History Trivia / TheCosbyShow

** However, while[=TVOne=]continues to air the show in syndication, it does skip over some episodes that may rub some viewers to wrong way! I.E.the imfamous barbecue episode.

* BannedEpisode: Thanks to the rape allegations, ''Series/TheCosbyShow'' now gets this treatment on cable networks, including [=TVLand=]. It may become permanent depending on how Cosby's situation plays out. It was not immediately known whether or not other programs starring Cosby are or will be included. However, at least on the Viacom-owned [=TVLand=] (and its related networks), mere references to ''The Cosby Show'' have been removed from the website altogether.[[note]] (often, even shows that formerly aired on the network and not currently accessible from the main page can be accessed if one knows how to search the site)[[/note]]
** [=TVOne=] is now airing the first three seasons.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: ''The Cosby Show'' was, for a brief period of time, completely pulled from syndication due to the sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby. However, this has only been brief; reruns can now be regularly seen on Bounce and TVOne as of April 2017.

** Creator/WhitneyHouston auditioned for the role of Sondra.

** Initially, the show was originally pitched to Creator/{{ABC}}, since executive producers Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner had previously worked there as programmers. ABC, however, turned the show down for three reasons: they felt that a wealthy African-American sitcom to be unrealistic, not many sitcoms at the time featured stand up comedians in the lead role, and finally, the sitcom in general was considered a dying genre at the time. NBC, on the other hand, picked the show up right off the bat and scored a major windfall in the process. Alternatively, however, some accounts claim that Bill Cosby actually devised the show for NBC right off the bat at the request of then NBC Entertainment president Brandon Tartikoff, who had happened to tune in to an episode of ''Series/TheTonightShow'' guest-hosted by Cosby while he and his wife, Lilly, were taking care of their sick daughter, Calla, and was immediately struck with awe over Cosby's opening monologue, which centered around observations of his family life.

** Initially, the show was originally pitched to Creator/{{ABC}}, since executive producers Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner had previously worked there as programmers. ABC, however, turned the show down for three reasons: they felt that a wealthy African-American sitcom to be unrealistic, not many sitcoms at the time featured stand up comedians in the lead role, and finally, the sitcom in general was considered a dying genre at the time. NBC, on the other hand, picked the show up right off the bat and scored a major windfall in the process. Alternatively, however, some accounts claim that Bill Cosby actually devised the show for NBC right off the bat at the request of then NBC Entertainment president Brandon Tartikoff, who had happened to tune in to an episode of ''Series/TheTonightShow'' guest-hosted by Cosby and was immediately struck with awe over Cosby's opening monologue, which centered around observations of his family life.

** Vanessa Williams first appeared as the LargeHam Jade in season 5, then returned as Cheryl, an exchange student from Barbados (which led to a fair amount of WhatTheHellIsThatAccent when the episodes aired there) and Theo's LoveInterest for season 7.

** Averted by most of the other kids. When the show started, Lisa Bonet (Denise) was 17, Malcolm-Jamal Warner (Theo) was 14, Tempestt Bledsoe (Vanessa) was 11, Keshia Knight Pulliam (Rudy) was 5 and later addition Raven-Symoné (Olivia) was 3; everyone's actual age was also their age on the show. Erika Alexander (Pam), on the other hand, was 21; Pam was supposed to be 16.

** Initially, the show was originally pitched to Creator/{{ABC}}, since executive producers Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner had previously worked there as programmers. ABC, however, turned the show down for three reasons: they felt that a wealthy African-American sitcom to be unrealistic, not many sitcoms at the time featured stand up comedians in the lead role, and finally, the sitcom in general was considered a dying genre at the time. NBC, on the other hand, picked the show up right off the bat and scored a major windfall in the process.

** TVOne is now airing the first three seasons.

** [[PlayingGertrude Completely inverted]] in the case of Clair. Phyllicia Rashad (nee Ayers-Allen) was 36 during the first season while Bill Cosby was 47. Cliff and Clair were supposedly only about four years apart at most.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: ''The Cosby Show'' was, for a brief period of time, completely pulled from syndication due to the sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby. However, this has only been brief; reruns can now be regularly seen on the Bounce channel as of April 2017.

