Cosby Show Mysteries

Cliff's special roofie elixir

The later years of the show were more urban?

R1 for the win

[quote]Was it a black thing?

Paging Teacake...

They were urine samples. That controlling bitch Claire drug tested Vanessa, Theo and Denise weekly because she knew they were up to no good , and nothing exhilarated that cow more than verbally accosting her children for fuckups.

But those three figured a way around her-they paid Rudy $20 for each time she pissed in a jar for them.

Why does Theo's room have two beds in it? I guess you could say it was once shared by Sondra and Denise, but they really had that brown, rust colored style in a girls room? Where did Sondra and Elvin crash?

Also, for an upper middle-class family, they were awfully stingy with money. The episode where Claire was tearing the house apart for something like 17 cents was ridiculous. (Rudy wound up taking it) But the way they carried on, you would have thought Rudy had committed high end robbery.

Theo had a twin, r6, but he was banished from the house when that controlling bitch Claire found him performing “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” in front of a mirror in one of her dresses.

She dropped him in Harlem with $50 and a suitcase full of her old power suits. This lost Huxtable joined the House of LaBeija and can be seen demonstrating executive realness in Paris is Burning.

Yeah it always bothered me how cheap the dad was, and how they focused so many shows on money and material success.

Why they ain’t had no grape drank!?

Their dentist, Danny Kaye, recommended apple juice.

Can’t believe anyone watched that horrible show.

[quote] Can’t believe anyone watched that horrible show.

The Cosby Show was watched by almost everybody back then. You know what they say: If everybody else is weird, maybe it's actually only you who is weird.

[quote]The Cosby Show was watched by almost everybody back then.

It's true, it was a *phenomenally* popular show. It's hard to imagine today -- with so many other entertainment options available -- how much some network TV shows permeated popular culture.

I've said it here before, during my freshman year in college, e everybody in the dorm would jam into the TV room to watch Cosby. At home, my dad and little sister were watching it too, and so were my grandparents.

I think one appeal of the show was the chemistry between Cosby and Rashad, but also the writing of both their characters. They were both (super) successful in their careers and it didn't cause any friction. Cliff genuinely respected her, and Claire respected him. And the way they raised their children was actually quite admirable even today because they dared to raise the stakes and be demanding toward their kids. Those kids were not coddled.

Gynecological exams in the basement? Ewwwww…..

R15 Why? Where do YOU conduct them?

Your family didn't bottle and refrigerated their urine? I know mine did.

Controlling bitch Claire was more effective than that operatic asshole Ann Romano.

Claire raised college educated, “good” kids; Ann raised smack addicts and pole smokers.

The last 2 seasons definitely tried to be more urban.

Cousin Pam.

That hokey theme with the "fly" outfits and sidewalk chalk graphics.

Theo teaching inner city kids.

At least they didn't put a gold tooth on Dabnis Brickey!

Maybe the apple juice was supposed to be a stand-in for a 40oz Icehouse.

Dr. Huxtable to gyno patient: "Hop up in the DINGITY-DANG stirrups and have an apple juice. The GINGITY-GONG EXAMINATION will be over in no time!"

Lady patient 45 minutes later after she wakes up: "Why is my blouse on backwards?"

I never thought it weird that Cliff had an office in the basement. The doctor who lived next door to us growing up had the same.

Were everybody’s rooms supposed to be on the same floor? There are clearly three floors on the exterior - which is a building divided into apartments in reality.

R19 Its OE, fool.

The apple juice is just set decoration. The fridge isn't plugged in, and the toilets don't flush.

Okay R19 with the gold toothed Dabnis Brickey, I cannot breathe

I think I watched Cosby when I was in my 30s. I didn't know college kids were making time to watch it, it wouldn't have been the kind of show we would've watched in college (though we really didn't watch a lot of TV). A family show--that's a surprise. But it was extremely popular.

I just watched the episode that introduced Cousin Pam and the first thing Claire does is head to the kitchen and come back with glasses of apple juice.

She gave Rudy’s piss to a guest? What a shitty hostess.

[quote] Why they ain’t had no grape drank!?

Because Rudy and Peter blew up Cliff’s juicer with grapes.

Watching on The Grio station...

The last episode had Martin & Cliff fighting over the last bottle of apple juice in the fridge.

Cosby probably had stock in the company.

Well damn, even in the Thibodeaux abode they only drink apple juice, too.

R2 I’ve heard other white people say that and I think it must be the cousin Pam thing, despite the fact the show always had a strong sensibility towards black art, culture, and history. They just were never goin to ever show no black shucking and jiving a la Jay Jay. Even the slightest appearance of coonish fuckery was not going to be allowed by Dr. Pill I mean Bill 😂. Cousin Pam wasn’t a buffoon but she did come from the OVAH side of Brooklyn and her friends spoke in more around the way accents and vernacular unlike like the Cosby children. Hip Hop was becoming mainstream and they were definitely styled NY hip hop. Pam also go plot A story lines in a few episodes for such a new supporting character only in high school that we never even knew about.

r21 My doctor growing up did that. Her home was attached to her practice. Seems like a bad idea for your clients/customers to know where you live.

