Who was your favorite Huxtable child?

Sandra

Denise. The pretty rebel.

Young Rudy from the first couple of seasons was way funnier than Olivia because Keshia Knight Pulliam was such a natural that she never seemed to be acting, while Raven-Symone was so cloyingly cute that she always seemed "on." Denise was probably my fave though, thanks in part to Lisa Bonet's casual way of delivering dialogue and how cool she was for taking the role in Angel Heart, which was a gutsy thing for her to do being on the most popular sitcom at the time.

Malcolm Jamal Warner was one of my first gay boy crushes. He can still get it.

In the pilot, they had only four children. They said they have four children. Then they added Sondra.

She’s like a reverse Chuck Cunningham.

Sandra. And not because you said nobody would choose her. Without Sandra there is no Elvin.

Tempest Bledsoe

Cos wanted the amount of kids to match how many he had in real life, hence the addition of Sandra.

Denise was my favorite. “I walk alone. I walk alone.”

Cousin Pam.

Denise.I like her late 1980s/ early 1990s style.

In defense of Sandra -and she was not my favorite- no, she was not in the pilot but that pilot is almost standalone. It’s more like the pilot of “Roseanne”- overworked, harried parents, messy house and kids performing poorly in school- than it was a regular episode of what was to come. Plus, Sandra was introduced in Season 1, episode 10 , it’s not like she didn’t appear until Season 5.

Yea, R3. I remember an episode where they had Olivia perform “Blue Suede Shoes” just because. They never did that with Rudy.

Poor Rudy when she got older was stuck with the puberty episodes about her period and her boobs.

I love Erika Alexander but would also love to forget boring Cousin Pam.

The one with a dick.

Sondra was brought on to show the end result of cliff and Claire’s parenting (a straight A student going to Princeton).

Definitely Vanessa.

BIG FUN!

Vanessa fell into the funniest situations. Her parents also capped on her really good.

Sondra also fucked up at times. Remember when she and Elvin wanted to drop out of college and open a camping store? The apartment they rented that wasn't good enough for a Huxtable?

Vanessa was my fave too because to me she had the best storylines. Cousin Pam was close 2nd

Fun fact: Whitney Houston was originally cast as Sandra but came to the studio smoking crack. Just kidding about the crack part. I think at the time she had just achieved her first number one single. And it was either do this show or promote the album. She chose the latter and became one of the biggest pop stars of all time.

Rudi, because she could grow without even trying the mustache Theo could only dream of having.

Vanessa for her delivery of “You WHAT???” and “They WERE???” in reaction to Denise’s made-up story of staying over at a guy’s house when his folks were away.

Denise

Denise, because she was the prettiest and coolest, and I'm shallow like that...

R25 Lisa Bonet circa 80s was absolutely beautiful.

Denise was always stoned.

R13 did Cos write those delicate episodes?

R27, Boney totally looked stoned a lot the first two seasons, esp season two with the short hair. The episode where she decides to go to Hillman and Clair makes a big speech, Boney looked like she’s in outer space.

She didn’t seem it as much starting when she went to college in Season 3 and got her own show. That’s when Denise went from cool to kinda flighty and air headed.

And how did her hair grow so fast from Season 2 to 3?

R28, they were actually pretty well-written. So I doubt he did.

[quote] Malcolm Jamal Warner was one of my first gay boy crushes. He can still get it.

r4 Nah. He was too soft and puffy then and he's fat and ugly now.

Always hated that goody two shoes show anyway.

Theo was shown with his shirt off a few times. He was quite lean when he was young.

[quote]And how did her hair grow so fast from Season 2 to 3?

A good sew-in weave, honey. She got it for Angel Heart, kept it through A Different World, took it out when she went back to Cosby and wore her own hair again for a minute, and then graduated to wearing faux-locs that went all the way down to her butt.

^ my favorite was the one I couldn’t catch

Goldfish funeral*

[quote]Denise. The pretty rebel.

Another vote for Denise, a pretty rebel but a terrible reggae singer.

Incidentally, Tempestt Bledsoe ("Vanessa") and Sabrina Le Beauf ("Sondra") were the only Huxtables kids NOT to be Emmy-nominated.

For Season 2, Malcolm Jamal-Warner ("Theo") was nominated as Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, and Lisa Bonet ("Denise") and Keshia Knight-Pulliam ("Rudy") as Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

In fact, Keshia is the youngest nominee ever at age 6.

They lost to John Larroquette (NIGHT COURT) and Rhea Pearlman (CHEERS), respectively.

John Laroquette won a lot of times back then.

