I was discussing this with some people in real life.

IMO its basically our Seinfeld...something overrated but not for its quality but what it represented

When it came on nick at nite that was always my cue to turn the channel
I never laughed...not one time
Name any other black comedy and I bet you it was funnier

And people say...Oh it was the first black show to show people be successful!
I'm trying to find the right way to say this...
Why does successful automatically equal good morally or in quality

It wasn't like they were coonin on good times...making them have more money wouldn't automatically make it a better show

I want a variety of black representation, but how come whenever we do something we have to worry about how were portrayed?

***
I'm tryna be better off, not better than...

.

~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

like, really? You found none of the sketches humorous?

- Theo wanting to move out
- Claire making that long-ass list of shit that bothers her about Cliff
- This: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQcjS8pcVSQ ?

It wasn't funny at all to me

And even if it was...the other black shows knocked it out of the water

Sanford and son was funny

I was watching Roseanne the other day and was rollin

(I know she ain't black)

That clipbu posted was corny...its like look at this cute thing the baby's doing videos that ppl post up

And suddenly i get the target audience. Its like parent humor.

I did. I also grew up watching Bill Cosby Himself once we got a VHS player. This was MY SHIT as a kid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tf1K1P2Skw

Comedy's changed since then. A lot of shit now is so crass and vulgar that I can see how younger folks could think of the Cosby Show (and A Different World) as corny.

"comedy is so crass now"

now.

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

.

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

Not film comedy.

and even with that stipulation it's a stupid statement.

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

Lot of shows weren't vulgar...they were still funny

I ain't giving a show points for being clean

aka, you might be one of these new negroes. I feel sorry for you, man.

fuck.outta.here

shit was funny as hell when it was on.

Turd ass nigga.
______________________________________________________________________________

cscpov.blogspot.com

"There's a fine line between persistence and foolishness..."
-unknown

"To Each His Reach"

both it and A Different World are overrated, although I don't think ADW is held in the same in the black community at large as it is with college educated black people who grew up with it. I'm guessing twentysomethings and fiftysomethings don't fuck with it too tough. I loved it in middle-HS, and my mom thought it was awful. She was right.

Good Times is still good
Sanford and Son is good.

cause they wrong.

There was the Parliament post and some other shit I can't remember right now

bought it on Amazon LOL

....you really had to be watching that shit in 85,86...

YOU HAD TO BE THERE!

*sniffs

Krush Groove, Breakin, Colors, etc...

those movies were THE SHIT when they came out...

but now? they look mad corny.


You are probably one of those people who hate anything that popular tho...

There's a difference

you laughed when it came out, you watched religiously when it came on.

It's over, you lost...

looking back with 20 year old 20/20 hind site isn't impressive. It's fake and lazy.

SOWHAT?

and why Black people love it....

run along youngin

>and why Black people love it....
>
>run along youngin

Shit is trash, #Oscar. Don't know how I ever liked that garbage. The Count counting and shit.

It was educational shit I didn't need help on...with no story line

I liked the stage shows
And the big bird is lost movie

is a FANTASTIC show. There is good kids programming and bad kids programming. Just because you've aged out of it doesn't mean you can no longer appreciate the quality.

can't believe you typed that shit in this post...


and I like those toy story movies but FOH.

Hell, I'm only 3-4 years older than you, but that age gap was enough for me to be into it as a young, young kid. Hell, a lot of our dads really imitated Bill ALL THE TIME, and it was a part of our daily lives, even with me only being a toddler and young kid.

I can actually understand why you think some older AND newer shows are funnier, because they just had a whole different style of comedy. It's similar to music...and I would compare Cosby Show to Thriller more than anything else. Some of us may enjoy albums from James/Prince/Marvin, even early MJ more than Thriller, even though we weren't there for ANY of them. Yet, it's no way to say Thriller isn't good, or even great. And it's no way to take away why it's revered so much.

