Cosby Show - Classic or Dud?

i'll also never forget the one with the dream where all the men are pregnant and giving birth to sandwiches

trying to find the ep where theo explains that he doesn't need to work hard at school because he doesn't want to be an obstetrician like his dad, he just wants to be 'regular people'... i think it might even be the pilot, but that one's great.

my gf was really skeptical about how great the cosby show could be, and scoffed when i moved in and she saw the dvd of season 1 on the shelf, but i conned her into watching a few and she was pretty quickly seduced by it tbh. there's nothing radical abt the show really, it doesnt toy with the paradigm like genius 21st C sitcoms. its just, to me, the apex of the trad familiy sitcom, with sharp scripts, good performances, and one of the most charismatic comedic actors of his time clearly relishing his role.

@stevie -- yep, that one is the pilot.

also otm with your last paragraph

nabisco correct upthread about "The Cosby Show" being the original Show About Nothing ("Cliff eats a sandwich. Rudy brings over a new friend. Claire and Cliff fuck.")

yup. he worked in mini comedy routines into most episodes too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmZ0tVOTr3o

love this comedy bit of his.....

http://mistercomfypants.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/cosby-show-6-engalls.png?w=348&h=261

I don't just love Bill Cosby's sweaters, I want to become them.

Personal favorite of mine, his 67 satirical music album, Hooray for the Salvation Army Band. If you pick on of the top plays from the album it should give you about the entire album, including the singles like "Don't Cha Know" and his Barry White spoof, "Yes Yes Yes."

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hooray+for+the+salvation+army+band+bill+cosby&aq=f

http://roflrazzi.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/84eed786-0d00-46f6-9f1f-3a7f666727ef.gif

From the NYT's appreciation:

Everyone has favorite Cosby moments: particular episodes or scenes from his various projects, especially “The Cosby Show” (1984-1992), one of the best and most popular series television has ever seen. Has there been a smarter, better played few minutes in a family sitcom than the moment in the pilot when Mr. Cosby’s character, Cliff Huxtable, uses Monopoly money to explain to his son why he should not be content with a report card full of D’s? No, there hasn’t.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/11/arts/television/bill-cosby-appreciation-and-screenings-at-paley-center-for-media.html?ref=arts

agreed

i may change my dn to harvey weewax again in trib

^ do this!

THE NAME IS HARVEY. HARVEY WEEWAX.

so Theo has some dad sitcom, huh?

he guested some in community s02

ahem "he guested some in community s02"

wasn't that scene in like the first episode of Cosby? the Harvey Weewax scene? so genius.

It was later. Rudy was old enough to have extended bits of dialogue.

is it not this one?

"Pilot" Jay Sandrich Michael Leeson & Ed. Weinberger September 20, 1984 0101
Cliff and Clair deal with the daily pressures of having children. Theo gets four D's on his report card, while Denise goes on a date with an older boy. Cliff illustrates the cost of living to Theo using Monopoly money. When he tries to reason with his father about loving him regardless of his grades, Cliff responds by saying, "That's the dumbest thing I ever heard in my life!" Theo resolves to do better in school. Meanwhile Rudy can't sleep because Rudy claims she heard the Wolfman growling in her closet, so Rudy and Vanessa sleep with Cliff & Clair.

it was 2-22, "Theo's Holiday":

Jay Sandrich Carmen Finestra, John Markus & Matt Williams April 3, 1986 0221

After Theo claims that he'll have no problem making it in the "real world", the Huxtables convert their house in the "Real World Apartments" and teach him a lesson about the real world; i.e., needing employment and references to get an apartment, income to get a bank loan, having to pay for his meals, etc.

okay, those two episodes are fused together in my mind - time to go get s02 on dvd!

Seasons Two through Four are the peak imo.

Has there been a smarter, better played few minutes in a family sitcom than the moment in the pilot when Mr. Cosby’s character, Cliff Huxtable, uses Monopoly money to explain to his son why he should not be content with a report card full of D’s?

"No wonder you get D's in everything!"

mizzell - i conflated the harvey weewax episode with the monopoly money episode.

when i reboot the series in 2067 i intend to include both plots in the pilot.

Seasons Two through Four are the peak imo

This is a carved-in-marble truth, though I'll make an exception for the Gordon Gartrelle shirt episode from S1 as being one of the best episodes of the series.

^^^ I just watched this on Hulu last weekend and it holds up surprisingly well

no that was my fault, i thought you guys were discussing which episode was described in the article, rather than which one had harvey weewax.

i love all eras of the cosby show, really, i even like cousin pam. (though the less said about raven simone the better).
xxp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crnPfls0fHw

I think everyone can agree that Poochie Simone was a terrible idea

Still funny even after I've seen it a million times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeaayMlLQDc

I can always do with more Cousin Pam tho

I bet you can.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czhjJdGa8ug

"Hammer time" indeed.

Pretty well encapsulates how I feel the early-period Huxtables would react to the late-period Huxtables. Someone needs to make a companion video for Roseanne.

Wonderful Phylicia Rashad interview: the erudition and hauteur of Claire Huxtable shines. Had no idea her mom was a poet who raised her in a fecund artistic community.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=MAv1k2p69-k&feature=endscreen

Best Cosby Show episode: http://www.glamour.com/entertainment/blogs/obsessed/2013/04/the-best-episode-of-the-cosby.html

Can't argue with that.

Favorite single moment is probably the "tacky barrette" reveal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6j8acFg_4I

HARVEY WEEWAX!

Watching this Season One episode in which Claire wants a baby, it's obvious the writers still had no idea what to do with her.

wooo it's back

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NxxU9hZZgo

I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY

ROOOOOBEERT

Christopher Plummer playing Cassius in the Huxtable living room.

Roscoe Lee Brown whinnying like a horse.

The Harvey Weewax episode is on!

The awesomeness of Clair:

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/television/2014/09/clair_huxtable_feminist_hero_the_cosby_show_wife_revisited_on_30th_anniversary.single.html

It was really weird in retrospect how Cosby and his "father" were almost the same age and no one seemed to care