the cosby

The Cosby Show is a sitcom about a black family in New York which aired on television from 1984 to 1992 (IMDB). It was also “the most consistent and highest-rated prime-time television program of the 1980’s” (Grey, 39). While similar to its predecessor Amos ‘n Andy with its predominately black cast, The Cosby Show was unlike any other black show on television because it displayed a successful black family; the 'Huxtables'. In this upper middle-class household both of the parents worked. The father 'Cliff', played by actor Bill Cosby (IMDB) who was one of the show’s writers, was a doctor and the mother 'Clair', played by actress Phylicia Rashad, worked as a lawyer.

‘Cliff’ and ‘Clair’ had four children: ‘Denise’ played by actress Lisa Bonet (IMDB), ‘Theo’ played by actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner (IMDB), ‘Vanessa’ played by actress Tempestt Bledsoe (IMDB), and ‘Rudy’ played by actress Keshia Knight Pulliam (IMDB), with the addition of a fifth child ‘Sondra’ played by actress Sabrina Le Beauf (IMDB) after the first episode. The 'Huxtables' were the perfect American family, just striving to raise their children and money was not an issue. This was a first for television because up until that point, it had only held images of lower-class black families who struggled financially. The 'Huxtables' represented the cultural “emergence of a sizable black middle class” (Grey, 32) and dismissed many stereotypes that plagued the black community. Bill Cosby helped write the show to “intentionally presented itself as a corrective to previous generations of television representation of black life” (Grey, 80).

While the ‘Huxtables’ were financially stable, they did not spend money frivolously. The Cosby Show’s storyline was often one surroundin...

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... the black family, the show began to draw criticism for “its failure to address issues that confront a large number of African Americans” (Grey, 84). Even with the shows acknowledgement of different historical events such as, the infamous Martin Luther King Jr. speech that drew the family together at the end of the “Vanessa’s Bad Grade” episode, critics claimed that it was unrealistic. Also claiming that, The Cosby Show did not touch on economic or political issues that affected blacks of the lower-class. To criticism this Bill Cosby replied “it may seem that I’m an authority because my skin color gives me a mark of a victim. But that’s not a true label. I won’t deal with the foolishness of racial overtones on the show…” (Grey, 80). With that The Cosby Show continued to display a black family that had problems like any family, not just those sharing the same race.