Cosby

For other uses, see Cosby (disambiguation).
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 95 (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
Running time 22 mins. (approx)
Release
Original network CBS
Audio format Stereo
Original release September 16, 1996 – April 28, 2000
Website

Cosby is an American sitcom television series broadcast on CBS from September 16, 1996, to April 28, 2000, loosely based on the British sitcom One Foot in the Grave. The program starred Bill Cosby and Phylicia Rashad, who previously worked with Cosby in the 1984–1992 NBC sitcom The Cosby Show. Madeline Kahn portrayed their neighbor, Pauline, until her death in 1999.

Synopsis

Cosby portrayed grumpy Hilton Lucas, a New York City man forced into early (and unwanted) 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 didn't react well 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, were recreated (albeit with a turtle in this case).

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 (this is similar to what an earlier sitcom, Barney Miller, did following the death of cast member Jack Soo in the late 1970s).

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 and, frustrated by declining ratings and the move, 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 95th episode to be produced and broadcast, drawing just over 7 million viewers.

Cast

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.[1]

Season Timeslot (EST) Episodes Rank Viewers
(in millions)
1 Monday 8:00 P.M. (September 16, 1996 – May 19, 1997) 25 #21 16.0[1]
2 Monday 8:00 P.M. (September 15, 1997 – May 18, 1998) 24 #28[2] 13.8[2]
3 Monday 8:00 P.M. (September 21, 1998 – May 17, 1999) 25 #35 12.5
4 Wednesday 8:00 P.M. / Friday 8:30 P.M. (September 29, 1999 – April 28, 2000) 21 #82[3] 8.4[3]

Episodes

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 women.[4]

Awards and nominations

Year Award Result Category Recipient
1997 BMI Film & TV Awards Won BMI TV Music Award Bill Cosby and Benny Golson
1998 BMI TV Music Award Bill Cosby and Benny Golson
1997 Emmy Award Nominated Outstanding Technical Direction/Camera/Video for a Series Theodore Ashton, Neal Carlos, Tom Conkright, Stephen A. Jones, Ritch Kenney, Karl Messerschmidt, and J.A. Stuewe Prudden (For pilot episode)
1998 Won Outstanding Lighting Direction (Electronic) for a Comedy Series Alan Walker (For pilot episode)
1997 NAACP Image Awards Won Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series Phylicia Rashad
Outstanding Comedy Series
-
1998 Nominated Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Doug E. Doug
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Phylicia Rashad
Outstanding Comedy Series
-
1999 Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Doug E. Doug
Won Outstanding Youth Actor/Actress Jurnee Smollett
Outstanding Comedy Series
-
2000 Nominated Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Doug E. Doug
Won Outstanding Youth Actor/Actress Jurnee Smollett
1997 People's Choice Awards Won Favorite Television New Comedy Series
-
1999 Satellite Awards Nominated Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical Phylicia Rashad
1999 TV Guide Awards Nominated Favorite Actor in a Comedy Bill Cosby
2000 Favorite Actress in a Comedy Phylicia Rashad
Favorite Actor in a Comedy Bill Cosby

References

  1. 1 2 "CBS and Bill Cosby Announce Finale for 'COSBY'". CBS Television. March 24, 2000. Retrieved February 24, 2010.
  2. 1 2 "The Final Countdown". Entertainment Weekly Published in issue #434 May 29, 1998. May 29, 1998. Retrieved January 9, 2010.
  3. 1 2 "Top TV Shows For 1999–2000 Season". Variety. Retrieved January 9, 2010.
  4. Steiner, Amanda Michelle (7 July 2015). "Bill Cosby reruns pulled from BET's Centric, Bounce TV". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 7 July 2015.

External links

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