Why were Sondra and Denise lighter than the other kids? Was Claire fucking a white guy?

R34 For a general or family practitioner. Not a goddamn gynecologist. Im sorry that shit is weird as fuck; it was just so much positive shit about the show that it was easily overlooked. Mafucker lowkey played in our face for a decade.

"Can’t believe anyone watched that horrible show"

Wasn't it the first black TV family who went to college? Before that it was all ghetto themes. It gave African-Americans hope they could assimilate, get jobs downtown in offices, move to the suburbs, etc. And many did.

The Jeffersons were the first black family to move on up.

Yet but Cosby was the first to show upper echelon blacks that weren’t fish outta water. Jefferson’s was the first insular depiction of upper middle class blacks with a black majority cast but it’s still framed them as sort of outsiders in their world and the comedy often derived as such. These new money blacks schooling upper east side white society on how to she the fuck up and have some common sense. Cosby Show was the culture, the status quo, they were well to do but still authentically black. It didn’t come across as corny or phony. Simultaneously it was funny without the premise seeming like spectacle. This was partially because the chemistry was so good between the children, between Phylicia Rashad and Bill; the child actors were also better than average and not just cute. They seemed like a real family even though they didn’t really look alike.

Several episodes into the first season, my mother said that she loved the show but that Claire was too smiley and sweet of a mom. (She had probably forgotten the pilot).

But when the show goes on, even excepting the Baltimore episode, there were many times when you would not cross Claire. Denise learned that in the episode when she wanted to buy a car.

I thought I was the only one who noticed that they always drank apple juice.

My mother claims that in the 1980s, doctors were always telling parents to give their kids apple juice as a "healthy" beverage. It's made from fruit! I remember how grocery stores used to have huge displays of apple juice for sale. A dozen brands, including several in tasteful glass bottles. It was everywhere!

But my older brother - her firstborn, so you know he was her test baby - had a mouthful of cavities by the time he was four.

Apple juice is loaded with sugar, and has less nutritional value than a can of RC Cola.

Last night, Cliff ate the sausage sandwich and dreamed about the Muppets.

At one point he came downstairs and got an apple juice out the fridge.

Sandra was pissed at Elvin for having dinner with his two female friends from college...and he PAID!

Anyways, she grabbed a glass, the entire glass container of apple juice and locked herself in the bedroom!

Am currently watching the episode that’s a real snoozer - the one where the entire family goes to Hillman to see in the new president. The new president has this very distinct and annoying way of speaking. “HILL-man!”

And the fact that the outgoing president was supposed to have been there 50 years. Since 1937, really?

Then Claire warbles out a tuneless song.

I heard that Rita Moreno stormed off the "Empty Nest" set and then quit the show when she was informed that her doctor husband would keep the family refrigerator stocked with urine samples.

[quote] Before that it was all ghetto themes

I beg your pardon!

The apple juice must have really been flowing when this was filmed...

R9 and R20 are why I come here.

R20 It smells like sex and white pussy in here. Cliff Huxtable, “have-you-been-back-to your old ways?”

You gotta say it in a rhythm.

R45 I think that was Ted Ross, who played the lion in The Wiz, and JOe Seneca (as Zachariah Haynes, the departing president).

My doctor's office was in his house. It used to be a very common thing. Some of you are too young to know that, I guess. Very, very common. In small towns, suburbs, and cities.

One of my middle school friend’s mothers had a dental practice operating out of their house. There even was a small (tasteful) sign outside noting the location of the practice. I think the set of the Cosby Show had a separate address sign outside for the practice. I agree that the fact it was gynecology now seems weird.

My unanswered question is why did Theo think Denise could make a designer shirt? Did she even regularly sew?

I’ve heard Clair suggested having cranberry juice in the fridge, just for an episode.

Every time they had a gathering of friends at the house the guests were always perfectly racially balanced. Same with the group of kids who played Rudy’s friends..

R55 Thas a lie.

The Huxtables were never racially profiled. No one ever accused Claire of shoplifting in some high end boutique or pulled Theo over for DWB.

Last night was the taping dancing episode.

CHALLENGE!

CHALLENGE!

Whatever happened to the Stevie Wonder hit Jammin’ on The One featuring the Huxtable family vocals? Was it ever released?

Huxtables???

I thought it was the Osmonds!

I never really liked that show. The children were so happy go lucky and relentlessly trendy and the show was not particularly funny unlike- What’s Happening!

