(EDITOR’S NOTE: I was a huge, huge fan of THE COSBY SHOW and I am still a huge, huge fan of Bill Cosby. I am sharing this with readers of my online publication, BAHAMAS CHRONICLE, to reaffirm that I am one of those who still strongly believe that the “legal problems” that tarnished Bill Cosby’s brilliant comedic and acting careers were racially motivated.)
CLASSIC RETROVISION MILESTONE: Thirty-nine years ago today, September 20, 1984, The Cosby Show premiered. It is an American television sitcom co-created by and starring Bill Cosby, which aired Thursday nights for eight seasons on NBC between September 20, 1984, until April 30, 1992. The show focuses on an upper-class African-American family living in Brooklyn, New York.
The Cosby Show spent five consecutive seasons as the number-one rated show on television. The Cosby Show and All in the Family are the only sitcoms in the history of the Nielsen ratings to be the number-one show for five seasons. It spent all eight of its seasons in the top 20.
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.” TV Guide also ranked it 28th on their list of 50 Greatest Shows. In addition, Cliff Huxtable was named as the “Greatest Television Dad”.
In May 1992, Entertainment Weekly stated that The Cosby Show helped to make possible a larger variety of shows with a predominantly black cast, from In Living Color to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The Cosby Show was based on comedy routines in Cosby’s stand-up comedy act, which in turn were based on his family life. The show led to the spinoff A Different World, which ran for six seasons from 1987 to 1993.
The show’s portrayal of a successful, stable black family was praised by some for breaking racial stereotypes and showing another part of the African-American experience. However, it was criticized by others, including Henry Louis Gates Jr., for allowing white audiences to think that racism and poverty were problems of the past. As a result of the Bill Cosby sexual assault cases, Malcolm-Jamal Warner has stated that the show’s legacy is “tarnished”.
The Cosby Show had generated $2.5 billion in television revenue, including $1 billion from television advertisement,and $1.5 billion from syndication.
