# How can you not know the Cosby Show??? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 31, 2006, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-not-know-the-cosby-show/378541 "2006-10-31T03:25:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-not-know-the-cosby-show/378541/21 "2006-11-01T05:59:57Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] What percent of the viewing audience could relate to this? Mom a lawyer, dad a doctor- oh yeah standard American family. [/QUOTE] I’ve always assumed that Cosby was trying to accomplish two things with that: -show the white audience that black people are capable of high achievements -give young black people some successful role models to look up to and encourage them to have high aspirations. As I recall, a lot of the episodes’ themes emphasized higher education and career ambitions. Perhaps that helped send a positive message to some young people who may not have been getting nay positive encouragement for ambitions anywhere else. I’m not especially fond of the show myself, but I do think Cosby deserves some credit for giving the world a portrayal of black people as a successful and happy family. I’m not black, so maybe I am not qualified to comment on the social impact of the Cosby show, but I would expect that if everywhere you look you see people of your race constantly portrayed as unsuccessful, troubled, poor, etc. it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Who knows, the show may have planted the seed for success for some young black people watching it. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-not-know-the-cosby-show/378541/22 "2006-11-01T06:12:31Z")
Huh, that’s funny; most of the older teenagers I know grew up watching old _Cosby Show_ episodes in syndication, just like I grew up watching _Three’s Company_ (I think they got the better deal!). Yeah, there’s nothing like young 20-somethings to make you feel old. Last year I was at my SIL’s place and looking at her old yearbook. “You looked just like Belinda Carlisle!” I exclaimed (and she did). The 25-yo woman who was there said, “Who’s Belinda Carlisle?” Argh. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Push\_Up\_Bra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/edb3f5/32.png) [@Freudian\_Push\_Up\_Bra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Push_Up_Bra)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-not-know-the-cosby-show/378541/23 "2006-11-01T06:20:29Z")
Well, I’m 17 years old, don’t have cable and I still know what the Cosby Show is. I’ve only watched a few episodes though. And I love Belinda Carlisle. And Dean Martin and Dusty Springfield. I also know who Edie Sedgewick was. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-not-know-the-cosby-show/378541/24 "2006-11-01T09:59:28Z")
It’s weird for me to think that my memories of TV shows are actually as much as 30 years old. And in my job I regularly interact with people who are only 20 years old themselves. I brought up [Jason Donovan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Donovan) a few months ago, and was alarmed that nobody knew who I was talking about. Even the people from the UK. It made me feel very strange. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-not-know-the-cosby-show/378541/25 "2006-11-01T14:35:19Z")
**lavenderviolet** - good point, although I do wish they would have shown the kids doing something bad, every once in a while at least. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-not-know-the-cosby-show/378541/26 "2006-11-01T14:44:13Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] I wish I had had cable back then so I wouldn’t know it- the ultimate pompously smug comedian, with an awful unrealistic sitcom. Five kids, and the worst thing they do is Theo maybe writes a book report from Cilff Notes instead of reading the book. No drug use, no teen pregnancies, no violence, and oh yeah, old jazz musiciains or Negro league ball players dropping in each night for a visit. What percent of the viewing audience could relate to this? Mom a lawyer, dad a doctor- oh yeah standard American family. [/QUOTE] As someone else said, it wasn’t supposed to be standard at all. Whether you agree with him or not, Cosby’s thing is for people to aspire to something better. The jazz musician ones were boring as shit though. It wasn’t each night though. ---
**Author:** ![Shecky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@Shecky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shecky)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-not-know-the-cosby-show/378541/27 "2006-11-01T15:24:30Z")
A freind’s 18 year old son got a job at the Bass shoe outlet, and hates it. I, naturally, made fun of him by calling him Al Bundy. _Blank Stare_ Al Bundy? Married with Children? Apparently, he totally missed it. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-not-know-the-cosby-show/378541/28 "2006-11-01T17:07:24Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] I wish I had had cable back then so I wouldn’t know it- the ultimate pompously smug comedian, with an awful unrealistic sitcom. Five kids, and the worst thing they do is Theo maybe writes a book report from Cilff Notes instead of reading the book. No drug use, no teen pregnancies, no violence, and oh yeah, old jazz musiciains or Negro league ball players dropping in each night for a visit. What percent of the viewing audience could relate to this? Mom a lawyer, dad a doctor- oh yeah standard American family. [/QUOTE] What beloved American sit-com family can you say wasn’t like this? Were the Bradys dropping out of school and doing crack in the bathroom? Was the Beav holding up liquor stores? I must have missed the episode when Mallory Keaton got raped by Skippy and then got an abortion (much to the dismay of Alex P., of course). Your gripe applies to 95% of all 20th century primetime television. The Huxtable’s were just as, if not more so, easy to relate to than any other popular TV family. People liked the show not because the Huxtable household mirrored their own, but because the comedy was unpretentious and accessible. It was “family” TV without the contrived cutesyness and lameness (that is, until Raven showed up and caused the series to jump the shark). And it was also cool that the Huxtables were folks you could aspire to be like. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-not-know-the-cosby-show/378541/29 "2006-11-01T17:50:23Z")
