Does anyone else remember the episode of the Cosby Show in which they family sat around and watched an old MLK speech for about 20 minutes? I remember it as one of the lamest, most self indulgent things I’d ever seen on TV. (Other things have surpassed it in the years since.)
As I remember it, there was a short part at the beginning in which the lovable Huxtables talked about MLK and then sat around the TV, then the bulk of the episode was just a somber, straight playing of the MLK speech – no reaction from the family, nothing. For something like 20 minutes.
Nothing against the MLK speech – whichever one it was – but I remember being just floored by how pretentious and lazy the whole episode was. i mean, this was a hugely popular COMEDY at the time.
If I’ve totally conflabulated this episode in my mind, feel free to correct the record.
I don’t think they showed more than a minute or two of the “I have a dream” speech. It wasn’t seemlessly integrated into the show, but it wasn’t just a random thing like “Family Guy” showing a Conway Twitty video.
I’ve seen one where they watched a part of the speech, but just for a little while, I think at the end of the episode. Maybe it was trimmed for syndication, though.
As I recall Theo had a homework assignment either about The March On Washington, or to describe his family’s reaction to/participation in an historic event, and he chose The March On Washington. All 4 of his grandparents gathered at the Huxtable’s house and reminisced. The show ended with a few lines from the “I Have A Dream” speech, from a recording of MLK made on that day.
I thought at the time it was a very moving episode.
The crux of the episode was that Vanessa’s grades started to slip when she started studying with Robert, while at the same time she had taken a sweater from Denise without her permission (Denise actually said she couldn’t borrow it). She and Denise fight, Cliff and Claire break it up, find out about the grade, tell her she can’t study with Robert anymore, etc. Everyone’s still upset with everyone as they walk from the kitchen to the living room where Rudy is watching the speech.
Wikipedia says it was 4 days before, and in honor of the first observance of MLK Jr. Day as a Federal holiday.
That was a memorable time of my childhood. Everyone was singing Stevie Wonder’s “Happy Birthday” and I had to go on multiple class field trips to the King Center. I even remember a locally produced TV commercial showing kids reciting parts of the speech. Most of the kids in it were my classmates, and I remember being jealous that they were chosen to be in it and not me.
The Cosby Show was the most popular TV show at the time, and it just so happened to feature black people. It would have been strange for the show not to give a shout-out to this particular current event. And no, it did not last 20 minutes.
Yes, I recall an episode ending with the characters watching a recording of the speech on TV. It felt tacked-on, a way to waste the final 20 or 30 seconds.
I found it not even a fraction as offputting as the oldest daughter naming her twin children “Nelson” and “Winnie”. Didja come to regret THAT call, Sondra?
I had thought at the time that everyone in the family had been absorbed in petty squabbles the whole episode and as each of them walked into the living room and settled down to listen to the speech, we were all reminded a little of what was more important. I don’t remember it being as ham-fisted as the OP suggests.
I should have Googled the question. Wikipedia has a list of all episodes of The Cosby Show. Of course it does.
The episode the OP and others in this thread are discussing is Season 2, Episode 14 “Vanessa’s Bad Grade”. I was thinking of Season 3, Episode 6 “The March”. I got the details wrong, but October 1986 was 26 years ago.
Absolutely! This episode was broadcast on Martin Luther King’s birthday, and started as a comedy, but ended in a genuinely touching moment.
The older kids-who should have known better- had been fighting stupidly with each other over petty stuff.One insults the other. Then they walk into the living room where the youngest and most innocent kid has turned on the TV to see MLK’ s speech
The older ones stop in their tracks, as they realize that there are more important issues Then, as ML King’s voice drowns out everything else, one of them looks at the other directly in the eyes, and silently, almost reverently, mouths the words “I’m sorry”.
It was a real, believable moment…not a corny TV cliche.
Then, as I recall,instead of showing the usual credits and end-of-show music, the screen then went silent and displayed a message something like “today we honor Martin Luther King”. (now, that seemed a bit corny— but in a* good* way)
Sure, it was in character. The character was pretentious, and so was the action. Or so it seemed to me, even at the time, and subsequent actions of the Mandelas add a bit of extra hindsight schadenfreude to the mix.