Remembering 'The Cosby Show' (1984-1992)

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Panther, Aug 1, 2020.

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  1. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    I think that was like a balloon payment that would cover the first year of syndication. I tend to think he didn't get that much for subsequent years, but I bet it was millions a year for as long as the show was aired. You figure, the number of shows that turn into Lucy or Seinfeld or The Honeymooners, Big Bang Theory, shows like that... it's very small. I'm hard-pressed to think of a single 1980s sitcom that still gets watched very often today. (Cosby might have been the one, but it's been dead in the water since the actor/producer was charged and convicted for rape.)

    Those who were standup comedy fans will remember how huge Bill Cosby was, both on stage and on record during the 1960s and 1970s. He was a very funny man... but unfortunately he clearly had some personal problems that just escalated, the more famous and more wealthy he became.

    [​IMG]

    The other day, I was listening to some mid-1960s hits and Cosby's "Little Ole' Man" came on, and I had to explain to a friend of mine that this song actually made it to #4 on the charts and got significant radio airplay back in 1967. And it's a good song on top of that. But I defy you to find a station that will play it today, because of the terrible connotation Cosby's name now has. BTW, noted comedian Gilbert Gottfried gleefully has recounted stories of Cosby calling other comedians in the 1980s and telling them "don't work blue!", lecturing them on the morality of the language in their comedy acts. That seems more than a little ironic today.
     
    Last edited: Aug 4, 2020
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  2. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    I don't claim to have my finger on the pulse of what's currently successful in syndication or on nostalgia channels, but what about Cheers? It's probably still knocking around somewhere, isn't it? It was hugely successful in syndication for awhile.
     
  3. zebop

    zebop Well Known Stranger

    Cosby was a prolific, multi-generational rapist, amazing people let it go on so long.

    I kind of liked him during the Uptown Saturday Night/Let’s Do It Again days, even liked his ABC show Cos. After a while he just grated...
     
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  4. Grand_Ennui

    Grand_Ennui Forum Resident

    Location:
    WI
    He also had his own series, well co-starring series, with comedian Eddie Griffin ("Malcolm & Eddie") which ran for three or four seasons...

    Malcolm's done alright for himself outside of "The Cosby Show".
     
  5. Grand_Ennui

    Grand_Ennui Forum Resident

    Location:
    WI
    The shelf-life for "Silver Spoons" was more than 5-7 years... It's still airing today, currently on Antenna-TV or Laff-TV, one of those sub-stations that play vintage programming...
     
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  6. daglesj

    daglesj Forum Resident

    Location:
    Norfolk, UK
    I used to go visit some friends back in the 80's when this was on and he loved the show. Thought it was hilarious. I used to sit there stoney faced. I didn't get it.
     
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  7. The Slug Man

    The Slug Man Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Carolina
    The Golden Girls is on all the time as well.
     
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  8. Kyle B

    Kyle B Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    “Silver Spoons” also hit syndication in the late 80s, shortly before Cosby and all family sitcom successes that it inspired were available, and when there was a drought in sitcoms available to strip on local stations. Sitcoms weren’t in favor on the networks in the early 80s - it was more about prime time soaps and action adventure shows. They even produced an extra year of “Silver Spoons” exclusively for syndication, since the network run hadn’t quite made it to 100 episodes. So it was valuable given the dearth of product in the marketplace. It’s kinda like “Hazel”, which was never a huge hit in its original run, but was rerun to death in the 1970s. Why? Because there was a shortage of color sitcoms available for rerun when color TV reached mass adoption. “Hazel” filmed in color long before its counterparts, so it was a hot commodity in the 70s for local stations that wanted color programming in the daytime.

    $10 million for Martin Cohan is pretty good, but think about “Three’s Company”, whose producers pocketed over $500 million in the 80s and 90s when that show was running in syndication. And it was an independent show - no studio or syndicator to split the revenues with.
     
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  9. Jack Lord

    Jack Lord Forum Resident

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    A very tough question and I wish I had an adequate answer. I liked the show when it was on. My college roomies and I would all gather and watch it together. Before that I loved Fat Albert and Cosby's stand up on records and TV. Never got into I-Spy.

    I found the charges so horrific that to this day I still cannot absorb the magnitude. FWIW- my kid sister dabbled in acting and had two appearances on his 2nd sitcom. Her agent told her he was a big flirt and not to accept a dinner invitation. Apparently he was very charming in a grandfatherly manner and nothing happened, but that warning seems a bit ominous today.

    Lots of wretched people have created great art. DW Griffith, Albert Speer, Roman Polanski and Leni Riefenstafl to name but four. But as someone mentioned, Cosby took on a role as a voice of morality.
     