To see something that reflected their reality on TV.
And others probably just actually liked it

If you gotta be there during the time to appreciate it...you don't get classic status

Someone mentioned Richard Pryor and I was watching his roast the other day...I finally got him

But the Cosby Show doesn't deserve its acclaim
We can disagree but bill argue that shit till death

Most folks don't feel the same way!

That critiques shit during their time or go against anything the youth puts out

You're a DJ so I don't think you're that far gone
But I was in the barbershop and older niggas said Kendrick was just alright...but couldn't be compared to the then greats

Anytime you have to say you had to be there...it says it all. Because there is plenty of older stuff I like...Cosby show is just trash

Well, I loved the Cosby Show and A Different World growing up. But I can also appreciate a great lyricist like Kendrick (TPAB gets much play around me). So I hope I just invalidated your argument. Just cuz I'm old, doesn't mean I can't appreciate new ish. And just cuz you are a youngin, doesn't mean you can't appreciate old shit.

With all that said, I respect your opinion, but you are buggin on the Cosby Show. In this regard, you need to understand the dynamics of TV back then. There were black people on TV, but it seemed like they revolved around a white family. The Cosby Show was the first show that showed middle class blacks with dignity. And that's why it was so revered with us.

Too bad Pill came along and fucked it up!

revisionist history is hilarisad. It was revered because it should have been. Talking about Good Times... so poor black families "I can rock w/ that. That's real!" but well-to-do black families is "Overrated... doesn't hold up." stop.

>revisionist history is hilarisad. It was revered because it
>should have been. Talking about Good Times... so poor black
>families "I can rock w/ that. That's real!" but well-to-do
>black families is "Overrated... doesn't hold up." stop.
>
>

You lack reading comprehension.
I mentioned Good Times because it was a better show...not because I rocked with it

Part of the reason the Cosby show gets its acclaim is because of what it represented.

I'm not going to like a show because of what lifestyle it represents. I care about the content

We don't agree. That is all.

It's clear most of us disagree w/this. As expected.

lol

Lot of jokes and set-ups and situations where you'd get a smile out of it, and then when a big laugh came it was big. But it was definetly a family show and not a "sitcom."

I think the show to comapre it to is Family Ties. For my money Family Ties (well until they had the rapidly aged up kid in Season 5) was FUNNIER - but both were enjoyable.

Skippy > Cockroach.

The Cosby Show and A different World are the weakest NBC Thursday night sitcoms of their era. Family Ties, Cheers and Night Court are better.

But the thing i hated about Cosby was everyone was so perfect


Its like a child's idea of family life
Before they see all the shit they weren't exposed to

And I'm not talking about being 'clean'

Vanessa married a dude her parents hated and they were struggling. Not everything has to be gritty.

Sandra was always fighting with Elvin

Denise was a rebel

Theo was dumb and later found out he had dyslexia.

Vanessa was all types a trouble once she hit puberty

Rudy was pretty rude once she aged out of her cute phase.

were the well to do kids that only a few could relate to

hell Arnold and Willis were realer then them lol

we just enjoyed it because it was new and black and cute for a minute

It was like the whole family was corny

And it didn't have nothing to do with well to do
Carlton was the GOAT and corny...cuz he was funny

than your sister makin you a Gordon Gartrail or marryin a nigga named Dabness

who tried to jump her because she was rich.

my point is it's obvious kids in a home with a Doctor and a Lawyer wouldn't have poor people problems.

but they still touched on the problems kids in their environment would have in the 80's.

I think it's fucked up to think the only time shit is real is if we are living in the PJ's or don't have parents.






and your daughter coming home married to a nigga after a semester of college is a problem.

They even started an epsiode with Will Smith watching the Cosby Show and saying

" the Cosby Show added a poor cousin from the hood...

*stares at camera*

"I wonder where they got that idea from"

The season they introduced Cousin Pam was the season The Fresh Prince premiered. They added Cousin Pam before a single ep of the Fresh Prince ever aired.

>The season they introduced Cousin Pam was the season The
>Fresh Prince premiered. They added Cousin Pam before a single
>ep of the Fresh Prince ever aired.