I LOVE The Golden Girls and am glad that each girl won an Emmy for their work, but Phyliscia Rashad was robbed for never winning for playing Claire. If I remember correctly, she consistently lost to TGG.

R39 She consistently lost to who?

Ok, she only lost to Betty White in 1986 and from what I found was never nominated in the category again, which is a crime.

I wanted Theo in me QUITE thiccly

Rashad wasn’t nominated for her big blowup at Vanessa in Season 6? That’s a real crime.

I love Rudy.

It was down to Whitney and Sabrina le beauf for Sondra. Whitney was a little too green and Cosby was impressed that le beauf was mfa graduate of Yale drama

R39 & R41 Phylicia Rashad was nominated twice, for Season 1 (1984-1985) and Season 2 (1985-1986).

1985 Emmy Nominees: Jane Curtin ("Kate & Allie"), Shelley Long ("Cheers"), Phylicia Rashad ("The Cosby Show"), Susan Saint James ("Kate & Allie"), Isabel Sanford ("The Jeffersons").

1986 Emmy Nominees: Bea Arthur ("The Golden Girls"), Shelley Long ("Cheers"), Rue McClanahan ("The Golden Girls"), Phylicia Rashad ("The Cosby Show"), Betty White ("The Golden Girls").

She lost to Jane Curtin and Betty White, respectively.

Shame she only got nominated twice. Claire’s verbal smackdowns alone are all Emmy worthy.

I remember when everyone couldn't wait to watch the newest episode of the Cosby show because Bill Cosby was so funny.

Couldn't believe he was doing what he did.

Thelma.

I watched it if I would happen to catch it on while it was still being aired in reruns before Colby’s disgrace. It held up really well. My favorite was Denise until she acquired the military husband and the horrible Olivia.

I never really liked the girls on this show. Lisa Turtle and Tootie > Cosby Girls

[quote]Shame she only got nominated twice. Claire’s verbal smackdowns alone are all Emmy worthy.

I wasn't even nominated once!

R47 well, she had tough competition the first four seasons.

And by Season 5 (when Theo went off to college) the show was past its prime though it continued to be #1 in the ratings for another year or two.

Surprisingly, Cosby himself was never nominated for Best Actor in a Comedy Series.

Phylicia Rashad should have won an Emmy for this speech. And so should James Earl Jones just for his facial reactions to it.

Has anyone discussed a reboot when Bill gets out of prison?

1. Elvin. My mom also liked Elvin.

2. Vanessa.

I agree Denise always seemed stoned. She was very stylish. Her style was something only a super-skinny person could pull off, though.

Vanessa...she was always fucking up and getting in trouble for dumb shit because she was kind of stupid. Always identified with that.

Denise was hardly the rebel...she dressed and looked cool but she was always kissing her parent's ass and vice versa. It was Vanessa that was always getting into trouble and who always had Claire on her ass about everything.

Vanessa was book smart but not street smart.

Olivia was an obvious replacement for Rudy who was aging out of cute kid into awkward preteen.

Denise always seemed stoned because Lisa was a stoner in real life.

R57 To me Vanessa was lowkey the only one that could see past the facade and basically subversively state, mom, dad y’all are cunts” Because the Huxtable parents were fuckin cunts to a degree; like how they disciplined little childhood misdeeds. And they were so fkin smug. I don’t know how to explain, partly her storyline, partly Bledsoe’s instincts as an actor but it just brought a sort of sly edginess to the show. Like you fkin cunts, I know you ain’t perfect cut the crap.

I liked the little fat boy from across the street. He always wore a little sweat suit. I think his name was Peter.

When Sondra and Eldon name their twins Nelson and Winnie I found it very cloying. And IRL it didn't turn out so well so the Winnie twin would probably have an episode arc about changing her name.

R55, he’s been out hit a couple of years. And nobody has.

Vanessa was about the same age as me and the most relatable. But I liked Denise and Theo too.

[quote]When Sondra and Eldon name their twins Nelson and Winnie I found it very cloying.

The show became Afro-centric in the last two seasons, which is when viewership started to go down.

The addition of street smart Cousin Pam and her friends didn't help matters.

How did Olivia stick around when Denise and the Navy guy were gone???

R66 But A Different World became more Afro centric and its ratings went up.

It didn’t become more Afrocentric its last seasons. That’s bullshit. They had one appearance by Miriam Makeba and that was about it.

The final seasons were marred by Tempest Bledsoe appearing infrequently and being replaced by Cousin Pam and just the fatigue that comes with an aging show.

Denise marrying the military guy was a head scratcher.

There was an episode where Denise's husband bragged to Cliff that Denise "had never been driven" when they got married. So gross🤮

The oldest one, the pretty one. Raven got fat so of course not her.

