YMMV / Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids

• Alternate Aesop Interpretation: "The Gunslinger" was clearly intended to deliver your standard "guns aren't toys" message, but it does illustrate two important principles of gun safety that are usually overlooked in that sort of story: "Don't use ammunition other than what your gun is designed for" and "only use ammunition you've obtained from a reputable source".
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Mushmouth and Dumb Donald comes to mind from the Cosby Kids. Mushmouth and Bucky never had their own solo episode but Mushmouth is still the most loved out of most of the cast.
  • Brown Hornet is also popular despite being a show in a show segment.
  • Fernando is well-remembered as the only character that died in the show via gunshot, after making a Heroic Sacrifice to save his brother.
• Fair for Its Day: The episode with Dennis, a mentally challenged boy. Despite usage of "retarded" to describe his disability, the episode shows that, in spite of said disability, he could do almost as much, and he does need help from time to time, but that wouldn’t let him get in his way.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Safe to say that anytime the boys were tackled with anything of a sexual nature (such as a friend of theirs having some pornography for a lesson about good and bad sources) are a lot harder to watch since Cosby's rape allegations were brought into light.
  • Cosby's monologue at the end of the episode "Busted" reeks of this, especially after he was sentenced to 3 to 10 years in jail.
    "All of those people who are in prison right now were kids once, just like you. They went to school. They had girlfriends, boyfriends. They played baseball. Rode their bikes. Just like you! And then, somewhere along the way, they did something wrong. Something dumb. Maybe it was getting mixed up with a bad crowd, or maybe it was shoplifting, or stealing a car. Whatever it was, it probably started small. Became bigger. Maybe they even got away with it at first, and thought, they'd never get caught. But they were wrong. Now, they're in prison."
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • Fat Albert himself is literally a walking example of this.
  • Whenever Rudy shows he has a heart. A notable example include the aforementioned episode when he expresses shock and sympathy for Roberta when he overhears that her parents are divorcing.
    • Another (and earlier) divorce-related episode, "Mom or Pop" also qualifies, especially since Rudy accidentally finds out the hard way: when the gang tries to find out what Flora has in her little pink bag: Rudy attempts to snatch it and it rips apart, revealing a toy puppy. Flora breaks down in tears, revealing the puppy is from her father and that her parents recently divorced. The song at the end also qualifies as this big-time.
    • In "Pot of Gold", Rudy is eager to try marijuana, when a fellow student, Patty, starts using it. However, he instantly panics when he sees Patty drunkenly dancing in the middle of the street, and manages to save her with Fat Albert's help.
    • The Easter Special has the gang attempt to surprise Mudfoot by cleaning his house and helping out with his bills. When Rudy tries to play a prank on the gang by greasing the ladder, Mudfoot climbs up on it and ends up seriously injured. A self-loathing Rudy is overcome with guilt when Mudfoot is taken to the hospital, to the point of nearly hurting himself while trying to help with Mudfoot's bills. Fat Albert eventually sneaks into the hospital and tells Mudfoot what happened, convincing him to pull through for Rudy's sake. Mudfoot recovers, and his reunion with Rudy is absolutely touching.
  • The gang's relationship with Mudfoot in general.
  • In "Mister Big Time", Franny spoils the gang a bunch of material possessions which came from his brother, Muggles, only for Fat Albert to find out that Muggles is a drug dealer. Fat Albert is incredibly conflicted, but reluctantly decides to help the police arrest Muggles. An outraged Franny disowns Fat Albert as a friend, causing the latter to worry that the rest of the gang will do the same, now that they won't be getting free gifts anymore. Thankfully, his friends applaud Fat Albert for doing the right thing.
  • After spending most of "The Newcomer" grouching over having a new baby sister, Dumb Donald becomes a loving brother to her at the end when she's finally born.
  • Fat Albert's interactions with Roberta in "Sweet Sorrow" when the latter is trying to come to terms with her parents getting a divorce. This is particularly noteworthy compared to the previous episode, "Spare the Rod", where Patrice (who, understandably, dealt with an abusive mother) still acted cold to Fat Albert while he tried to help her. "Sweet Sorrow" is a sweeter departure from this; even though Roberta is incredibly depressed over her own matter, she still treats Fat Albert much nicer than Patrice ever did. Even if she almost took her anger out on the gang during hockey practice, she was quick to come to her senses once she sees both her parents (albeit sitting separately) in the audience, having came to support her. She's even kind enough to join the gang in their clubhouse, when Fat Albert invites her to watch "The Brown Hornet" with them, marking one of the few times in the series that this happens.
  • Similarly, Fat Albert's friendship with the shy Rosita in "Habla Espanol". While Rudy teases her for stumbling at English, Fat Albert helps Rosita appreciate her Mexican heritage, especially when the two help a fellow Hispanic neighbor put out a fire.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "HEY, HEY, HEEEY!"
  • "That episode of Fat Albert where..." which is usually followed with a plot point that you don't expect to see in a kid's show.
  • Beautiful In His Own Way Albert has become a popular joke towards political correctness and how they wouldn't be able to get away with having a show called "Fat Albert" today.
  • A clip of Weird Harold walking up to Albert and angrily yelling "I win!" began making rounds around Twitter in late 2018.
  • The entire show became one in April 2017 alongside Steve Harvey for some reason.
  • The moment where the teacher uses the word "retarded" to refer to a new student (along with Fat Albert's reaction) has taken off for obvious reasons.
  • The entire second half of Busted episode.
