The Cosby Club

So during the “hiatus” I guess I missed a few chances to talk about Cosby on the ‘net. First there were those death rumors on Twitter, which got everyone riled up. Then there was this really well done AV Club article on 80s sitcom over here: http://www.avclub.com/articles/1980s-sitcoms,50003/

The Cosby Show broke out because it wasn’t like any other show on the air at the time. That’s easy to forget now that the show’s DNA has been so thoroughly incorporated into every family sitcom that followed (most of which were terrible). Cosby pitched the show to the networks with two former ABC executives, Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner, whose production company would consequently become at least as powerful as Lear’s and MTM had been in the ’70s. Carsey and Werner knew the game, and Cosby was a star. Both of these elements bought the show’s producers a level of creative freedom almost unprecedented in the ’80s, when network executives, including Tartikoff and Tinker, were far more hands-on with sitcoms than they had been in the past.

That’s part of why I started this, the uniqueness and what it brought to sitcoms at the time. Check out the article, it’s worth your time, especially if you like Cheers.

Find anything other Cosby Show-related news? Send me a shout on twitter @breadharrity or there might be messaging system on tumblr, who knows! Give it a whirl!

I told you it was back, but you didn’t believe it! ROARING IN TO EPISODE SIX. I think we’re going a little too fast, but hey tell me what YOU think at DuffMan227GetItBecauseThatsfromTheSimpsons@hotmail.com

What an episode to start on! The episode starts off with a lot of physical comedy in the beginning, which is pretty well done for the Cos, but the whole episode concerns itself with a real dull plot with Cliff and his dad talking to mainly Denise about college choices. The first act starts the show off pretty well, but when it’s essentially a real life family in the 80s talking about where to go to college and legacy, I started tuning out. This is one for the older crowd, with most of the humor coming out of how disagreeable teenagers and shoving the lesson of responsibility and how education is important in the kids faces, and it just doesn’t hold up as a solid half-hour of comedy.

-This episode marks the first appearance of Earl Hyman (HAHAHAHA HYMAN!) as Cliff’s dad and he’s definitely the best thing about this episode. To this day I still don’t get the resemblance or age difference between the two characters. At this point, Cliff seems like a crankier old man than his dad, so it’s somewhat distracting, but doesn’t really matter.

-Dennis has a great moon sweater!

-Bonet shows off her acting skills for the first time. In one scene, you really believe that Cosby is her father, meaning she can play a cool teen really well. Also cool headphones

-More Cosby rants, similar to the famous pilot rant to Theo, but not nearly as effective

- BASKETBALLS IN THE HOUSE! Theo’s going outside to shoot some hoops. Even Cosby holds it, I don’t know why.

- Cosby says Hunks

- Almost no Rudy!

Watch out for more posts, but I won’t jinx myself with promises.

Bonus Pic:

I think The Cosby Show is getting on my nerves. So far, it seems like it’s the most wholesome show in the history of television. An example from this episode: Theo comes home from school two hours late, and Cliff is ready to admonish him, but then we find out it’s just football tryouts, the setup for the main plot of the rest of the episode. This would be where a typical sitcom would set up the son character doing something behind the father’s back, but instead Theo’s telling the truth. Not saying this is a bad thing, plus it’s just The Cosby Show’s way of storytelling. It’s not like there’s never any real conflict, this season is also home to the episode “Theo and the Joint”, one of the more preachy episodes of the show, but that’s for later. Overall, I think it’s great that The Cosby Show avoids the more typical family sitcom tropes, just so my experience of watching these is a lot more enjoyable.

This episode focuses on the father and son relationship between Theo and Cliff, and really all leads up to a 5 minute rant by Cliff, which is easily the bit most modeled off of Cosby’s standup so far. Just to wrap up the plot in a sentence, Theo joins the football team and Cliff gets hopeful; Theo’s really terrible, Cliff still feels proud that his son tried. This leads up the aforementioned rant/ telling the story of the training that Cliff gave Theo. It’s another legitimately funny bit that makes this show what it is. Check it out here starting at 4:10: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkMNfMWgWXY

FOOTBALL IN THE HOUSE!

Notes:

• The syndication cuts aren’t all that bad: in the credits/ highlight reel, there’s a glimpse of a scene with Rudy being precocious and spilling flour all over the kitchen.