R69 It literally took place at a HBCU and it wasn’t that realistic in the first season.

Are we sure Claire Huxtable wasn’t a HEAXable. The two eldest daughters are clearly biracial and Rudy’s father is good hair Guyanese joker.

It is weird that there was quite a range in skin tones of children from the same parents.

[quote][R66] But A Different World became more Afro centric and its ratings went up.

Nope. In its first season (1987-1988) ADW was #2 in the ratings, after COSBY which was in its fourth season.

In fact, ADW was in the Top 5 in the ratings in its first four seasons.

In Season 5 it fell to #17, and #71 for Season 6.

R76 oh you right boo. The show was better with Kadeem Harrison and Jasmine Guy as leads tho. Guy is underrated comedic gold.

Denise was the pretty one but always seemed pissed off about something. When I was a kid I wondered why her skin tone didn't look like the rest of the family. The other girls seemed to get the Jan Brady treatment.

Theo was the cool one.

R75 all those late night legal research meetings. Claire Huxtable was going to do anything required to make partner.

R76 There ought to be a show like that again, but with a team of black students and they're all genius and they go compete around the country for academic decathlon type things. They are constantly underestimated but they are the biggest nerds of all time and win.

I actually liked all of them. All different, different things I liked about them. I'll pick Vanessa for now. She always seemed like a fag hag in waiting - in the good sense, so maybe just "friend of the gays" if "fag hag" has negative connotations.

R81 I kinda agree. The Huxtables is one of rare family shows where each child is likeable or loveable in their own way. Even the adults. Claire and Cliff are easily likeable. And I’m not just saying that because I’m black. The Cosby Show was brilliant because of the cast’s chemistry.

I loved the Vanessa storylines!

- When she wore makeup despite her mother's wishes.

- When she and Rudy were banished to the basement and treated like prisoners after one fight too many.

- When she got caught underage drinking.

- When she and her buds sneaked off to some rock concert in Baltimore.

- When she became engaged to the maintenance man at her college.

The parents usually were the hardest on her, too. 😂

Vanessa really was the most middle-child-ish even if she was the fourth of five. Theo would be the actual middle child, but he was the only boy and he just didn't seem to have a typical middle child experience.

Yes, Theo was the actual middle child (3rd out of 5), but he was the only male, so he got preferential treatment.

Also, he never had to share a bedroom and in fact had an extra bed in his spacious room for sleepovers.

I’m sorry even in its final years Cosby show still had the best writing on television for a family sitcom.

R85, who did share bedrooms? I'm sure was shown or suggested in the show, but I can't remember.

R87 Vanessa and Rudy only.

Sondra and Denise shared a room growing up before Sondra went off to college.

Vanessa and Rudy shared a room until Vanessa entered high school.

Then Rudy shared a room with Olivia.

Theo never shared with anyone.

I think Tempestt Bledsoe (Vanessa) is STILL with Darryl Bell - Ron from A Different World. It's been decades.

R90 A room? A room is more than a space within a house. It permanently shares the fabric of every person, every MEMory, every event, every pet, and every flower to enter its domain. Because its DO-main is without structure. It is wholly crafted by the artist who occupies that room. You see the room is more than a space; it’s the artist’s external brain. Every inch and every fabric that went into that artist to bear soul. The room is a soul bearer not just a room.

I assume, that was for R89.

I haven’t tried watching this show since everything went down. I wonder if I’d be able to enjoy it. I used to love it.

Is it even available to stream anywhere?

It's not as part of a subscription. You can buy it to stream on Amazon. This is a case, if you love the show, where it paid to keep your DVDs/Blue-rays.

Theo.

Bill Cosby said, in an interview, that Theo was his favorite. The actor who played Theo.

I stopped watching it years and years ago. I was a small child.

Malcolm Jamal-Warner played Theo, FYI

Wasn't the character partially based on Cosby's son who was killed?

Olivia was the turd in the punch bowl for the show.

R98 yes. Bill Cosby’s demise was part of an agenda. Ennis Cosby’s murder was also a ritualistic sacrifice.

Penny’s Cosby’s murder was bizarre. He stopped to help a woman on the road with car trouble in Bumfuck, Nowhere. This random guy pulls up and shoots him dead.

Are we missing something?

It reminds me of the murder of Michael Jordan's father - who pulled over to take a nap in his car and was robbed/killed, but it never all added up.

"I still liked Vanessa from the moment she showed up in a leotard at the goldfish wedding as it was the only black thing she had."

Wedding?

Some people think Cosby put a hit on his son because Ennis knew about the drugging and raping.

