# I hate Olivia on the Cosby Show **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 7, 2014, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-olivia-on-the-cosby-show/680781 "2014-02-07T19:02:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-olivia-on-the-cosby-show/680781/21 "2014-02-08T04:09:20Z")
RS was adorable, but the character was cloying. By that time the show had become such a self-indulgent ego trip for Bill Cosby that it was barely watchable. As for the grandparents, I never thought the actors had any chemistry at all: she was too old and he was too gay. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Her hotness has been passed down to her daughter, Zoe Kravitz. Zoe had another line of hot to draw from as well. ---
**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:** [February 8, 2014, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-olivia-on-the-cosby-show/680781/22 "2014-02-08T04:33:15Z")
But… she’s so Raven! ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-olivia-on-the-cosby-show/680781/23 "2014-02-08T05:07:07Z")
My least favorite reoccurring character on Scooby Doo was Scrappy Doo. I could buy the stoner kid hanging out with the pimp and his dumb girlfriend and the geeky lesbian. I could buy the talking dog. I could even buy all the aliens and the ghosts and the Harlem Globe Trotters. But Scrappy Doo was just too much. That’s kind of like how Olivia was for me. I liked Rudy until puberty. She was just a couple of years younger than me, so when her awkwardness started showing, I was reminded of my own condition. Plus, her hijinks as an older kid just couldn’t compare to the juicer incident with Peter. I didn’t care for Sondra. It was hard to accept her as belonging to the family. Too “goody-goody”, with no personality. The only rebellious thing she did was decide not to go to law school so she and Alvin could open up the wilderness store. Oh yeah, and there was the time she was sick and she thought Claire had kidnapped the babies or some nonsense like that. I couldn’t relate to that. I loved Denise. I liked that she wore a different hairstyle every episode. I liked that she went to Hillman, which spun off one of my favorite TV shows. I love the episode where Cliff and Claire sit the kids down and let them know that if they ever have a problem, they should talk to them about it. And then Denise tells them she spent the night with a boy and goes, “Are you annnngry?” According to the IMDB she ad-libbed this part. I always laugh when Claire says, “No, I’m not angry. I’m MAD!” My memory then has Claire chasing Denise up the stairs with a high-heel shoe in hand, but I’m pretty sure this is me confusing TV with incidents from my own childhood. I liked Vanessa until she went off to college. Then she hooked up with that old dude and became weird. But she definitely had some funny moments and always inspired the best tirades from Claire. She always struck me as being the most intelligent but the least street smart of all the kids. Theo was okay. I liked him best when he was friends with Cockroach. Cousin Pam was horrible. But it wasn’t Erica Alexander’s fault. She was just as much of victim as anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-olivia-on-the-cosby-show/680781/24 "2014-02-08T05:21:47Z")
And the grandparents, monstro? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-olivia-on-the-cosby-show/680781/25 "2014-02-08T06:10:00Z")
I liked Bud. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-olivia-on-the-cosby-show/680781/26 "2014-02-08T06:33:24Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > I liked Bud. His name’s not Bud. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-olivia-on-the-cosby-show/680781/27 "2014-02-08T07:37:27Z")
Lisa Bonet ate no basil. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-olivia-on-the-cosby-show/680781/28 "2014-02-08T08:01:21Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > Lisa Bonet had a severe case of the hots. Here character was bad, but i couldn’t care less. Time has not been her friend, however. I think she looks great for being 46 with three kids, but have you seen her husband? I don’t think time could have much kinder to her, really. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-olivia-on-the-cosby-show/680781/29 "2014-02-08T13:29:47Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > And the grandparents, monstro? I liked Grandpa Huxtable. But ever since I learned that he voiced Panthro on the Thundercats, I just can’t see him the same way. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-olivia-on-the-cosby-show/680781/30 "2014-02-08T14:40:35Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > But… she’s so Raven! If that post had a face, I would punch it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-olivia-on-the-cosby-show/680781/31 "2014-02-08T14:56:52Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > As for the grandparents, I never thought the actors had any chemistry at all: she was too old and he was too gay. The genes always tell. Little Olivia’s grown up to be older and gayer. ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-olivia-on-the-cosby-show/680781/32 "2014-02-08T15:03:43Z")
Most of this stuff goes over my head. Am I the only black guy who watched The Simpsons when The Cosby Show was on? ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-olivia-on-the-cosby-show/680781/33 "2014-02-08T15:26:19Z")
> [@AtomicDog](#): > > Most of this stuff goes over my head. > > Am I the only black guy who watched The Simpsons when The Cosby Show was on? The Cosby Show aired on Thursday nights. The Simpsons has always been on Sundays. So the answer is yes. 🙂 (Of course the answer is no.) ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-olivia-on-the-cosby-show/680781/34 "2014-02-08T15:41:15Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > The Cosby Show aired on Thursday nights. The Simpsons has always been on Sundays. > > So the answer is yes. 🙂 > > (Of course the answer is no.) Nope, there was a time when Fox counter programmed the Cosby Show with the Simpsons on Thursday nights. CBS tried the same thing with The Flash and it went down in flames. ---
**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:** [February 8, 2014, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-olivia-on-the-cosby-show/680781/35 "2014-02-08T16:01:05Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Rudy was supposed to be a boy, but Keisha Knight-Pulliam’s personality just blew Cosby and everyone else away. Olivia always seemed a bit forced to me. “Central Casting, send over a cute 4 year old with a lot of personality!” According to Jaleel White (who later played Steve Urkel, the show [originally](http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2011/06/qa-jaleel-white-on-his-31-year-career) planned to hire him as Rudy. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-olivia-on-the-cosby-show/680781/36 "2014-02-08T17:22:32Z")
> [@Omega\_Glory](#): > > According to Jaleel White (who later played Steve Urkel, the show [originally](http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2011/06/qa-jaleel-white-on-his-31-year-career) planned to hire him as Rudy. If he had gotten that role, I wonder if he would have eventually played a crack whore for Tyler Perry. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-olivia-on-the-cosby-show/680781/37 "2014-02-08T21:24:07Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > If that post had a face, I would punch it. Maybe the only Cera film I like! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2014, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-olivia-on-the-cosby-show/680781/38 "2014-02-08T22:14:38Z")
Whoever said Olivia was forced and Rudy wasn’t is spot on. I always liked Denise. I thought Bonet and Cosby had good chemistry together, and she played the role of “daughter who means well but just can’t ever seem to get her shit together” very well. Besides Olivia, my least favorite characters were Sondra and Elvin. Elvin deserved to be punched hard. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-olivia-on-the-cosby-show/680781/39 "2014-02-09T06:30:02Z")
> [@AtomicDog](#): > > Nope, there was a time when Fox counter programmed the Cosby Show with the Simpsons on Thursday nights. > > CBS tried the same thing with The Flash and it went down in flames. I must have blocked this out of my memory. I can NOT recall a time that the Simpsons didn’t come on Sunday. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2014, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-olivia-on-the-cosby-show/680781/40 "2014-02-09T12:27:42Z")
they talk about the move to Thursday on some of the Simpsons dvd commentaries [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-olivia-on-the-cosby-show/680781.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-olivia-on-the-cosby-show/680781.md?page=3)