#actually...5 eps of FP aired before CP was introduced on TCS.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Cosby_Show_episodes#Season_7_.281990.E2.80.9391.29

CP was introduced in an ep that aired on Oct 11, 1990.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Fresh_Prince_of_Bel-Air_episodes#Season_1_.281990.E2.80.9391.29

FP premiered on Sept 10, 1990.

*winces*

I the 4 weeks after the Fresh Prince premiered? If not, Cousin Pam exists before the Fresh Prince aired.

"whoa..Bill Cosby has a streetwise neice coming on his show, that should be decent"


http://www.myvideo.ge/?CIA=1&ci_d=mobile&ci_c=mobile&ci_m=video&video_id=1629212

I think they knew FPOBA was in development and read the writing on the wall. Pam was added bc the show's ratings had dipped - they were trying to keep teens and young adults (us, basically) watching the show.

but even if Pam was added before the first episode of FP you really think it was a coincidence?

FOH... they heard about FP and tried and failed. That cousin Pam shit was a horrible idea.

"If you wanna help us, fine. Sit down with your kids and make 'em study at night...otherwise, shoot THIS mothaf*cka!" (c) Morgan Freeman,

deal with Mad Dog...Thelma had ery nigga in the jects tryin to get in her drawers

who didn't have what you call 'real' problems.

the show didn't purport to show the breadth of 'reality' for BLACK AMERICA. it was about one (fictional) family. and plenty Black folks could and did relate.

i know families like that today and i knew them back then.

part of the point of the show was to expose America (including BLACK America) to the notion that families like that one exist. that not of all us are mired in degradation and drama. again - plenty of us could already relate but a good number of us had our minds blown by that truth.

never had 2 parents and a decent income until this show aired on TV.

I think this is the whole reason some people don't like the Cosby Show. They think it wasn't realistic because it wasn't what we were used to seeing or didn't have a white person saving us.

has ever been to prison. Both of my sisters got married THEN had kids.

of the shit you new school art smart niggas think are better shows... except maybe Family Ties ery now and then...

>The Cosby Show and A different World are the weakest NBC
>Thursday night sitcoms of their era. Family Ties, Cheers and
>Night Court are better.

Let me get my Cosby Bona Fides in:
Picture Pages was my favorite segment on Captain Kangaroo.

I loved watching repeats of The Bill Cosby Show.

Hickey & Boggs is still one of my favorite movies from the 70's buddy cop genre. (it is a bit dark - and they aren't cops - but...)

I have original artwork from Fat Albert hanging at my house.

I have 15-20 Cosby stand up records on vinyl - I've had them since I was a teenager.

But The Cosby Show is not even a top 10 show for me. I remember the cover of TV guide in 1982 when it started - I actively watched episodes up until 1988. But I tended to like Cosby's acting way more than watching any of the family's issues.


Cheers may be the GOAT sitcom of all time. (And dark.)
Seasons 3-7 of Night Court beat any single season of cheers.
Cosby was a show that showed the black middle class like no show before it.

I think before that that Julia (starring Diahann Carroll) was the most "normal" middle class black woman on TV. And that show was widely critisized / ripped apart during it's run.

being funnier... not only that, but one ups him LOL

I'm tellin ya... happens like clockwork with this guy

Now Alex Keaton > Theo Huxatable

That I agree with.

I literally don't remember one episode. I remember the young daughter looking like a cabbage patch doll and Michael J Fox was a republican.

but that's it.

The scenarios and sketches were just classic story-telling and writing. It's easy to see in retrospect when you re-watch 'Family Ties' or something else like that. Cosby was just vastly superior in the writing compared to all the other sitcoms. It wasn't until the emergence of Roseanne that another sitcom was written that good.

The show was an extension of his stand-up style....which was also hyper-focused on writing structure. He was a more of a story-teller than a joke-teller. One of the all-time greats.

