They should re-boot the Cosby Show minus Bill

Phylicia Rashad was definitely the best part of the show, OP. I understand there's a model for this -- see 'The Connors' without Roseanne, but as vile as Roseanne could be she's not a convicted serial rapist. There's no way this could ever happen, nor should it. Anyway, has Phylicia ever publicly taken back her unfortunate comments about Cosby's victims?

Phylicia Rashad’s kind of a bitch.

How about “Vanessa”?

they shouldn't.

"Suddenly Rudy": a beautiful black fortysomething woman deals with the trauma of having been raised in Brooklyn by a rigid control freak lawyer and an obstetrician, who replaced her in his affection with a precocious stepgranddaughter when her pubescent mustache rendered her unappealing.

They filmed The Cosby Show in the same studio where NBC Soap Operas Another World and Texas was filmed

I'd much rather see a show called "Theatre Is!," which would just show hour after hour of Phylicia Rashad pompously lecturing people as James Earl Jones looking confused in the background.

R1, I know. Roseanne's tweets do not equal Bill's rapes.

But the show's original cast was wonderful, and I'd love to see what's next for Claire Huxtable.

But I could also go along with a "Vanessa" centered re-boot. Denise and Theo were unspeakably cool when I was a kid. But Vanessa was/is much more interesting to watch now.

I'm watching House of Cards for the first time now. Apparently that's what the end of this show is. Just Claire.

Rashad vehemently defended Cosby... no thanks.

Rashad wasn't funny on the show. She was the straight man. (See Merideth Baxter Birney on Family Ties) Those parts don't win Emmys. It isn't always racism.

Are we ready to talk about how Claire had an irrational hatred toward Vaenssa?

I was going to post what R10 basically said.

Claire had a function on the show, but it was not to be funny. She cued up Cosby's blatherings and then brought him back into the scene after his blatherings. The video at OP is one of the rare solo moments she got, and it wasn't that great.

She was elegant support, but she didn't deserve Best Comedy Actress in those years over Jane Curtin, three of the Golden Girls, Candice Bergen and Kirstie Alley.

Thanks R5. I don't think the world could've gone on without that profound bit of "knowledge".

Too late. Too tired. And Cosby's stink has ruined that legacy.

It is odd how Claire always wanted to kick Vanessa in the cunt at the slightest transgression but didn't even notice Denise, the family's true disgrace.

I always thought she was even more smug and insufferable than Bill, if that’s possible.

Those two totally deserved each other.

You have to admit Phylicia Rashad was awesome in this scene.

Such great writing that still holds up.

Claire was pretty two-dimensional--she was Bill Cosby's idea of what an ideal black woman should be: successful, pretty, exacting, strict with her children. But she was never funny nor warm.

Claire never seemed to notice that Denise was always stoned out of her mind. But then, no one ever seemed to.

Claire hated Vanessa because she was too black. Denise was light skinned with delicate features.

Did Vanessa ever go to college? Sondra went to Princeton and Denise went to Hillman--where did Vanessa go?

Vanessa went to college. Remember that's where she met that groundskeeper that Cliff and Claire raked over the coals.

The Cosby Show is one of the many 80s sitcoms we all watched as kids but can't stand to watch even two minutes of as adults. Lame, stupid and always some moral lecture. All of those 80s "family"sitcoms were utter shit.

The show is all the more insufferable given what was we now know was going on behind the scenes with Cosby drugging and raping away long before, during and long after. Boy were people duped.

True, r24. If you were around in the 80s you can remember how huge Bill Cosby was, one of the biggest celebrities in America. Always harping away about morals and SO sanctimonious. And we now know that he was drugging and raping women the whole time. He was always such an asshole, but to know behind his holier-than-thou facade he was such a monster is quite unsettling.

They could call the reboot “Nobody Mentions Grandpa.”

R4, you need to run all of television.

Maya Rudolph's Queen Claire was brilliant.

The Cosby Show isn't funny, so they should reboot it plus laughs.

LOL, R26

Op, how can you have the Corny Collins show without Corny Collins?

[quote] how can you have the Corny Collins show without Corny Collins?

They do it all the time on Lassie!

R20 Vanessa wasn't any darker than Rudy was and Claire didn't hate her nearly as much as she hated Vanessa.

