elegant, and assertive wife, attorney Clair Hanks-Huxtable. Together, the duo presided over a raucous, yet loving, household. The show involved the usual difficulties of children growing up, such as son Theo's experiences of dealing with dyslexia, which was based on Cosby's real-life child Ennis, who was dyslexic.

Bill Cosby, who had an unusually great deal of creative control over the show, wanted the program to be educational as well as entertaining, reflecting Cosby's own background in education. He also insisted that the program be taped in New York City rather than Los Angeles, where most television programs were taped.^{[citation needed]}

The series was originally videotaped at what was then NBC's studio facilities in the Midwood section of Brooklyn, New York. Disputes between NBC and series director Jay Sandrich eventually forced the series' move to the Kaufman Astoria Studios in the neighboring New York City borough of Queens.

• Bill Cosby as Heathcliff "Cliff" Huxtable
• Phylicia Rashād as Clair Olivia Hanks Huxtable
• Sabrina LeBeauf as Sondra Huxtable Tibideaux (1985-1992, recurring previously)
• Geoffrey Owens as Elvin Tibideaux (1987-1992, recurring previously)
• Lisa Bonet as Denise Huxtable Kendall (1984-1987, 1989-1991)
• Joseph C. Phillips as Martin Kendall (1989-1991)
• Malcolm-Jamal Warner as Theodore Aloysius "Theo" Huxtable
• Tempestt Bledsoe as Vanessa Huxtable
• Keshia Knight Pulliam as Rudith Lillian "Rudy" Huxtable
• Raven-Symoné as Olivia Kendall (1989-1992)
• Erika Alexander as Pam Tucker (1990-1992)

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. The show had been originally pitched to ABC, which rejected it.^[1]

In the pilot, therefore, the Huxtables have only four children. During an early scene, an exasperated Clair asks Cliff, "Why did we have four children?", to which he responds "Because we did not want five". Following the pilot, the Huxtables have five children, with the addition of their eldest daughter, Sondra (Sabrina Le Beauf). Although she first appears midway through the first season, she is mentioned in episodes prior to this as being the eldest daughter, who is attending college. Sondra was created when Bill Cosby wanted the show to express the accomplishment of successfully raising a child (e.g.- a college graduate). Whitney Houston 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 (b. 1948), who played her mother, Clair Huxtable, on the show.

Bill Cosby's character is called Clifford in the pilot (as also evidenced by his name plate on the exterior of the Huxtable home). His name was later switched to Heathcliff. Also, Theodore is referred to as "Teddy" by Clair and Vanessa, as opposed to "Theo". This also happens in another episode early in the first season.

While some reference is made to Clair being a lawyer, she is in fact portrayed as a stereotypical housewife and matriarch in the pilot episode, spending much of it exasperated and wearing an apron. In subsequent episodes, the household duties and parental responsibilities are shared more evenly between her and her husband, Heathcliff.

The interior of the Cosby's home features a different dining room and living room from subsequent episodes. Throughout the remainder of the series, the dining room is reserved for more formal occasions.

During a scene where Cliff challenges Theo for his poor grades, he exclaims "Damn right!" - making this one of only three curse words to be used in the series. A flashback of this scene appears in a two-part episode of flashbacks and the series finale.

The show's theme music is called "Kiss Me", composed by Stu Gardner and Bill Cosby. Seven versions of this theme (one theme per season, with the exception of the sixth and seventh season, where everything remained the same) 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. Bobby McFerrin's version (fourth season) features only him overdubbing all the vocal parts, snapping fingers, and imitating the sound that comes from the "horn section".

Season seven's opening credits were originally those that were ultimately used in season eight. Due to legal complications regarding the background mural, season seven's opening was changed to the previous season's opening. The original season seven opening, with modifications, was used in the eighth and final season.

The Cosby Show is one of two television shows (All in the Family being the other) that has been #1 in the Nielsen Ratings for 5 consecutive seasons.

These were the ratings for each season, according to ClassicTVHits.com at the end of the season, were:

Emmy Awards

• Outstanding Comedy Series (1985)
• Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series (1984) Michael J. Leeson and Ed. Weinberger
• Justin Bukartek Lifetime Achievement Award

Golden Globe Awards

• Best TV Series-Comedy (1985)
• Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series-Comedy Bill Cosby (1985-86) 2 wins

Emmy Awards

• Outstanding Comedy Series (1986-87) 2 nominations
• Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Phylicia Rashād (1985-86) 2 nominations
• Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Lisa Bonet (1986)
• Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Keshia Knight Pulliam (1986)
• Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Malcolm-Jamal Warner (1986)

Golden Globe Awards

• Best TV Series-Comedy (1986-87) 2 nominations
• Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series-Comedy Bill Cosby (1987)

• In 1999, Entertainment Weekly placed the The Cosby Show's debut at #28 in its list of the "100 Greatest Moments in Television".^[4]
• In 2002, TV Guide placed The Cosby Show at #28 in its list of the 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.^[5]
• In 2007, Time magazine placed the show on its unranked list of "100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME".^[6]
• In 2007, USA Today's web site ranked the show as #8 in its list of the "top 25 TV moments of the past quarter century".^[7]

In a 1992 book, authors Sut Jhally and Justin Lewis use the results of an audience study to argue that The Cosby Show obscured the issues of class and race and reinforced the idea that African-Americans have only themselves to blame if they don't succeed in society.^[8]

Seasons 1 and 2 were released on DVD in Region 1 by UrbanWorks who was subsequently acquired by First Look Studios in early 2006. First Look Studios has since released Seasons 3-6 on DVD and the remaining two seasons in April 82008.^[9][10]

Magna Pacific ^[11] have released seasons one through four of The Cosby Show on DVD in Australia and New Zealand, 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 Cosby Show's producers created a spin-off series called A Different World that was centered around the "Denise" character (portrayed by actress Lisa Bonet), the second of the Huxtables' four daughters. Initially, the new program dealt with Denise's life at Hillman College, the fictional historically black college 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 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. Bonet was initially fired from her role as Denise Huxtable after the 1986 season, due to her appearance in the film Angel Heart. When she threatened legal action, the spin-off was made as compensation in 1987.

In the Italian version of the show, the family name is not Huxtable but Robinson. The whole show is named I Robinson.

• Official Bill Cosby Site
• The Cosby Show at CarseyWerner.net
• The Cosby Show at the Encyclopedia of Television