The Show was entertaining. It didnt have to be 'slap yo thigh, real tears falling down your cheek' funny. I often laughed but not at the entire cast just mainly Bill and Buuuuud (Lil Cuz was hilarious yo!) Also, it was uplifting to see a 'well to do' african american family on television. If you lived where I lived in the late 80's (Pagedale, Missouri) during the crack epidemic, some good ole black wholesomeness went a long way.

BTW, Seinfeld is not overrated.

>BTW, Seinfeld is not overrated.

That I'm not going to make.
But yes it waaaaaaas!

were the main draws once the show took off.

at least they were for me.

Cosby paraded a slew of guests who were/are luminaries in the art world - famous writers, actors, painters and musicians. most of them were Black and underrated/unsung...at least among the youth and even some of the adults who watched the show. i didn't recognize many of those ppl at first - i learned most of them in retrospect. and the show had already exposed them to me a bit out of their main context. i appreciated the show for it.

kid. Then I catch them on Nick at Night and TV Land, whatever.
Alot of them do not stand up to the test of time. Has nothing to do with the show, you taste change as you grow.

With that said, you = everyone else. You don't find the show funny thats cool, but don't do this "why does everyone else find it funny" horseshit. Its cause people found it funny.

I didn't say it shouldn't exist
But people elevated it to something else

Niggas can whine about Drake or whatever new shit of the month
So I will too

It was well written, the cast had charisma with each other.

You should approach The Cosboy Show as a Drama/Comedy.
Seinfeld was just COMEDY.

Nigga came running, like daddy is that you?

(╯︵╰,)

had the self defeatist "i despise back people who like black things" vibe to it.

haha, i didn't catch that.

>When it came on nick at nite that was always my cue to turn
>the channel

WAT. What's Nick at Nite? How old are you?

>I never laughed...not one time
>Name any other black comedy and I bet you it was funnier
>
>And people say...Oh it was the first black show to show people
>be successful!
>I'm trying to find the right way to say this...

>Why does successful automatically equal good morally or in
>quality

It means good morally and quality when THERE ARE BARELY ANY AFRICAN-AMERICAN SITCOMS THAT PORTRAY US IN A POSITIVE LIGHT ON TELEVISION... especially at the time.

>
>It wasn't like they were coonin on good times...making them
>have more money wouldn't automatically make it a better show
>
>I want a variety of black representation, but how come
>whenever we do something we have to worry about how were
>portrayed?

The portrayal is important because these shows often speak to the rest of America that does not interact with us on a daily basis. It might not mean much to you, holier-than-thou-ass-above-it-all-ass nigga you are, but to the rest of us this means a lot. We should have pride in how we are portrayed on television.

I don't look at TV to make me feel good about being black

>I don't look at TV to make me feel good about being black
>
>

It's important that positive representations of any ethnic background exist on television, as it informs, the vast majority of people that could never interact with them, about the particular ethnic group.

who let TV tell them how to feel about themselves and how they should feel about other people.

It's called programming for a reason bruh...

so it's odd to hear you say you are ANNOYED because Black people loved seeing a positive representation of themselves on TV.

It wasn't any better than other black shoes, and I'd argue that it wasn't as good

Yet because mama was a lawyer and daddy was a doctor it made history

great shows that were propped up for different reasons.

You just annoyed because you weren't in that family.

And the Cosby show got love unlike any of those other shows

If JJ got caught doing Percy shit wouldn't no one be crying like look what they trying to do to black america!

Those other shows ain't have the same impact

is it because your daddy was a lawyer that you can't see how this show was important to Black America?

You that far gone that you can't see that shit?

Smh... you need to do better irl. this post is a failure bruh.

"If you wanna help us, fine. Sit down with your kids and make 'em study at night...otherwise, shoot THIS mothaf*cka!" (c) Morgan Freeman,

But, in retrospect, I think that was because I was jealous of Theo's ability to be a shameless cornball. I'm corny too, but I've always felt pressure to cover it up or hide it somehow. He got to avoid that because that's how they wrote his character.

