Cosby

For other uses, see Cosby (disambiguation).

Cosby
Cosby title card
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
External links
[{{#property:P856}} Website]

Cosby was an American situation comedy 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

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

Nielsen ratings

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

Season	Timeslot (EST)	Episodes	Rank	Viewers (in millions)
1	Monday 8:00 P.M. (September 16, 1996 – May 19, 1997)	25	#21	16.0
2	Monday 8:00 P.M. (September 15, 1997 – May 18, 1998)	24	#28	13.8
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	8.4

Episodes

Main article: List of Cosby 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.

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

External links

• Official website
• Cosby at IMDb
• Cosby at TV.com