Rerun- Hey Shirley, what’s the scoop?

Shirley- Scoop is , You’re FAT!

Advertising?

Yellow Jello?

[quote]The later years of the show were more urban?

No.

OP is confusing the Cosby Show with Different World.

[quote]Can’t believe anyone watched that horrible show.

This is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.

R63 see R48.

Rudy is doing the running man and cabbage patch while Olivia is ballroom Vogueing. Theo looks like he stepped out of A Tribe Called Quest video.

Compare that to earlier seasons where Cosby was shuckin' and jivin' in front of the Apollo or they were doing elaborate Caribbean choreography to a full orchestra. Or the most egregious of all.... Bobby Mother Fuckin' McFerrin!

How about the dozen Black artists who were all "uncles" or "grandfathers" to this idiot family, all so the Coz could meet them before they died?

There's Cousin Ben Vereen! And Aunty Madge Sinclair! And your three grandfathers: Ossie Davis, BB King, and Sammy Davis Jr.!

At least Stevie Wonder was too famous for them to pretend he was Claire's cousin Tommy from Maryland.

R63 That's kind of what I was wondering when I asked.

R51, no, the incoming president with her odd inflections was a woman. She was never shown again, thank goodness.

Ted Ross plays Cliff’s former professor which was quite a feat as he only looks as old as Cliff. Ted Ross was only three years older.

It’s a really dull episode.

Very early promo photos of “A Different World” show the roommate with the weird hair from the Hillman episode among Denise’s friends on the new show but by the time “World” made it to air, she wasn’t on it.

That show was a mess at the beginning. The original pilot is the one when Theo comes to visit but they stuck it at the end of Season one and shot another pilot which they felt didn’t give enough backstory so they made it the second episode and created a new story for episode one.

Everyone watched the show, but I always found Cosby's need to give us lessons in black culture, and show the positive side of the black experience, kind of over the top. He was sanctimonious, even though he leavened it with humor. Turns out he was a creep, which isn't surprising. It's just people who are so preachy are never sincere.

R69 Cosby fired Lisa Bonet after the first season, because she got pregnant, and he didn't want audiences exposed to that kind of loose immorality.

Why did Cosby fire her during Season 7?

I wonder what Rashad and the "kids" thought.

Best part of Different World Season 1 was the theme song. And Cosby fired thst bitch, too when he realized she was Jewish, not black!

Debbie Allen wanted Lisa to remain on the show and show Denise being pregnant on accident and deal with the issue of unwed mothers who get knocked up, but Cosby refused.

I wonder if Lisa had stayed if Dwayne would have been the one to knock her up. But Martin Kendall was sexy as fuck, so I have no complaints with her going back to Cosby.

Bonet married Lenny Kravitz in November of 1987 so she was not unmarried when she got pregnant. She’s obviously pregnant in the episodes of Cosby where she quits Hillman, has a series of shitty jobs and then leaves for Africa but they hide it well. There’s no reason she couldn’t have continued on “World” and hidden it.

But we never heard what led to her ultimate departure years later. The cast said one day she was at the table read and the next… she wasn’t.

[quote]Bonet married Lenny Kravitz in November of 1987 so she was not unmarried when she got pregnant

Debbie wanted the character of Denise Huxtable to be pregnant and unmarried. She didn't want to hide Lisa's pregnancy, she wanted it addressed as an issue of single mother having a baby.

No way would Cosby allow Denise to be an unmarried mother. Of course he was drugging and raping women the whole time.

He was probably jealous that he wasn’t getting to drug and sex her up.

R63 Nah I know what he means and he’s not the first person I heard say that. It had a subtle more urban feel to it in the later years. I’m not just talking the addition of Cousin Pam. I think by the late 80 black stylistic expression was more mainstream in all media, so they just dressed more black not intentional that just became the more in style. It’s hard to put my finger on it. Maybe it’s also subconscious because the kids were becoming adults, dating, marrying, stepchildren. All those characters were black. The Cosby kept it in their race. Even the opening themes were a little bit more rhythmic sounding.

R77 I think something happened between them. Lisa Bonet is not a basket case, yet won’t ever speak on Cosby show, she won’t ever attend reunions for A Different World even as A Different World became a cultural thing for a whole generation of black Millenials and young Gen Z. All that positivity. Something’s up. He may have did exactly that.

R73 Two things can be true at once. Lisa Bonet was fired but they were still planning on retooling the show with her still attached. Coincidentally with her departure, the 2nd season and thereafter felt more like an authentic HBCU. Even the scripts. They talked more like how educated black people talk. They showed the class differences and their interactions between first generation attendees, and those that came from more traditional middle class backgrounds. It allowed the elevation of Jasmine Guy and Kadeem Harrison characters as the main ones and the heart of the show. Jasmine Guy should have got some Emmy nods for her Whitley portrayal. They had great chemistry. They were our Rachel and Ross.