**you with the face** - good points, but…my beef with “Cos” is that he is now this obnoxiously smug elitist prick who takes every opportunity to bash poor people for, basically, not having the lifestyle depicted on his show, which is pretty ridiculous, and sets unrealistic goals for many. Many people work hard, go to school, do the right things, and still end up without a brownstone. The Brady’s and Cleaver’s were cheesy old fashioned type sitcoms- shouldn’t William H. Cosby Phd, DDU, DVM, and whatever the hell other phony honoary titles he uses, aspire to something better than the lameness of the Brady Bunch? You care so much about the state of poor black America, why not show problems facing real people and how to deal with them? Or better yet, why not have an episode which mirrors your real life, and show how the family deals with your hyporcritical ass having several mistresses on the side? And as for the comedy being better than average- if you call Sir Bill mugging for 30 minutes elevated humor, than we also disagree on that point. The really good sitcoms, like All in the Family, do deal with real issues. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-not-know-the-cosby-show/378541/30 "2006-11-01T18:27:19Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] **you with the face** - good points, but…my beef with “Cos” is that he is now this obnoxiously smug elitist prick who takes every opportunity to bash poor people for, basically, not having the lifestyle depicted on his show, which is pretty ridiculous, and sets unrealistic goals for many. [/quote] I agree with you that Cosby has turned into a crotchety old man who seems to think that preaching to the choir about irresponsible behavior represents the best use of his time. Thank God the Cosby Show didn’t clobber people over the head with the messages he’s been delivering lately, because I would have hated it. The show wasn’t preachy and that’s why it worked, entertainment-wise as well as positive role model-wise. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-not-know-the-cosby-show/378541/31 "2006-11-01T20:09:21Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] **lavenderviolet** - good point, although I do wish they would have shown the kids doing something bad, every once in a while at least. [/QUOTE] Well, let’s see…Vanessa lied to her parents to sneak off with her friends to a concert in another city. The van they were driving got stolen but they still went to the concert, then lost their tickets to a guy who asked to see them, said they were good seats and he would escort them to where they were sitting, then slithered off through the crowd. When they got back Claire went off completely on Vanessa, to the point even I was cringing in my seat, saying “Yes, ma’am, yes ma’am.” I think that was a pretty egregious example of a teenager Screwing Up Royally. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-not-know-the-cosby-show/378541/32 "2006-11-01T20:29:40Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass] Well, let’s see…Vanessa lied to her parents to sneak off with her friends to a concert in another city. The van they were driving got stolen but they still went to the concert, then lost their tickets to a guy who asked to see them, said they were good seats and he would escort them to where they were sitting, then slithered off through the crowd. When they got back Claire went off completely on Vanessa, to the point even I was cringing in my seat, saying “Yes, ma’am, yes ma’am.” I think that was a pretty egregious example of a teenager Screwing Up Royally. [/QUOTE] I remember that one! “Big Fun” with The Wicked. That was a classic Claire rant. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-not-know-the-cosby-show/378541/33 "2006-11-01T20:29:46Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass] Well, let’s see…Vanessa lied to her parents to sneak off with her friends to a concert in another city. The van they were driving got stolen but they still went to the concert, then lost their tickets to a guy who asked to see them, said they were good seats and he would escort them to where they were sitting, then slithered off through the crowd. [/QUOTE] Yep, and she and her friends had a party, and got drunk. She also got engaged to a guy about ten years older than her, and didn’t tell her parents for several months. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s still sketchy. One of the other kids got caught stealing out of Claire’s purse too. Who knows why I still remember all this. I enjoyed the show as a kid, along with a lot of other 80s and 90s sitcoms. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-not-know-the-cosby-show/378541/34 "2006-11-01T20:32:03Z")
Me: "When I was a kid, we always made sure to be home in time to watch _The Twilight Zone."_ My cousin’s kid: "Couldn’t you just Tivo it? I didn’t have the heart to tell him we were watching its first run, in the late '50s and early '60s. There were no reruns back then, so we assumed it was our one and only chance to see each episode. And for the record, I think I watched only one ep of _Cosby._ ---