* BannedEpisode: Thanks to the rape allegations, ''Series/TheCosbyShow'' now gets this treatment on cable networks, including [=TVLand=]. It may become permanent depending on how Cosby's situation plays out. It was not immediately known whether the current [=TVLand=] ban also includes local stations that air the legendary situation comedy, or if other programs starring Cosby are or will be included. However, at least on the Viacom-owned [=TVLand=] (and its related networks), mere references to ''The Cosby Show'' have been removed from the website altogether[[note]] (often, even shows that formerly aired on the network and not currently accessible from the main page can be accessed if one knows how to search the site)[[/note]], and while the complete series is available on DVD, it may be a very long time - possibly never – before the 1984-1992 sitcom is aired on TV again.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: ''The Cosby Show'' has been completely pulled from syndication due to the sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby. As of October 2015, the only place airing it is Hulu Plus.

* DawsonCasting: With Sondra, who was 20 during the first season. Sabrina [=LeBeauf=], who played her, almost didn't get the role because she was 26, only 10 years younger than Phylicia Rashad.

*** [[PlayingGertrude Completely inverted]] in the case of Clair. Phyllicia Rashad (nee Ayers-Allen) was 36 during the first season while Bill Cosby was 47. Cliff and Clair were supposedly only about four years apart at most.
*** Also inverted with Russell Huxtable. Earle Hyman, who played him, was only ten years Bill Cosby's senior despite playing his father. He was nine years younger than Clarice Taylor, who played his wife Anna. Some dialogue implied him to be at least the same age as she if not older.

* OldShame: Not the show itself, but at least three of the actors did say they wonder how they ever could have liked the fashions of TheEighties that are all over the place in it.
** Tempestt Bledsoe really spoke up about this in the ''Lookback Special'' given the fact that the actors didn't have a lot of say in their wardrobe and Vanessa's hairstyles in the first half of season 5 look utterly ridiculous today.

* RealLifeRelative: Phylicia Rashad's sister Debbie Allen as a sadistic aerobics instructor.
** Also, Phylicia's then-husband Ahmad Rashad could be heard on several episodes announcing sporting events[[note]]At the time, Ahmad was a commentator for NBC Sports.[[/note]]
* ThrowItIn: Bill often kept the camera rolling when his many child co-stars would make mistakes because he felt [[RuleOfFunny it was funnier that way]]. In general, there was a ''lot'' of ad-libbing that made it into the final cut of each episode. Examples include:

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Theo was actually supposed to be the main character of the show. The show, past the pilot, ended up being reworked into being about the entire Cosby family. By the end of the series though, [[CharacterDevelopment Theo still arguably got the most development]] of the five kids, and the series BookEnds with his graduation from college.

* BannedEpisode: The entire series has been pulled from syndication following multiple sexual assault accusations against Bill Cosby.

* HeyItsThatGuy: Creator/AdamSandler as one of Theo's high school buddies, Angela Bassett and Iman as patients of Cliff, Naomi Campbell as the girlfriend of one of Theo's friends, etc.
** A pre-''Series/{{Star Trek The Next Generation}}'', Gates [=McFadden=] guest starred in an episode. More specifically, she's one of the party guests in the 3rd season episode that celebrates Cliff's 50th birthday.
** Robert Culp, who appeared on [[Series/ISpy another series with Bill Cosby]], showed up in one episode.
** Cliff's best friend in the neighborhood is [[Film/ThePrincessBride Vizzini]].
** One of Rudy's friends in the episode 'Slumber Party' is AliciaKeys, and 'Cockroach' is Cole from Series/{{Martin}}.
** [[Series/HomeImprovement Jill Taylor]] is having her 8th child in a latter season 3 episode.
** [[Series/{{NCIS}} Tony [=DiNozzo=]]] is one of Theo's roommates in season 6.
** Then, of course, there's a very young [[Series/ThatsSoRaven Raven Baxter]] as Olivia.
** In addition to co-creating ''The Cosby Show'', Ed. Weinberger also served as creator and executive producer of ''Series/{{Amen}}'', co-creator of ''Series/TheBillCosbyShow'', and co-creator and co-exeuctive producer of ''Series/{{Taxi}}''.
** Carmen Finestra wrote 56 episodes. Finestra is best known as co-creator and co-executive producer of ''Series/HomeImprovement''.
** Matt Williams wrote 17 episodes. Williams is best known as creator and executive producer of ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'' and also served as co-creator and co-executive producer of ''Home Improvement''.
** Matt Robinson wrote ten episodes. Robinson is best known for playing Gordon on ''Series/SesameStreet'' from 1969 to 1972.
** Bernie Kukoff wrote eight episodes. Kukoff is best known for co-creating ''Series/DiffrentStrokes''.
** Ehrich Van Lowe also wrote eight episodes. Van Lowe is best known as creator and executive producer of ''Series/HomeboysInOuterSpace''.
** Earl Pomerantz wrote three episodes. Pomerantz is best known as developer and executive producer of ''Series/MajorDad''.
** Winifred Hervey wrote an episode. Hervey is best known as creator and executive producer of ''Series/TheSteveHarveyShow''.
** Bill Prady co-wrote an episode. Prady is best known for co-creating ''Series/TheBigBangTheory''.
* HeyItsThatVoice: Cliff's father was the voice of [[{{Thundercats}} Panthro]].