[quote] Jasmine Guy should have got some Emmy nods for her Whitley portrayal

Check back this time next year, R80

[quote] The followup to “A Different World” was first reported to be in development in August 2024. As reported at that time, the new series would return to Hillman College, a fictional historically Black university, and follow the daughter of original series characters Whitley and Dwayne.

The first season of “World” had some really silly stories. Carrying an egg baby around was usually a high school experiment. The pig nose Denise had to wear?

And it still bugs me that the students were locked into the dorm at midnight. What if there’d been a fire? Did anybody go to a college where they would lock you in at night? I went to a state university- laugh all you want- but there were no curfews, no “ in loco parentis” with dorm directors, and we could come and go as we pleased from the dorm at all hours as long as we had our keys and ID.

R82 Right. Seems like they wanted a teen show as a vehicle around Bonet. But Denise was going to college, so they used that assignment the backdrop but it just felt weird even outside not feeling like an HBCU.

Mercedes Rhule and Wallace Shawn are on tonight's episode.

The sexual tension between Rhule & Clair arguing a case is quite strong.

R83, well it was produced that first season by Ann Beatts who had created “Square Pegs” so she may still have been in high school mode.

Cliff just offered to go get drinks...

Clair requested apple juice.

Mercedes wanted a soda...no diet either, one with sugar!

Clair gonna tear her ass up!

Lisa Bonet came back to Cosby Show after she got fired from A Different World. Then left again but they kept Raven Symone and the dad.

[quote] She’s obviously pregnant in the episodes of Cosby where she quits Hillman, has a series of shitty jobs and then leaves for Africa but they hide it well.

She's "obviously pregnant" but they "hid it well."

Does not make sense.

Her face is full and they film everything of her from the neck up but you can still see her wearing very blousy tops in quick shots.

So who did they hide it well from? They didn't fool you, obviously.

Only because I knew. The episodes is 37 years old and we all knew she was actually pregnant at the time. It was news.

Last night was also the GramTee episode. Cliff's 98 yr old great aunt.

She requested apple juice, no ice.

Today Cousin Pam would be gay.

Theo is eating an apple AND drinking an apple juice at the same time!

Lisa Bonet was also in Angel Heart in a very intense sex scene which pissed Cosby off.

[quote] Lisa Bonet was also in Angel Heart in a very intense sex scene which pissed Cosby off.

….because she did it willingly or because he wasn’t allowed to participate?

Last night's episode ended on a cliff(no pun intended)hanger...

Cousin Pam asked Cliff for birth control!

I bet Bill popped a stiffie.

The Huxtables house at 10 St. Lukes Place is next to our brother, Arthur Laurents.

[quote] Jasmine Guy should have got some Emmy nods for her Whitley portrayal.

Agreed. I think A Different World has aged much better than The Cosby Show.

Like Seinfeld's Snapple, APPLE DRINK COMPANY REVENUE!

Roofie mixes were a serendipitous benefit.

[quote] The first season of “World” had some really silly stories

Yes, it got MUCH better starting with Season 2. Season 1 has aged poorly. And no offense but what was Marisa Tomei doing at a HBCU?

Eddie Murphy's call from Bill Cosby.

[QUOTE]My mother claims that in the 1980s, doctors were always telling parents to give their kids apple juice as a "healthy" beverage. It's made from fruit! I remember how grocery stores used to have huge displays of apple juice for sale. A dozen brands, including several in tasteful glass bottles. It was everywhere!

But my older brother - her firstborn, so you know he was her test baby - had a mouthful of cavities by the time he was four.

Apple juice is loaded with sugar, and has less nutritional value than a can of RC Cola

You do realise there's a world of difference (hey!) between mass produced apple 'juice' from concentrate and natural apple juice? Natural obviously has fructose in it, but nowhere near the excess of sugary soda or so called juice.

Can we get off the apple juice bullshit, please?

Bonet and Joseph Phillips who played her husband were both written after season 7. Cree summer was kind of a hybrid of Tomei and bonets characters .

Pam’s cute boyfriend slide was also the guy who kaneisha pregnant in lean on me and didn’t take care of his responsibilities. Kaneisha was also Pam’s best friend the last 2 seasons of the Cosby show and joined a different world it’s final season

R104. Sorry, babe. You consto? Apple juice will do that.

Apple juice pairs splendidly well with pudding

And cool whip r127

[quote]Can we get off the apple juice bullshit, please?

Tell that to the Huxtables!

My mystery is why they were always changing the backdrop that was supposed to show across the street when they opened the front door.

The first season showed more brick apartments and then the second changed it to what looked like a park (which resembled the actual view you’d see from the real house in Manhattan) and then they kept changing the view.