• Moment of Awesome: Mudfoot's intervention during Tyrone's (the Scrooge Expy from the The Fat Albert Christmas Special) conniption. It can be viewed here.
  • Special mention goes to the Double Cross episode where Mudfoot's Jewish Rabbi friend tells Albert about his experiences as a Jewish prisoner in the Nazi concentrations camps. We also see the tatooed numbers on his arm. Albert later saves the life of the racist gang leader George after he accidentally slipped and hung for his life off the roof of a Synagogue that he had just vandalized. Despite Cosby's in-episode comment that Albert should probably have waited for the rescue professionals instead of risking his own life, the scene clearly indicates that George lost his grip before they had time to set up the rescue ladder. He survived only because Albert was close enough to catch him. There is absolutely no indication that George is grateful for being saved or that he is ashamed of his actions, however, but as he and his friends are headed for jail, it's neither here nor there.
• Narm: Some of the serious moments are somewhat undercut by the flat, staccato line readings of some of the minor characters.
  • Another moment occurs in "Mainstream" when Fat Albert tells Rudy about Dennis's mental disability. Judging by the dialogue, Rudy is supposed to feel sorry for Dennis upon hearing this, but thanks to the animation errors, it looks like Rudy is still making fun of him up until he sees that a tearful Dennis has overheard.
• Nightmare Fuel: The scene in "Busted" when the kids were at the prison, those prisoners were downright terrifying. See for yourself.
• Signature Scene: The show had a lot of fondly-remembered moments but the shocking ones stand out the most.
  • The entire second half of Busted where Albert and his friends visits a prison.
  • Fernando's death.
  • "Dennis is retarded".
• So Bad, It's Good: The show’s animation is so awful and looped that you can’t help but laugh.
• Values Dissonance:
  • Some episodes ended with wrongdoers getting off easy or with a slap on the wrist. One episode with a graffiti vandal had said vandal simply being forced to clean up everything and another had a habitual thief simply get off on probation. Had these stories taken place today, it's likely that these rogues were more likely to go straight to prison. Of course, in today's America with the subjects of overcriminalization and overincarceration being hot political topics, a lot of people might say, "Why were the 70s more enlightened than we are?"
  • In one episode, a child with special needs joins the class. The teacher pulls Albert over and literally describes the boy as ‘retarded’. Nowadays, a teacher would never dream of using that term to describe a disabled student, nor would the term ever be used on a kids show, but in 1979, the word didn’t have nearly the kind of negative connotations it has now. Since when the show initially aired, the word in question was a genuine medical term for a mental disability. It wasn't until later, with people using it as an insult that it morphed into a slur.
  • Bucky and Mushmouth's designs would almost certainly not be acceptable today as they resemble the racially stereotypical characters you'd see in Looney Tunes cartoons from the 1940s.
• Values Resonance: Despite the list of dissonant values mentioned above, a few episodes had messages that remain relevant in contemporary society.
  • "The Tomboy" shows an athletic girl named Penny showing off her skills in various sports, while Albert impresses everyone with his ability to bake, even beating Penny in a head-to-head contest. Showing that boys and girls can enjoy whatever activity they choose and not fall into gender roles because of peer pressure is always important.
  • In "How the West Was Lost," the Junkyard Gang meets a new indigenous student named Johnny and immediately assume that he'll be a Magical Native American who can do all manner of tricks, since they've only ever seen native peoples depicted in Western culture. Johnny is firmly not a stereotype, though, and the kids decide (after a little help from Mudfoot) to actually learn about indigenous peoples and treat Johnny with respect. Seeing a non-stereotypical Native American was groundbreaking in the 1970's and still relevant in the 2020s.
  • "Junk Food" features an early example of A Weighty Aesop that surprisingly isn't about weight loss. Albert and his friend Slim eat too much junk food and go to a dentist, who tells them about the importance of a balanced diet. Albert decides to try it out, but instead of losing weight, he finds himself having more energy and doing better in sports, while Slim, who sticks with sweets, suffers from sugar crashes and digestive problems. The morals "Eating a variety of foods will keep you healthy" and the related "The goal of health is not to be thin, but perform as best you can" are just as vital in the twenty-first century as they were in the 70's, especially as new information about the dangers of restrictive dieting (especially for children) becomes available.
  • Bill Cosby's closing monologue in "Double Cross" cautions viewers to take racists seriously before they get powerful and influential enough to become a serious threat. And not be fooled by racists and bigots who are targeting some other group but seem to be leaving yours alone. He was probably referring indirectly to the famous passage by Martin Niemöller that begins with "First they came...". Very relevant now due to movements such as the rising proliferation of White Supremacist groups (who often rely on Token Minority grifters excusing their behavior to gaslight people into thinking they're not racist) and the attempts by the Black Lives Matter movement to expose systemic racism.
  • "Teen Mom" revolves around the gang trying to help a friend with her newly found motherhood after she becomes pregnant. What makes this affective is that she goes through real issues that all new mothers face. Plus, the gang and her mother don't give up on her. In today’s day and age, when teen parents or people that have kids out of wedlock are slut-shamed, exploited, disowned by their own parents and are prejudged for it, this episode is way ahead of its time.
• What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: Several episodes, including the ones about prison (which had swear words) and gang violence (which had a young boy get killed in the crossfire of a gang war), had material that many parents would probably not want their kids to watch, at least alone.
  • South Park once lampooned this when Stan's mom demanded Stan and Kyle watch The Fat Abbott Show instead of Terrance & Philip, and Stan found that Fat Abbott is filled with swearing, violence and terrible life lessons.

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