Sorry, that’s Ennis Cosby at R101. Damn auto correct.

Really? I'd never heard that. That wouldn't be cool. Even if he knew about it, was he going to take down his dad with that info?

Why so many daughters on the show? They could have had 2 boys and 3 girls. I think another younger boy, younger than Theo would have been better than a Denise, Sandra or Vanessa.

R107 What am I chopped liver.

Ok that was the friend of Rudy. I mean someone just a year or two younger than Theo. I don't know why more girl's problems in the daughters were emphasized over the son.

After all a lot of the problems were sexist. Don't date this person...did Theo ever date a girl the parents didn't like?

They had a shitfit when they found out he was living with his girlfriend. The Huxtables didn't believe in sex before marriage.

R110 After marriage sex and quaaludes were unlimited.

Sondra was so light skinned I assumed Clair must have slept with Robert Culp : )

Whitney Houston as Sondra......it could have been

R107, the character of Rudy was originally intended to be a boy, but producers opened the auditions to girls and they really liked Keisha Knight-Pulliam - who, IMO, was fantastic as Rudy. Also, it's not like uneven numbers of males and females among siblings, even to a large degree, is something that doesn't happen in families.

My favorite moments are when Vanessa enrages Claire. I especially like the one where she stays out past curfew. The boy who caused her to lie comes over and Cliff makes him talk to him and the whole time Vanessa keeps calling to him from upstairs and every time she does Claire runs up there to beat the s*** out of her.

Theo. Then Vanessa because we were the same age.

People who didn’t live in the era just have no idea how popular this show was. It yanked NBC out of the swamp by its hair.

I was the weird kid who thought Night Court was better. Turns out, it probably was.

Denise - beautiful, aloof, cool, funky, hip.

She was the girl every guy wanted to date, every girl wished they looked like, and the one everyone wanted to hang out with.

The only one with a spin-off because of her popularity - among other reasons we all know.

Interestingly, all of the kids acting became worse over time - too mannered and too over the top.

They'd always be in the damn stairs arguing about problems

I think all the original kids did a good job throughout the run, even if it was more "mannered and over the top." I still enjoyed them as the show progressed. How does everyone feel about Olivia? I liked her too, but never as much as the original kids. And she just had a different thing than young Rudy, who I thought was super funny and smart. They really did make her ridiculously sweet and cute.

Remember when Vanessa and her friends were dancing to “The Locomotion” for Cliff and Claire? They were livid as it was suggestive (for the time) and Claire marched over to Vanessa and ripped the tissues right out of her stuffed bra.

I only ever really liked Denise. The other ones bored me.

R120 Denise was my 2nd fave but Vanessa was closest to my age when I actually started watching it in high school in the early aughts.

The Denise and Vanessa fight was classic.

I really like Denise/Bonet, but A Different World surprisingly gelled and got better when Bonet left. But it was great when she was on the show too.

R123 It became blacker in such a beautiful way.

Jaleel White was originally cast as Rudy before they switched the character’s gender.

Was he actually cast, R125? I knew they initially wanted him to play Rudy, but I'm not sure they got all the way to casting him.

R126, the story I heard was that he was almost certainly going to get it but nothing was signed, no deal was made and Pulliam was cast the very day he thought they’d announce he had it.

R127 lol Imagine. And suppose Rudy ended up being Myrtle on Family Matters with Steve being the recurring cousin.

They were very puritanical with the girls. Maybe if they had been a little more free love the dad wouldn't have felt the need to protect his image.

Can you imagine Vanessa and her friends performing WAP for Cliff and Claire?

lol, R130.

Steve wasn't supposed to be that big of a character on Family Matters (like Kimmy Gibbler on Full House) but then he became basically the star of the show.

I imagine he would have done the same and stole the Cosby Show. Or maybe it only works when he's a nerd.

Loved Vanessa but not her mushroom fro in Season 5.

Dunk Huxtable from the First Pilot

"Steve wasn't supposed to be that big of a character on Family Matters (like Kimmy Gibbler on Full House) but then he became basically the star of the show."

Tell me about it.

Jesus Christ Superstar started out as a concept album in 1970, opened on Broadway in 1971, then transferred to London in 1971. Then was revived on Broadway in 1977.

Shit! Wrong thread. Sorry.

Denise.

That was teen-aged me in a nutshell.

R53 Cosby pulled his name for Emmy contention for TCS. He won three for I Spy in the late 60s. With the shows popularity, he would’ve probably won at least three Emmys more for TCS. So all those winners like John Ritter and Michael J. Fox, who won in the mid to late 80s, should thank him.