The Cosby Show is an American television sitcom created by Ed. Weinberger, Michael J. Leeson and Bill Cosby which revolves around the Huxtable family, an upper-middle class African-American family living in a brownstone building in Brooklyn, New York.
The series originally aired in the USA on NBC from 20 September, 1984 to 30 April, 1992. There are 201 half-hour episodes in eight seasons.
The Cosby Show originally aired in South Africa on the old SABC channel TV1 (which became SABC2 in 1996). It later aired on M-Net, DStv's M-Net Series channel, SABC2, SABC3 and SABC1. See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
Season 8 premiered on SABC1 on Friday 21 June 2013, at 16h00. New episodes broadcast from Tuesdays to Fridays at the same time. There are 25 episodes in the eighth and final season.
Synopsis
The sitcom to begin all sitcoms, The Cosby Show, hit airwaves in 1984 and for the next 8 years it managed to be the number one TV show in America for 6 of those years. In it's 8 years it never dropped below number 20 in the rankings.
The sitcom followed the lives of the Huxtable family, dad Heathcliff “Cliff” was an OBGYN who worked from home, while his wife, Clair was a successful attorney. They had 5 children: Sondra, Denise, Theo, Vanessa and Rudy.
Sondra was only a guest-star in the first season while she was away at law school, but became a permanent member of the cast from it's second season, along with her husband, Elvin, they shocked the Huxtables when Sondra decided to give up her law career to support Elvin in a new business venture, running a camping store.
Denise was the “problem” teenager who provided much angst for her parents by being unable to decide what she wanted to do with her life. Her clothing was always zany and out there and her life choices equally as colourful, after eventually dropping out of college, she became an assistant to a photographer and travelled to Africa to do her job.
When she returned she had a further shock for her family, while in Africa she had become a wife and a mother.
Theo, Vanessa and Rudy were the children still living at home, so the audience got to know them a lot better and grow up with them every step of the way. Theo struggled through school and college, but finally graduated from college in the final episode of the series.
Vanessa was a real star-performer at school, but had issues with “hanging out” socially and fitting in with girls and guys. Rudy provided the cute factor, starting the show as a young toddler and eventually being a young girl, going on teenager when it ended.
The overriding theme throughout the series were Cliff's fears that his kids would never leave home and he would be saddled with them into retirement.
Clair was around to be the serious parent, while Cliff provided the laughs, in the Cosby household there was never a dull moment, and we all laughed and grew up with them.
The most watched Cosby Show ever was in it's 4th season, with over 64 million viewers in the USA tuning in to watch.
Seasons
Note: these broadcast details are incomplete due to inavailability of information from the broadcasters.
Season 1 (24 episodes)
Channel: SABC3 | Premiere: 11 Jun 2012 | Finale: 1 Aug 2012 | Mon-Wed, 18h30
Season 2 (25 episodes)
Channel: SABC3 | Premiere: 6 Aug 2012 | Finale: 1 Oct 2012 | Mon-Wed, 18h30
Season 3 (25 episodes)
Channel: SABC3 | Premiere: 2 Oct 2012 | Finale: 27 Nov 2012 | Mon-Wed, 18h30
Season 4 (24 episodes)
Channel: SABC3 | Premiere: 28 Nov 2012 | Finale: 22 Jan 2013 | Mon-Wed, 18h30
Season 5 (26 episodes)
Channel: M-Net Series | Premiere: 16 Mar 2006 | Finale: 7 Sep 2006 | Thursdays, 19h00
Channel: SABC3 | Premiere: 23 Jan 2013 | Finale: 20 Mar 2013 | Mon-Wed/Fri, 18h30
Season 6 (26 episodes)
Channel: M-Net Series | Premiere: 14 Sep 2006 | Finale: 8 Mar 2007 | Thursdays, 19h00
Channel: SABC1 | Premiere: 14 Feb 2013 | Finale: 7 May 2013 | Thu/Fri, 16h00
Channel: SABC3 | Premiere: 22 Mar 2013 | Finale: 29 Mar 2013 | Mon-Wed/Fri, 18h30
Season 7 (26 episodes)
Channel: M-Net Series | Premiere: 15 Mar 2007 | Finale: 6 Sep 2007 | Thursdays, 19h00
Channel: SABC1 | Premiere: 8 May 2013 | Finale: 20 Jun 2013 | Tue-Fri, 16h00
Season 8 (25 episodes)
Channel: M-Net Series | Premiere: 28 Feb 2008 | Finale: 14 Aug 2008 | Thursdays, 19h00
Channel: SABC1 | Premiere: 21 Jun 2013 | Finale: 2 Aug 2013 | Tue-Fri, 16h00