* BannedEpisode: The series has been pulled from syndication following multiple sexual assault accusations against Bill Cosby.

*** Completely inverted in the case of Clair. Phyllicia Rashad (nee Ayers-Allen) was 36 during the first season while Bill Cosby was 47. Cliff and Clair were supposedly only about four years apart at most.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: In November 2014, several television networks -- most notably, [=TVLand=] -- announced that effective immediately, they would stop airing reruns of the series due to growing allegations that Cosby sexually assaulted several women. [=TVLand=] even deleted references to the situation comedy from the cable channel's website, a rare step as even references to past rerun packages can be accessed, at least indirectly. Centric (a spin-off of BET) continued to air the show even after sister network [=TVLand=] dropped it and even as the number of accusers grew past 30... that is, until July 2015, when a 2005 deposition in a sexual assault claim against Cosby was released in which he admitted to giving Quaaludes to women whom he wanted to have sex with, resulting in Centric pulling the show amid the damning (though not likely to result in a felony conviction, due to the lapse in the statue of limitations in the claims) evidence.[[note]]Bounce TV also removed Cosby and Phylicia Rashad's late-1990s sitcom ''Cosby'' (which was misreported by some outlets regarding that removal as being the more well-known and older ''The Cosby Show'', which Bounce has never carried), but not the Cosby-created ''Series/FatAlbertAndTheCosbyKids''.[[/note]] Though Cosby hasn't been criminally or civilly charged nor is it likely he will address the claims thoroughly and honestly, the series will certainly not air in the foreseeable future, if ever again, at least on the major cable networks.

* Cosby initially suggested the family be working-class, with the father a limo driver and the mother an electrician (!).

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: In November 2014, several television networks -- most notably, [=TVLand=] -- announced that effective immediately, they would stop airing reruns of the series due to growing allegations that Cosby sexually assaulted several women. [=TVLand=] even deleted references to the situation comedy from the cable channel's website, a rare step as even references to past rerun packages can be accessed, at least indirectly. Centric (a spin-off of BET) continued to air the show even after sister network [=TVLand=] dropped it and even as the number of accusers grew past 30... that is, until July 2015, when a 2005 deposition in a sexual assault claim against Cosby was released in which he admitted to giving Quaaludes to women he wanted to have sex, resulting in Centric pulling the show amid the damning (though not likely to result in a felony conviction, due to the lapse in the statue of limitations in the claims) evidence.[[note]]Bounce TV also removed Cosby and Phylicia Rashad's late-1990s sitcom ''Cosby'' (which was misreported by some outlets regarding that removal as being the more well-known and older ''The Cosby Show'', which Bounce has never carried), but not the Cosby-created ''Series/FatAlbertAndTheCosbyKids''.[[/note]] Depending on how the situation plays out, the series will certainly not air in the foreseeable future, if ever again, at least on the major cable networks.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: In November 2014, several television networks -- most notably, [=TVLand=] -- announced that effective immediately, they would stop airing reruns of the series due to growing allegations that Cosby sexually assaulted several women. The cancelation order is indefinite at this point, at least on [=TVLand=]; the cable network's website has even deleted references to the situation comedy, a rare step as even references to past rerun packages can be accessed, at least indirectly. Depending on how the situation plays out, the series will certainly not air in the foreseeable future, if ever again, at least on the major cable networks.

** One of Rudy's friends in the episode 'Slumber Party' is AliciaKeys, and 'Cockroach' is Cole from {{Martin}}.
** [[HomeImprovement Jill Taylor]] is having her 8th child in a latter season 3 episode.
** [[{{NCIS}} Tony [=DiNozzo=]]] is one of Theo's roommates in season 6.
** Then, of course, there's a very young [[ThatsSoRaven Raven Baxter]] as Olivia.