During its original run at NBC, it was one of five successful sitcoms on the network that featured predominately African-American casts. 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 show's spin-off, A Different World dealt with issues of race more often. The series finale aired during the ethnic-related Los Angeles riots , with Cosby quoted in media at the time pleading for peace. 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 seven opening was replaced with the one from the previous 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 one. The show was noted for portraying only a certain portion of the African-American population.
The Cosby Show is one of three television programs All in the Family and American Idol being the others that was 1 in the Nielsen ratings for 5 consecutive seasons. Carsey-Werner Distribution handles domestic and international distribution of the series, and has done so since In the United States, The Cosby Show began its television syndication run in September in broadcast syndication, shortly before the show's fifth season premiere, and was at the time distributed by Viacom; many stations that carried the series were Big Three network affiliates, though since the mids, the show has largely begun airing on independent stations and minor network affiliates.
Dallas-based KTVT now a CBS owned-and-operated station , carried the series during the early s, until that station dropped its status as an independent station and regional cable superstation in TBS, then a national cable superstation at the time it debuted on the channel, began carrying the series in and ran it for almost a decade.
Fellow superstation WGN America began carrying the series shortly after, and continued to until September Nick at Nite began airing reruns of the series in March As of September 27, , Centric airs the series. In November , for the awake of Cosby's controversial comments on sexual allegations and misconduct, all four television networks Centric, TV Land, Aspire and Bounce TV will no longer syndicate the series.
The Cosby Show' s producers created a spin-off series called A Different World that was built 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 later became a recurring character on The Cosby Show for seasons four and five, and a regular again in seasons six and seven.
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:. Seasons one and two were released by UrbanWorks which was subsequently acquired by First Look Studios, who then released the remaining six seasons. It contains interviews with cast members, bloopers, deleted scenes and audition footage. The first two seasons have similar artwork to the North American copies, although season two is red rather than blue.
Nonetheless, a comedy based on the lives of an upper-middle class black family was new territory for the producers. They hired noted black psychiatrist Alvin Poussaint as a consultant to help The Cosby Show exude a strong yet subtle racial pride based solid middle class values. Still the show drew criticism from whites and blacks alike who accused the Huxtables of being a black family in white face. That criticism opened an important national conversation about race and class two decades after the civil rights movement challenged the place of African Americans in U.
Mostly devoid of overtly racial themes, the show was able to present a storyline revolving around the trials and travails of a middle class family that happened to be African American. Many leading entertainment figures, such as Lena Horne and Stevie Wonder made guest appearances while jazz and blues music either sweetened the soundtrack or were integrated into the storylines. Clair was often seen reading a book by a noted black author while paintings and other artworks by African American artists were displayed on the set.
After an eight-season run, which included more than episodes, the Cosby Show ended in The cultural impact of "The Cosby Show," centered on an upper-middle class Black family living in Brooklyn, is hard to overstate. TV Guide called it the "biggest hit in the s" and it was America's No.
It won six Emmy awards and the prestigious Peabody Award. Read More. The loss of syndication revenue meant Cosby and other cast members were making far less money from reruns. Actor Geoffrey Owens , who played Elvin Tibideaux on the show, made headlines in when he was spotted working as a cashier at Trader Joe's. He told People magazine that year that losing "The Cosby Show" royalties after many networks pulled the show from syndication motivated him to get the cashier job.
Accusations against Cosby. Dozens of women eventually came forward accusing Cosby of raping and assaulting them over the course of his career. Some accused him of drugging them. He has denied all allegations against him.
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