    Last edited: Aug 4, 2020
  10. jimac51

    jimac51 A mythical beast.

    Location:
    Allentown,pa.
    According to Wiki,the first allegation of drugging and sexual assault stem from Dec.,1965,at Cosby's home. By then,his 3rd LP was out and he was everywhere:I Spy started Sept. 1965,numerous visits on talk/variety shows,clubs,album bits on radio. The alleged victim, Kristina Ruehli(Jane Doe # 12) kept the story to a boyfriend at the time and her daughter in the '80s,not coming forward in public till 2005,during Andrea Constand's original criminal complaint. Cosby first paid appearances as a stand-up date back to 1961. Like a wife beater, shoplifter, thief or a drunk,one would suspect this was not the first time.
     
    Last edited: Aug 4, 2020
  11. Luvtemps

    Luvtemps Forum Resident

    Location:
    P.G.County,Md.
    The series was well thought out and done..I try to seperate the actor from the private person as most of us do.
     
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  12. mr. steak

    mr. steak Forum Resident

    Location:
    chandler az
    80's TV was ensconced in big sweaters. Downy fresh = 80's television. I prefer the 70/90's.
     
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  13. Bluesman Mark

    Bluesman Mark I'm supposed to put something witty here....

    Location:
    Iowa
    Setting the show aside for the moment, most rational people can't & won't separate a 50+ year record of sexual assault, drugging people & raping them by the actor. It's one thing when said actor is doing whatever they like to do with other consenting adults in their private lives, but it's a whole other kettle of fish when they're doing it without consent.
     
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  14. agentalbert

    agentalbert Senior Member

    Location:
    San Antonio, TX
    Interesting observation on Clair, who I couldn't stand, but I only remember her as the smug overbearing character, where everything she said came off as a pronouncement from on high. I'll have to see the pilot again to see how the character was different before landing on the established persona. I agree completely with your other characterizations.
     
  15. OldSoul

    OldSoul Don't you hear the wind blowin'?

    Location:
    NYC
    She was kinda feisty through the whole first season, from what I remember. Definitely more on the frazzled side in the pilot, though. Was she supposed to be a lawyer, already, in the pilot? It was probably season 2 (definitely 3) where she got more smug.
     
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  16. Bluesman Mark

    Bluesman Mark I'm supposed to put something witty here....

    Location:
    Iowa
    I think, (but I'm nowhere near 100% sure), Cheers still airs on Reelz, METV & maybe WGN. I do know that one circa 80s sitcom, (it debuted in April 1987) still airs nightly on WGN; Married... With Children.
     
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  17. Kyle B

    Kyle B Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago
    I don’t recall any mention of her career in the pilot. Someone probably decided later on that they wanted her to have one (the same way they decided after they pilot that they wanted another daughter).
     
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  18. Wildest cat from montana

    Wildest cat from montana Humble Reader

    Location:
    ontario canada
    From ' High Fidelity ' :
    " It ' s a Cosby sweater . A Cosby sweater !"
     
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  19. Instant Dharma

    Instant Dharma Dude/man

    Location:
    CoCoCo, Ca
    Many shows change vital aspects of the series after the pilots air.
     
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  20. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    I can't, won't, ever...a F'n MONSTER!
     
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  21. mr. steak

    mr. steak Forum Resident

    Location:
    chandler az
    They were putting Sam Malone in them
    [​IMG]

    And let’s not forget Joanna and Stephanie on Newhart.

    Sweaters were the gated reverb of TV fashion.
     
  22. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    Eddie Murphy did so in his Delirious special released in 1983 so it shouldn't be a secret to the millions of people who have been exposed to that tidbit.
     
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  23. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    This sounds more like disguised virtue signaling.

    I'll unapologetically continue to enjoy paintings, acting, directing, playing, writing, etc from a whole roster of (seriously) flawed human beings without filtering anything out. Most geniuses I enjoy were anything but people I'd ever want to hang out with. I don't admire them as people ; I admire the quality of their work. It's a distinction some can make. I don't judge those for whom the line between the art and the artist are too blurred as I am able to consider other viewpoints without figuratively wagging my finger towards those whose views would be different than mine. It does not impact me whether they purge their home of an artist's work or decide to enjoy it regularly.

    Regardless of what I say/write, think, do, listen to, there will *always* be someone who disapproves. Regardless, I own my choices and do not apologize for them in any way, nor should anyone else. If (some of) my choices ruffle feathers, that's frankly others' problem. I'll leave it to those to enter the virtual moral superiority contest.
     
  24. zebop

    zebop Well Known Stranger

    True.
     
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  25. TheVU

    TheVU Forum Resident

    I was 12, and I had a thing for her too. When Episodes from that season came on Nick at Nite... woof.
     
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