**Author:** ![LionelHutz405](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lionelhutz405/32/536_2.png) [@LionelHutz405](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LionelHutz405)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-not-know-the-cosby-show/378541/35 "2006-11-01T20:49:21Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] I watched one episode. Cisby said to his son I brought you into this world I can take you out. Not funny. It was cruel humor and I didnt watch it again. [/QUOTE] And that line was taken from one of his comedy routines, so like it or not that was pure Cosby. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-not-know-the-cosby-show/378541/36 "2006-11-01T20:59:14Z")
I was speaking to my friend’s boyfriend the other day, and he had never heard of R.E.M. They’re pretty mainstream and haven’t they been around almost 30 years now? He claims the last band he heard of was Jefferson Airplane. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-not-know-the-cosby-show/378541/37 "2006-11-01T20:59:38Z")
I liked the Cosby show. They had manageable problems, that were true to life. IMS, and it’s been a long time, Theo lies to his parents, as does Rudy, Vanessa and Lisa Bonet (never can remember her name). They did all manner of petty crimes that kids do, and learned along the way. My favorite character was Claire–I completely agree with **ivylass** --that woman could mother like no other. She shot straight from the hip and did it so articulately, I could forgive her never paying a lick of attention to her law practice. She had the number of all of her kids-as every mother should. She was an awesome character. I do remembe one criticism of the show: Cosby had to be told that no ordinary teen would be able to just go out and buy a $200 shirt or sweater (it was an episode dealing with Theo and peer pressure, I think). So they changed it-to what I don’t know, but it gives me pause, since this show aired when the Air Jordan’s were THE shoe to have among a certain set, and kids were hurt because other kids literally stole them off their feet. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-not-know-the-cosby-show/378541/38 "2006-11-01T21:07:13Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] I was speaking to my friend’s boyfriend the other day, and he had never heard of R.E.M. They’re pretty mainstream and haven’t they been around almost 30 years now? He claims the last band he heard of was Jefferson Airplane. :eek: [/QUOTE] Dang…how old IS this guy? And where was he living during the Jefferson Starship and plain-old Starship years? ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-not-know-the-cosby-show/378541/39 "2006-11-01T21:34:30Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] . . . why not show problems facing real people and how to deal with them? [/QUOTE] Why would you presume that the type of family portrayed on The Cosby Show aren’t “real people,” and didn’t address precisely the kind of problems “real people” in that socio-economic group would have to deal with? You don’t think there are “real” black people who are doctors and lawyers and come from upper-middle class families? Why should a sitcom about black people be about _poor_ black people in order for it to be about “real people,” or to be considered as “real” as All in the Family? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-not-know-the-cosby-show/378541/40 "2006-11-01T21:50:52Z")
[QUOTE=uglybeech] Nothing can make you feel as old as a 20 year old. A few years ago I had a coworker who was 23 and sitting next to me so we talked a lot. This was usually a mistake. Here’s an actual conversation with her (one of quite a few similar ones, actually). Her: What do you think of the name Lorne? Me: Makes me think of of Lorne Greene Her: Who’s Lorne Greene? Me: He used to be in those Alpo commercials. \ And you know - Battlestar Galactica? The captain? Her: What’s Battlestar Galactica? (this was before the new version). Me: You don’t know Battlestar Galactica? It was great. OK, He was also in Bonanza Her: What’s Bonanza? Me: Oh for God’s sake - Bonanza was before MY time but I know what it is. Her: You’re just old. And I was. I was all of 33. But those conversations marked my mental passage into middle age. [/QUOTE] Rose Darko: Kitty, do you even know who Graham Greene is? Kitty Farmer: I think we’ve all seen Bonanza. Seriously, I have these kinds of conversations with my coworkers (22-27) all the time. Then I realize that about the time I stopped habitually watching television, most of these people were barely in grade school. Recently I was talking with someone about _Raiders of the Lost Ark_. “Oh yeah, I was in 4th grade when that came out.” “Wait a minute…you weren’t even born in 1981.” (It turns out he was talking about _Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade_.) In regard to “The Cosby Show”, I probably sat down and watched an entire episode at one point, but I don’t know that I could even identify all of the kids except for Lisa Bonet, and then only because of the furor from her role in _Angel Heart_. The reference likely would have blown past me, too. Stranger [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-not-know-the-cosby-show/378541.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-not-know-the-cosby-show/378541.md?page=3)