Cosby

Cosby
Genre	Sitcom
Based on	One Foot in the Grave by David Renwick
Developed by	Dennis Klein
Starring	Bill Cosby Phylicia Rashad T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh Doug E. Doug Madeline Kahn (1996–1999) Jurnee Smollett (1998–2000) Darien Sills Evans (1999–2000)
Theme music composer	Bill Cosby Benny Golson
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	96 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Bill Cosby Dennis Klein Norman Steinberg Tom Straw
Producer(s)	Marcy Carsey Joanne Curley-Kerner Caryn Mandabach John Rogers Peter Tortorici Tom Werner
Production location(s)	Kaufman Astoria Studios Astoria, New York, U.S.
Camera setup	Videotape; Multi-camera
Running time	22 minutes
Production company(s)	Bill Cosby Carsey-Werner Productions
Distributor	Carsey-Werner Distribution
Release
Original network	CBS
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	September 16, 1996 – April 28, 2000
External links
Website

Cosby is an American sitcom television series broadcast on CBS from September 16, 1996, until April 28, 2000. The program starred Bill Cosby and Phylicia Rashad, who had previously worked together in the 1984–1992 NBC sitcom The Cosby Show. Madeline Kahn portrayed their neighbor, Pauline, until her death in 1999. The series is loosely based on the British sitcom One Foot in the Grave airing on BBC from 1990 until 2001. This was also the second and final sitcom that Madeline Kahn made for The Carsey-Werner Company, her first being Oh Madeline (based on the British sitcom Pig in the Middle) in 1983.

Synopsis

Cosby portrayed grumpy Hilton Lucas, a New York City man forced into early retirement from his job as an airline customer service agent. His wife Ruth was played by Phylicia Rashad. Initially, Telma Hopkins was cast as Ruth Lucas; however, she was recast after she reacted poorly to Cosby's tendency to ad lib. The couple had one daughter, Erica Lucas, initially portrayed by Audra McDonald and later portrayed by T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh. Doug E. Doug played Griffin Vesey, a foster son the Lucas family took in when he was younger. Griffin occasionally tried to win Erica's affections, but they decided just to remain friends when in the fourth and final season, Darien Sills-Evans portrayed Darien Evans, Erica's fiancé/husband. Jurnee Smollett also joined the cast as 11-year-old Jurnee, whom Hilton adored.

The show was based on the concept from the BBC series One Foot in the Grave, starring Richard Wilson and Annette Crosbie. David Renwick, the creator and writer of One Foot in the Grave, was listed as a consultant of Cosby. One Foot in the Grave was notable for containing dark humor for a mainstream sitcom. The tone was significantly lightened for Cosby, although certain controversial scenes, such as a scene in which the lead character incinerates a live tortoise, albeit by accident, were recreated (though, in this version, with a turtle).

A notable later episode was the fourth-season premiere, "My Spy", which showed Hilton watching an episode of I Spy (the 1960s series in which Cosby co-starred) and then dreaming an adventure with Robert Culp's character from that series. The same season also presented an episode entitled "Loving Madeline" which featured the standard opening credits for the series but was in fact a tribute to Kahn featuring the cast members out of character discussing the recently deceased actress, punctuated by clips from past episodes.

Cosby premiered to an audience of more than 24.7 million viewers, but averaged 16 million viewers during the course of the season. As the series progressed, ratings shrank and CBS, fresh with new hit comedies in Everybody Loves Raymond and The King of Queens, decided to move the series from Monday to Wednesday and eventually Friday. The moves led to a drop in ratings. At the end of the season, having accumulated enough episodes for the show to enter reruns, Cosby and CBS executive Leslie Moonves mutually decided to end the series. The last episode, "The Song Remains the Same", aired on April 28, 2000, and was the 96th episode to be produced and broadcast, drawing just over 7 million viewers.

Episodes

Cast

• Bill Cosby — Hilton Lucas
• Phylicia Rashad — Ruth Lucas
• T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh — Erica Lucas
• Doug E. Doug — Griffin Vesey
• Madeline Kahn — Pauline Fox (1996–1999)
• Jurnee Smollett — Jurnee (1998–2000)
• Darien Sills-Evans — Darien Hall (1998–2000)
• Sinbad — Daniel (1998–2000)
• Angelo Massagli — Angelo (1997)

Reruns/syndication

The series was distributed by Carsey-Werner Distribution for broadcast syndication for the 2000–2001 television season, where it ran until the fall of 2004; after that point it was offered in low-cost barter arrangements. TBS shortly thereafter ran reruns of the series for about two years. In March 2010, gmc (the current UP Network) began airing the show, but as a family network with religious ownership, removed some episodes and edited some content in episodes to meet the network's mores. It began to air on Bounce TV in January 2015, but was removed from air on July 7, 2015, when records were made public regarding allegations of Cosby's sexual assault against several women.^[1]

Nielsen ratings

Cosby was considered to be a ratings success for CBS, winning its time slot of Monday, 8:00 PM in households and viewers for the first three seasons.^[2]

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Cosby @ CBS' Official Website
• Cosby @ Carsey-Werner.net (en)
• Carsey-Werner Cosby
• Cosby on IMDb
• Cosby at TV.com