Favorite “Cosby Show” Opening

Sabrina LaBoeuf was obviously no dancer.

Not the one where you could see Tempest Bledsoe's freckled shoulders!

R2, are you also R1 of the below-linked thread?

I think that dance Bill Cosby does right before his show starts is just a little bit silly.

I liked the opening when he made everyone his special daiquiris.

R2, I think Bledsoe had some kind of skin condition. Whenever her right arm was bare, you could see it was blotchy. I don’t know if it was a type of vitiligo or a birthmark.

Here is a montage of all the openings in case anyone asked!

It was a really clever bit to have a new one every season.

I picked S4 in the poll but I would have said 3 and 4 tied.

I also liked S6, and S5 was OK too.

This one featuring DL faves Bonnie Franklin and Bea Arthur.

It really is a shame Bill is such a pervert because The Cosby Show really is one of the greatest sitcoms of all time.

R10 Especially those first few seasons.

The Caribbean Fantasy and The Apollo are the only ones I remember (born in 1979) and I think they were the best. I didn't watch the last season.

R10-Just because it showed a well educated and affluent black family does NOT make it the greatest sitcom of all time let alone the greated black sitcom of all time- What's Happening! in the first two seasons was far funnier

Rerun- Hey Shirley, What' s the scoop?

Shirley- Scoop is you're FAT !

R13 It always made me laugh....

Why'd they get sued?

My parents, a minister and schoolteacher, were very strict so I wasn't allowed to watch many things on TV, but THE COSBY SHOW was all right by them.

Season 5 was my favorite intro because of the bright colors and beach theme.

I remember trying to re-enact all the parts by myself in my bedroom. haha

I loved the music, as well.

I remember seasons 1 and 2 and season 4 (Bobby McFerrin). I loathed the season 4 opening (and McFerrin). I have vague memories of seasons 3 and 6. My family and I had pretty much tuned out by season 3, and the Bobby McFerrin opening certainly didn’t help. I also didn’t like when the show focused so much on Hillman and became preachy.

R15, IIRC, they used the images without permission or without acknowledging the artists (children) but it became this whole big thing so they scrapped it and either out a compromise for the final season.

There was a version of the original Season 7 opening going around online for a while with Lisa Bonet still in it. I do remember it aired a few times before being pulled because I saw it.

I mostly remember S2. That’s the one with the huge Cosby sweaters, yes?

I liked The Apollo opening the best. Bonet is rocking it in her dreads and those palazzo pants.

Fun trip down memory lane. Season 2 is the opening that seemed most familiar. But the later season (5?) when Theo rocks that tank top - DELICIOUS. I had such a crush on him (we are about the same age(

I'm reminded of the Golden Girls episode where Dorothy's son dates an older black woman.

ROSE: You know, Dorothy, I just thought of something. Lorraine's family is going to be black, too, aren't they?

DOROTHY: Yes, Rose. You know, you could probably make them feel welcome if you do your version of that dance that the Huxtables do at the beginning of The Cosby Show.

😂

At the very end it has Gordon Gartrelle listed as a producer. He was a fashion designer and tv producer? What talent!

At the end of r7’s link, of course

My preferred opening was the Apollo. I found that so sophisticated.

I like two and three. Ok five was good too.

The one where he's not dropping a roofie into a woman's drink.

Why does he always have that goofy expression on his face, like he just shit his pants?

I know. He looks so stupid and pleased with himself.

And why was Cliff an OB-GYN who worked out of his basement without staff? Even in 1985 it was weird that he was performing pap smears in the basement .

Aww, look how cute little Rudy was in season 2.

Theo did look hot in his tank top in the Caribbean opening.

It's so crazy the added Raven Simone when Rudy started to grow up. And by so crazy I mean a classic sitcom new kid addition.

I voted Caribbean cause I like the orchestral mix of the theme music.

Also, as a child, I got very excited when this theme premiered along with the new season as my gayling self thought for sure that the Huxtables were taking a tropical vacation and their plane crashed on some deserted island and that would be the overall theme for the entire season.

I never liked this show.

Who cares about the opening? I was molested.

I watch it sometimes because it’s like comfort food and brings back some nice childhood memories. The first season looked low budget but I liked the second and 6-7th seasons.

Simone was a terrible addition and where Keshia Knight-Pulliam was a natural, Simone was a ham and acted like a kid in commercial for a fast food restaurant.

