The Cosby Show Discussion

[Leia]

My favorite episode is the one where Cliff has a day off from work and all he wants to do is find a spot to read his paper. But in every room he goes in there is always someone there creating noise that makes it impossible. At one point he goes into the living room and encounters Denise and her boyfriend who was into reggae. He started singing along to a reggae video that they were watching and Denise chimed in with, "I said eh man!" The expression on BC's face was priceless.

My other favorite is when the family put on the presentation for Cliff's parents anniversary to Ray Charles. This also includes my favorite opening, so classy.

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Interesting fact. Carsey-Werner offered ABC the first shot at The Cosby Show. They passed. My favorite character was Claire. Yes she was a snob but she was sophisticated, accomplished and very confident. I wanted to be just like her when I grew up. Claire reminds me of Viki on OLTL. She went through a transformation as a character. Inititally, in the pilot they had her in an apron walking through the house nagging the children. BC wanted the Cosby's to be a blue collar but Carsey-Werner wanted an upper middle-class black family so they could focus on their true intent of centering a show around BC's material from his stand-up comedic routines.

I think Sabrina was miscast as Sondra and not written strong enough within the dynamic of Theo, Vanessa, Rudy and Denise. Sondra should have been written more like a young Claire.

[SFK]

I loved her, still do, thought she was so elegant and beautiful. And what a great smile. There's this new Gospel Network on cable and the other day they were showing "Polly" which I hadn't seen since it first aired. Her character and the way she looked in those church hats and clothes, I was thinking how Phyl would have made an awesome '80s soap bitch.

[SFK]

Leia, Mr. Cosby also wanted Clair to be a dark-skinned Dominican in the early stages, he wanted her to speak Spanish to the children. Well, Phyl could speak Spanish and she worked it into her audition. In the Cosby look back special MJW was saying how it was too bad that they kind of let that character point fade away, and I agree with him. I loved it when she spoke Spanish.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Keisha Knight Pulliam sure got prettier as she became an adult. Beat that Raven-Symone!

[Eric83]

Remember that episode where they had a BBQ and everyone found out that Martin never had a bachelor party so Theo decided to throw him one with strippers and the women got upset lol.

Fave part of the episode is when Elvin asked for a piece of chicken and when asked he said thigh Sandra gave him a look, he said leg she gave him a look, and then he just took a wing. A few moments later he got frustrated and said I WANT A BREAST! A NICE BIG JUICY BREAST!

The dialogue may be a little off but I loved that part.

[Soapsuds]

Cliff: So you are going to name all your daughters Olivia??

Olivia: Yes, One Olivia, Two Olivia, Three Olivia

Cliff: What are you going to do when you want a certain Olivia??

Olivia" Come here Olivia 1.

[Leia]

I did not know that! PR is so elegant and beautiful but it is her dignified class that always shines through no matter what role she portrays. I loved when she spoke Spanish on the show. There was the one episode where one of Cliff's patients spoke Spanish and Claire carried on a conversation with her about the behavior of husbands during pregnancy.

I also heard that he wanted Whitney Houston to play Sondra. I wonder if she could have pulled it off.

[DeeeDee]

Seaweed from Hairspray.

Sabrina beat out several people for part including Whitney Houston.

Miss Polly Harrington is NOBODY'S NOBODY!

Both of them grew up pretty & Lisa never ages.

GIVE THEM A LITTLE SHOULDER & TAKE IT RIGHT BACK!

[DeeeDee]

+1.

[Leia]

I liked the episode when Kristoff St. John's character wore the crazy socks and made the statement about how he didn't believe in getting straight A's even though he was a straight A student...."what is an A exactly?"

[SFK]

Love that! Grandma Anna was so sick of him with that. I love it when she tells the story of how Russell got a tatoo of her name but he had a cold so Anna sounded like "Adda" and there was a girl in town named Adda Mae "who thought the sun didn't shine until she woke up!"

[DaytimeFan]

My favourite episode is when Claire discovers that she's put on too much weight to wear a certain dress and went on a diet. There was a showdown between Claire and her personal trainer played by Debbie Allen about who got the last crouton. I still laugh and that episode is 22 years old!

[SFK]

Yes, a classic ep! And Clair's dressmaker friend is played by Carole Shelley, yet another example of the show's penchant for casting Broadway talent in guest roles.

[DeeeDee]

LOL Bill looking at Malcolm when he's all "YEAH" at Kristoff is hilarious.

[DeeeDee]

And don't forget Claire & EUNICE "18 years old in the ninth grade" CHANTILLY.