It was a monster hit inspired by the comedy and life experiences of its star, Bill Cosby, as shown in the new biography Cosby: His Life and Times. In the book, author Mark Whitaker makes a strong argument that Cosby's comedic style and approach to race issues turned The Cosby Show into television's most quietly subversive program.
The Cosby Show rarely came off like a revolutionary situation comedy — especially because the situations, often centered on loving-yet-sardonic parents Cliff and Clair Huxtable, seemed so ordinary.
"I was a beautiful woman once, before the children came," Phylicia Rashad's Clair says in one scene to Bill Cosby's Cliff. "Do you think when they grow up I'll be beautiful again?"
Cosby delivered the punch line, speaking for many an exasperated parent: "I just hope they get out of the house before we die."