I’ll see how much time I can get on my sister’s laptop, but there probably won’t be a Cosby Club post for at least another week because my computer’s power supply decided to crap out, so I gotta order a new part and figure out how to put it in so be patient my few readers.

So this one wasn’t so great, I won’t beat around the bush, but nothing much happened and the main plot is all about Clff and Claire, so they just reflect on how little time they have since they had kids. It’s something we’re going to encounter a lot in this show, and I’m not looking forward to whole episodes of that. Cliff comes up with the idea to take Claire to a hotel for the night to get away from the children (and have sex), thus saying “You’re Not A Mother Tonight”, which is the title I found on Wikipedia. I have no idea where “Knight to Night” means, but that’s what the dvd says, so I’ll call it that. So the parents leave Denise to babysit the kids, and instead of anything happening like a party or drugs or alcohol, like any other sitcom, the kids just sit around, for what little we see of them. I guess that really shows The Cosby Show’s values, but someone could of knocked over a vase at least, this is a SITCOM, isn’t it? Hey, but at least theo spins around his basketball in the house. Basketball in the house count: TWO

We also see Cliff at work, which I believe is a rare sight in the show, but not as rare as seeing Claire at work. From now on I’m just going to assume that when we see him at work, it’s probably filler. We also learn that Bill Cosby touching women should be awkward and creepy through the eyes of everybody. Example:

So this episode really wasn’t going to be meant for me, but there was so little going on, that it’s hard not to criticize it. Hey what’s Dennis wearing this week?

Eh, not that bad.

This one is easily the best one so far. That’s not really saying much, but in this episode a lot of the worst elements of the show aren’t present as many times as in the last two. Rudy still gets a few precocious lines, and the ending is Cliff getting a running start into the room to have sexual intercourse with his wife, but otherwise this was a clever and classic Cosby Show episode.

“Bad Dreams” is mostly about Vanessa and Theo, which seem to me are going to be some of the better episodes of the first few seasons. There’s a lot more material that they can mine from and it doesn’t get dull quick like with Rudy or Denise (who just goes on dates with a different guy in every episode). So Vanessa wants to go see a violent movie, one that Bart Simpson (aka the cooler version of Theo Huxtable) would talk about in his show The Simpsons, and Cliff’s not letting her go. But somehow she sees it and gets a big spook. Since Theo’s a cool teen, he gets to go with his mom, and describes every detail of the blood and gore to his dad. It sounds like a concerned parent’s idea of an action movie, with “machine guns that shoot fireballs” and “a bazooka that blew up whole cities”.

I don’t really know why I enjoyed this one so much more, but the dialogue just seemed a lot snappier, and the show’s pieces are really falling into place. Even the bedroom scenes with Claire and Cliff were good. I SAY SEE IT!

Notes:

• How could I forget Dennis’ wacky clothing this week. Here come the planes. They’re American planes. Made in America.

• This episode is the first by writer of 90 Cosby Show episodes John Markus. The next two are written by him as well, so I’m hopeful. (update: never mind, the dvds go in production order, as to keep the exciting story arc in the correct order.)
• There’s a really weird echo-y laugh that goes throughout this whole episode. I doubt it was mixed in later since it’s so distracting, but it sounds out of place and suspiciously like a bad Cosby laugh impression. Check it out at about 0:53 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8HAh1uO_Ds

I’m watching a lot of Cosby as I type this, so I’m gonna get some posts “queue’d up” so we’ll get these coming out at a quicker rate (every 2-3 days) so I’m not doing this for years.

Alright, let’s do some mini recaps with funny pictures and snappy commentary. GO!

In this episode, which seems a lot more polished and clever than the pilot, as most second episodes are, the central plot is that Rudy’s fish dies, but the show only really focuses on this for the first act and splits off into a whole different monster. The second act consists of Claire and Cliff gabbin’ in the bedroom while work and/or the children interrupt their conversation setting up how hectic their marriage can be. This seems to be a recurring motif so far and I can imagine it getting tired. I can only hope this doesn’t repeat, but I know it does, so lets just move on. EVERYBODY MAKES WACKY FACES THOUGH!

WHAT A FACE!

Theo hanging out with his basketball on the table. Of course!

WHAT A TONGUE!

And of course dennis has to wear something cool!

Check out this bathroom! What are we in the future? (1990? 2002? 29XX)