History YMMV / TheCosbyShow

** [[StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Apparently in one of Jadzia Dax's]] former lives she was blonde and dating a friend of Cliff and Claire's.

* ContractualPurity: Lisa Bonet after her controversial appearance in the movie ''AngelHeart'', in which she appeared nude and had a squicky sex scene.

* ItGotWorse: Vanessa and Clair's relationship over the course of the whole series fits this, especially in season 6 when Clair calls her a wench (though not to her face) and, later on after the [[NoodleIncident Baltimore incident]], outright tells her that she cannot be trusted. Vanessa doesn't appear often enough in the final two seasons for this to be pursued further.
** This may also be a good argument for why Vanessa would have graduated from high school early by attending summer school between seasons 6 and 7: to get away from Clair!

* LargeHam: Jade, girlfriend of Theo's friend Dennis and a drama student: "If truth shall be my companion in the FUHLAAMES...so be it!"
** Just don't call her a ham to her face.
--> "ME? A HAM?! I cannot BELIEVE it! I'm so distraught, I MUST have a cappucino!"

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: There are times when Clair can really be something between a control freak or outright tyrant. While it's most often PlayedForLaughs in her not allowing Cliff to do some things he wants and in other cases, but it really isn't appropriate for her to call ahead to a store where Cliff is a regular customer and telling the owner not to sell him anything; it hurts the guy's business and she has no right to make that kind of demand as it's not her property. The punchline of this every time it comes up is the fact that Clair is a lawyer and she'd fine ''some'' way to get back at them.

* TearJerker: "It seems like just yesterday I was holding my baby in my arms. And today my baby had two babies. Now she's a mother..."
** One-shot character Ray Palamino, played by Sammy Davis Jr., introducing himself to his pregnant granddaughter who he hadn't seen in over 20 years.
** Also Clair's speech to Theo why she's so proud of him graduating from college in the final episode.
** Going back to season 2, there's the letter that Cliff and Clair read to Denise after she announces her college decision.

* RetroactiveRecognition: AdamSandler plays Smitty, one of Theo's high school buddies. Iman and Angela Bassett can be spotted as patients of Cliff.

* TheScrappy: Olivia, possibly bordering on TheWesley.

* CousinOliver: Olivia. She even has the feminine version of the name!

* TheScrappy: Pam Tucker. Heavily evidenced by the fact that her character isn't even mentioned in the "Lookback Special" released as part of the Season 1 DVD collection.

* TheScrappy: Olivia (who is dangerously close to also being TheWesley)
** And later Pam: Heavily evidenced by the fact that her character isn't even mentioned in the "Lookback Special" released as part of the Season 1 DVD collection.

* SmallNameBigEgo: Cliff seriously believes he is ''the'' most distinguished graduate to ever attend Hillman.

* ItGotWorse: Vanessa and Claire's relationship over the course of the whole series fits this, especially in season 6 when Claire calls her a wench (though not to her face) and, later on after the [[NoodleIncident Baltimore incident]], outright tells her that she cannot be trusted. Vanessa doesn't appear often enough in the final two seasons for this to be pursued further.
** This may also be a good argument for why Vanessa would have graduated from high school early by attending summer school between seasons 6 and 7: to get away from Claire!

** Also Claire's speech to Theo why she's so proud of him graduating from college in the final episode.
** Going back to season 2, there's the letter that Cliff and Claire read to Denise after she announces her college decision.

* LargeHam: Jade, girlfriend of Theo's friend Dennis and a drama student: "If truth shall be my companion in the FLAAMES...so be it!"

* AwardSnub: Cosby himself stated that Phylicia Rashad deserved an Emmy for her performance on the show numerous times, but was never even nominated.
** In the "Lookback Special," Cosby again made mention of this, but then said (paraphrasing), "When you look at the kinds of things she'd be up against today, [[TakeThat she doesn't need it]]."

* JumpingTheShark: The series really hit its stride in the second, third, and most of the fourth season. It began to turn downhill a little bit in the fifth and sixth seasons, but was still on top of the game. The seventh season began on a high note, but then came Pam.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Adam Sandler plays Smitty, one of Theo's high school buddies. Iman and Angela Bassett can be spotted as patients of Cliff.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: The many MANY immitators that have come since make even the best of Cosby episodes seem stale and dated.

* DethroningMomentOfSuck: While a lot of people will say that this happened either when Olivia or Pam were introduced, the show didn't really jump the shark until the late in season 7 when pretty much an entire episode was given to the two guest stars and hardly had any of the Huxtables at all. It even ended with a BrokenAesop.
** Several regular supporting characters introduced in early seasons were PutOnABus by the end of the fourth or had very little appearances since: Mr. Lucas, Robert, Cockroach, and Peter.

** And later Pam.