You people are insane. Rashad is funny in this version. Not so much on the second show they did.

No thanks, OP. Rashad acted so morally superior to her children it was off putting. Her signature line “let the record show...” is a real dick wilter.

[quote]Did Vanessa ever go to college?

Yes, she went to Lincoln University, after 'graduating high school a year early'.

Really, it was a transparent way to phase Vanessa out while bringing in Cousin Pam, who was the same age as her but got storylines that they would never have written for Vanessa.

If they ever did a re-boot they should go the Denise angle, just to really stick it to Bill. Denise is a single woman who has open relationships and children with various lovers. She's dealing with helping her straight laced, over-achieving daughter, and helping raise the child of her gay, activist, son. Denise is dealing with the severe trauma from her childhood and is estranged from her family after finding out her respectable father roofied one of her friends and assaulted her. Even after losing his Medical license for other assaults that came to light, her mother and siblings continue to stand by her father.

So you want to reboot a show created by a serial rapist? How would you see to it that he doesn't profit from it? I think you're nuts.

They would buy him out under the same terms they did with Roseanne.

[quote] They should re-boot the Cosby Show minus Bill

You do realize that, like Roseanne, even without him being involved he still owns the show and gets money from such reboot, right? Sure, the Roseanne producers made a big deal about paying off Roseanne so she wouldn't "own" anything on the Conners, but still. You think Cosby and his wife would let themselves get pushed out of that reboot money?

[quote] They would buy him out under the same terms they did with Roseanne.

And that should be ok? Cosby getting a big paycheck either way?

[quote] The Cosby Show is one of the many 80s sitcoms we all watched as kids but can't stand to watch even two minutes of as adults. Lame, stupid and always some moral lecture. All of those 80s "family"sitcoms were utter shit.

Some of them were good, some were okay, some were dreadful, but it speaks volumes if most people today would rather watch [italic]Cheers[/italic] and [italic]The Golden Girls[/italic] likely because they had no children on them.

This show had about 2 or 3 good years, tops, before they believed their own hype and thought people would treat anything they churned out as the Holy Gospel. The later years are excruciatingly unfunny and self-indulgent.

People keep comparing Cosby to Rosanne except there's a huge difference - Rosanne isn't a serial rapist - she's not a rapist at all. Cosby on the other hand is a kidnapper AND rapist. He could have easily killed any of the women he drugged. It's perplexing that anyone compares the two.

Create a show that doesn't specifically use his characters. In the above scenario for instance, Lisa Bonet plays that character that is similar ENOUGH to Denise, but isn't Denise. Everyone knows that she's supposed to be Denise but it isn't explicitly her and if the character has a father who was an upstanding man to the public but turned out he was a a sick, disgusting, rapist who abused is position of authority... what is Bill going to do? Call attention and admit to it by suing?

Of course it'd never happen, but I'd love it because you know nothing would eat away at Cosby more than having his reputation continued to be tarnished.

Rashad had a great scene where Claire and Cliff learn that Elvin and Sondra have decided not to attend medical school. "I want my money now!"

This show had some of the most boring episodes ever. Especially the episodes where Grandpa visits and just tells stories the whole time.

[quote] Rashad had a great scene where Claire and Cliff learn that Elvin and Sondra have decided not to attend medical school. "I want my money now!"

That was another great moment where Lady Rashad showed her comedic chops!

They should get the rest of the cast of [italic]Silver Spoons[/italic] back together while Ricky's in the pokey. I even have an idea on how they can make it work: it's Ricky's 50th birthday and they've planned a surprise party for him with all his friends back together at the mansion in Shallow Springs while he is away on some island in the South Pacific. Even Derek Taylor made the effort to come back (and Jason Bateman needs to grovel, too, after the way [italic]Arrested Development[/italic] ended). But Ricky never arrives. Party guests start to get nervous. Even J.T. and Brad go home eventually now that they have lives and families of their own. Eventually, a telegram arrives saying the plane he was in crashed and that he is … missing. They refuse to believe he is dead, so Edward, Kate (both of whom are now CEO and Chairwoman Emeritus of Eddie Toys, respectively) Derek, and Alfonzo try to retrace the flight path only to crash on the same island themselves. Will they ever find him? If they don't pull the plug before he gets out of jail in real life, that is…