Early Rudy was so adorable and natural!

Season 2 was the best. Cannot STAND the Bobby McFerrin version.

I think the Apollo is my favorite followed by the Caribbean one.

Here's the season 7 mural intro with Lisa Bonet and Joseph Phillips in it.

Did you know that season 2 actually had 2 different versions? The original broadcast and syndicated version.

[quote]It's so crazy the added Raven Simone when Rudy started to grow up. And by so crazy I mean a classic sitcom new kid addition.

[quote]Simone was a terrible addition and where Keshia Knight-Pulliam was a natural, Simone was a ham and acted like a kid in commercial for a fast food restaurant.

Olivia was also added because they wanted to create their own black Michelle Tanner from FULL HOUSE (1987-1995) who was very cutesy and hammy.

By the time Raven-Symoné came along during Season 6 (1989-1990) Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen had become a phenomenon, which helped launch their direct-to-video empire and other merchandise (dolls, CDs, books, etc.)

Of course in retrospect it's so creepy that Cliff Huxtable was an OB-GYN. Ugh.

The one where Dr. Huxtable is drugging the neighbor, then having sex with her.

Did that one ever even air?

I really loved the show back then. Loved Phylicia Rashad, the parents' interaction with the kids, the fact that the in-laws for once weren't crazy nuisances but respected and respectable additions.

But I haven't watched it for decades, for Bill Cosby obviously and for "fear" that the whole show didn't age well and would hurt my childhood memories if I watched it again.

Claire was such a bitch to those kids.

Malcolm Jamal Warner was a little slice of heaven.

I'm only adding this because r46 brought it up first.

The freak-offs in the outtakes

Oh no r48 Vanessa went to Baltimore! BALTIMORE! That cauldron of sin and debauchery!

I remember a scene where Claire comes home from work exhausted and tells everyone to get out of the way as she heads upstairs. It was hilarious, but can't recall what episode it was in.

[quote] It's so crazy the added Raven Simone when Rudy started to grow up. And by so crazy I mean a classic sitcom new kid addition.

They had to do something to distract from Rudy's mustache.

R52, is that when Claire goes to a country retreat upstate and it’s a dump? It’s the episode right before the Wretched episode- Season 6, episode 22.

My favorite part was Claire saying she didn’t want to go on a field trip with Rudy and her “raggedy friends”. lol.

[quote]My favorite part was Claire saying she didn’t want to go on a field trip with Rudy and her “raggedy friends”. lol.

Bill Cosby was adamant that no "urban" black culture be represented on the show.

Thanks, R7. Only seasons 2 and 3 are familiar to me but after viewing the montage, I can’t decide on a favorite. They’re all good, creative, and fun. Cool to see the kids get older and more confident.

Bill Cosby loved to shame young black men and boys for wearing their pants low, but meanwhile he was drugging and raping women constantly and had been since at least the mid-sixties. Some kid who grew up in a black neighborhood emulating his peers is somehow offensive to a serial rapist with a trail of victims stretching back decades.

His wife is vile for sticking with him. His TV wife Phylicia Rashad has also defended him. Disgusting people.

Didn’t Keisha and Raven defend him as well, but the other actresses stayed quiet?

Lisa Bonet was not silent. She didn't say much, but made it clear where she stands.

I liked the Apollo opening. I loved the wide-angle black-and-white background. When the women wear a color (like Phylicia's neon green) it really pops out. The dances were more sophisticated than in the earlier seasons too. The music is upbeat too.

I like the one where you see Cos slipping the crushed pills into Jasmine Guy’s drink

Lisa Bonet is a fruit loop

"Fruit loop" is interesting word choice on a gay website.

Our conservative trolls are really quite stupid.

Lisa Bonet is also responsible for giving us her talentless twat of a daughter, who's been stinking up movies and tv shows for awhile now.

If Olivia was the Cousin Oliver, than what was Cousin Pam? She really was a bridge too far...

I like Erika Alexander but I think they brought her in because Tempestt Bledsoe was starting college early and wouldn’t be available as much. She didn’t really fit well with the show or cast, but I liked her character and her friend Charmaine and Charmaine’s boyfriend.

Buuuuuuuuud.

Rudy and Theo were the only kids there regularly every season. It loses a lot those final two seasons with Vanessa only appearing now and then.

And I fucking sweat, if they said the phrase “calalou pot” one more time in that episode.

R65 of course Living Single made much better use of Erika.