Home | Television | The Cosby Show
|
According to TV Guide, the show "was TV's biggest hit in the 1980s, and almost single-handedly revived the sitcom genre and NBC's ratings fortunes". Originally, the show had been pitched to ABC, which rejected it. Entertainment Weekly stated that The Cosby Show helped to make possible a larger variety of shows based on African Americans, from In Living Color to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The Cosby Show was also one of the first successful sitcoms based on the subject matter of a standup comedian’s act, blazing a trail for other programs such as Seinfeld, Ellen, Roseanne, Home Improvement, The Drew Carey Show, and Everybody Loves Raymond. The Cosby Show is one of only three American programs that have been #1 in the Nielsen ratings for at least five consecutive seasons, along with All in the Family and American Idol. The show spawned the spin-off A Different World, which ran for six seasons from 1987 to 1993. As of 2010, The Cosby Show is the third-longest running U.S. comedy with a predominantly African American cast, surpassed only by The Jeffersons and Family Matters. The show had 197 episodes (201 in syndication). |