Which of its contemporaries should've replaced it in the hearts of (black) America?

plus his dad was a lawyer so it's understandable why he doesn't get it.

possibly the closest, since it had more balance on the "cool/edgy" side of things.

that shit would have me dying on the regular on nick at nite.

I just hated how it was held up by Respectable Negroes as the best black shit ever.

in the basement,

or vanessa getting in some type of trouble

"I love you, Jeremy!"

n/m

i appreciate it's place in our history but it was "cute" but never funny.

~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

We have limited representation in this country (as well as a history of oppression).
People appreciated a show that showed us as successful without some kind of white
savior figure or having to show a white person in every frame... as a matter of fact,
it was almost all Black faces all the time. Shit was groundbreaking.
It's cool if you ain't like it. Everybody don't like everything... but to act like you don't
see why people revered it or to even sneer at said reverence is either VERY ignorant
or just plain contrarian asshole shit.

That's my problem
We free now
I'm Black, and I'm not going to support something because of what it represents
Even though it literally bores me out of attention

If you think its good, fine
I'm not even debating that any more but I disagree

BTW...white man made money off the Cosby show
I should put money in his pocket because he appealed to y'all basic negro feel good sensibilities?
Nah...I'll put money in his pocket over something that's actually good

FOH that we shouldn't criticize something because its historic... Same thing Bill Cosby defenders said

>That's my problem
>We free now
>I'm Black, and I'm not going to support something because of
>what it represents

Nigga, how you think we got free?! Cosby paved the way for television to look how it looks today and you're shittin' on the show because it bores your feeble little mind that can probably pay attention to something in 10 second spurts. You ungrateful sob...

If it wasn't the Cosby show, it would've been someone else
Congrats?

>That's my problem
>We free now
>I'm Black, and I'm not going to support something because of
>what it represents




So, to hell with Harrient Tubman, Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, Frederick Douglas, etc.
Because you's free naa, so fuck anything they did and said, right?





>BTW...white man made money off the Cosby show
>I should put money in his pocket because he appealed to y'all
>basic negro feel good sensibilities?


You're not even making any logical sense by saying this


>Nah...I'll put money in his pocket over something that's
>actually good



Oh, now I get it... you're just determined to put money in the "white man's" pocket
and enjoy doing so over ignorance. At least you're honest I guess.



>FOH that we shouldn't criticize something because its
>historic... Same thing Bill Cosby defenders said


This is failed logic yet again. I didn't even say praise the show, but even if I did,
equating that to a rape case is absurd. You're really sounding like you off some
type of meds right now fam.

>So, to hell with Harrient Tubman, Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey,
>Frederick Douglas, etc.
>Because you's free naa, so fuck anything they did and said,
>right?

I didn't know Mr. Pudding pops kept such good company. Even before the rape shit, that's a Reed Richards level reach.

>I didn't know Mr. Pudding pops kept such good company. Even
>before the rape shit, that's a Reed Richards level reach.
>


"I'm not going to support something because of what it represents"

That's the statement you made. YOU said "something" not "Mr. Pudding Pops".
Even still, this isn't just about Bill Cosby. But you're twisting in a pretzel trying to
deny that, so gone head widit.

and alot of folks were feeling it as a escape. Pino in Do the Right THing would agree.

yall wild...

if you gonna try and treat the subjective as have objective traits...stay consistent

yes...it is annoying how those in search of "respectable" images hold it in such high regard

it was a family show...it wasn't really a sitcom

that being said...Bill was the main draw...the kids were cool...the stories were cool...the setups and such were cool...but Bill was hilarious and the writing and acting was solid...

comparing it to other shows...it was good on many fronts...better in than some...

it was more well-written than shows that i personally like more like "Fresh Prince" and ones i didn't like more like Good Times...

like any show...it had it's strengths and had it's weaknesses and comparing it to Seinfeld which i hate is just uggghh

Wonder Years was probably the only show that was significantly better than it in that lane...it had the biggest star of any of the other family shows besides Fresh Prince though