# The Cosby Show (1984)

> A warm, witty sitcom following an affluent African-American family of lawyer and doctor parents and their five children in Brooklyn.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/1657

## Facts

- Seasons: 8
- Episodes: 197
- Episode runtime: 24 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy, family
- Created by: Bill Cosby, Michael J. Leeson, Ed. Weinberger
- Network: NBC
- Cast: Bill Cosby, Phylicia Rashād, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Tempestt Bledsoe, Lisa Bonet, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Sabrina Le Beauf, Erika Alexander
- TMDB rating: 7.4/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086687/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: none
- Tone: warm, witty, comforting, gentle, uplifting

## What critics say

Audiences broadly regard the series as a warm, well-written family sitcom with strong performances, rated positively by viewers.

## Synopsis

The Cosby Show (1984-1992) is an American network situation comedy created by Bill Cosby, Michael J. Leeson and Ed. Weinberger for NBC. Bill Cosby plays Heathcliff Huxtable, an obstetrician, opposite Phylicia Rashad as Clair Huxtable, a lawyer, and the couple's household of five children is the engine of the show. Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Tempestt Bledsoe, Lisa Bonet, and Keshia Knight Pulliam play the Huxtable kids, while Sabrina Le Beauf appears as their aunt Sondra. Across eight seasons and nearly two hundred episodes, the show is a case-of-the-week sitcom in which school troubles, first dates, household squabbles, and parental lessons unfold within a single warm home. Each episode is built around a small domestic problem that the parents handle with humor and patience. Set in contemporary 1980s Brooklyn, New York, the series presents an affluent African American family as ordinary and loving, and its tone is gentle, witty, and comforting. Fans of Family Matters, Full House, and Good Times will find the same warmth and multigenerational household humor here.

## Shows like The Cosby Show

- [Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972)](https://ember.film/tv/12964)
- [227 (1985)](https://ember.film/tv/1830)
- [The Jeffersons (1975)](https://ember.film/tv/1856)
- [The Facts of Life (1979)](https://ember.film/tv/1700)
- [Diff'rent Strokes (1978)](https://ember.film/tv/2290)
- [black-ish (2014)](https://ember.film/tv/54728)
- [My Wife and Kids (2001)](https://ember.film/tv/2557)
- [Sanford and Son (1972)](https://ember.film/tv/2458)
- [#blackAF (2020)](https://ember.film/tv/84939)
- [Good Times (1974)](https://ember.film/tv/140)

---

Site overview: https://ember.film/llms.txt