mental_floss magazine
SUBSCRIBE >
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS >
DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS >
subscriber services >
When The Cosby Show premiered in 1984, many media critics tripped over themselves trying to point out that no “real” African-American family lived like the Huxtables. Cultural relevance and political correctness aside, syndicated reruns have taught us that The Cosby Show endures because it delivered laughs along with warm fuzzies. The Huxtables provided a loving family atmosphere (along with an impressively appointed house) where audiences could escape for 30 minutes each week.
1. Why Rudy was a girl
The original concept for The Cosby Show called for four Huxtable children—two girls and two boys. The youngest child, Rudy, was supposed to be a son. But despite auditioning hundreds of young male actors, the producers still felt that they hadn’t found “the one.” When they opened up the auditions to females, Keshia Knight Pulliam immediately won them over. The littlest Huxtable child thus became a girl, and Keshia subsequently became the youngest actress ever to be nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Emmy, at the tender age of six.
2. How the Huxtable family suddenly grew
During the pilot episode, Clair asked Cliff, “Why did we have four children?” And he responded, “Because we didn’t want five.” Originally, Denise was the oldest, followed by Theo, Vanessa, and Rudy. But once the series was poised to become a hit, Bill Cosby decided to add an additional older child—one who was away at college and was thus a result of successful parenting. Enter Princeton student Sondra, the eldest Huxtable child. Sabrina LeBeauf won the role despite stiff competition from Whitney Houston and future Miss America Suzette Charles. By the way, Sabrina LeBeauf was only 10 years younger than her TV mom, Phylicia Rashad.
3. The mystery of the disappearing characters
During the 1986-1987 season of The Cosby Show, Theo’s close friend and co-conspirator was Walter “Cockroach” Bradley. Carl Anthony Payne played the role in 12 episodes of the series, and might have featured in more had he not had a falling-out with Bill Cosby. Payne had decided to grow his hair out, despite Dr. Cosby’s preference for a clean-cut style among the male actors on his show. When Payne failed to comply, the Cockroach character was summarily squashed. As for Rudy’s silent chubby friend Peter, who always responded to trouble by running away, his only crime was Time. He was growing up, and while the writers could come up with story lines to accommodate Keshia Knight Pulliam’s maturation, it was easier to simply eliminate a one-note character like Peter once he outgrew his part.
4. How the Cos handled his Wild Child
With her typical teenage carefree attitude and her cutting-edge fashion sense, Denise Huxtable became an audience favorite early in the series. Lisa Bonet, who portrayed the character, received the most fan mail and was the media darling during the first season of the show, particularly amongst male teenagers. Bonet exhibited unprofessional behavior on the set (arriving late every day, being argumentative, etc.), so Cosby chose to pass the buck by “spinning off” her character into her own series, A Different World. Always a cheerleader when it came to touting higher education, Cosby was eager to spotlight the daily lives of students at a predominantly black university. Bonet thumbed her nose at this opportunity, however, and disrupted things further by announcing her pregnancy and engagement to musician Lenny Kravitz. Ever-tolerant Cosby temporarily brought Denise back to the Huxtable fold (until oversized shirts failed to conceal her impending motherhood) and then sent her character off to Africa to work as a photographer’s assistant.
5. How Bill Cosby’s life subtly intertwined with Cliff Huxtable’s
Clair Huxtable’s maiden name was Hanks, which is also the maiden name of Cosby’s real-life wife Camille. On The Cosby Show, Cliff’s mother’s name is Anna, just like Bill’s real mom. His TV dad was called Russell in honor of Cosby’s younger brother–you may remember him using the name on his comedy albums (To My Brother Russell, Whom I Slept With) and also in the animated Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. And Cosby’s TV son Theo Huxtable was eventually diagnosed with dyslexia, as was Bill’s late son, Ennis Cosby, who was murdered in 1997.
Learn juicy tidbits about Cheers, Frasier, The Golden Girls and more in Kara’s TV-Holic Archive.
More from mental_floss…
11 Famous Actors and the Big TV Roles They Turned Down
*
What 8 Classic TV Shows Were Almost Called
*
The Early TV Appearances of 7 Famous Stars
*
11 Things Wal-Mart Has Banned
*
15 Companies That Originally Sold Something Else
*
10 Secret Menu Items at Fast Food Restaurants
*
How Do Countries Choose Which Side To Drive On?
*
10 Technologies We Stole From the Animal Kingdom
*
The Mojave Desert’s Airplane Graveyard: A Photo Tour
*
Why Does Bottled Water Have An Expiration Date?
*
Shoeless, Yogi & Catfish? How 16 Athletes Got Their Nicknames
*
31 Unbelievable High School Mascots
Comments (25)
Comment
- Follow mental_floss
Is it sad that I already knew all of this?
A bit of trivia: Today is Keshia Knight Pulliam’s birthday.
posted by Jane on 4-9-2008 at 4:12 pm
posted by David on 4-9-2008 at 4:56 pm
Whenever you see Mr. Cosby wearing a shirt that reads “Hello Friend” it’s in honor of his late, and only son. That was how he would greet people and it’s the name of the charity to help kids with learning disabilities. Ennis was murdered while changing his own tire on the side of the road, unlike the spoiled young celebs of today who just leave the car and just go buy a new one.
My 13 year old son just watched the Fat Albert Movie and he really enjoyed it. I just went out and bought the animated Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids Greatest Hits with 20 shows. It’s fun rewatching them and seeing some new ones :D
posted by CropTillDawn on 4-9-2008 at 4:58 pm
Thanks for that! More TV mysteries please…
posted by Anomalista` on 4-10-2008 at 3:12 am
I loved The Cosby Show while growing up, and i knew Lisa Bonet was thrown out of the show for bad conduct, but i had heard it was drug use.
Nice to know she was just being bratty. Love TV trivia.
posted by Missy Diaz on 4-10-2008 at 11:25 am
The first husband of Phylicia Rashad in real life was the motorcycle cop from the Village People.
posted by Roy Williams on 4-10-2008 at 10:42 pm
Wait. The cop from The Village People…is…straight? Does that mean some OTHER members are straight too? OK, I’m off to rethink everything I thought I knew. THANKS MENTAL FLOSS!
posted by PupTentacle on 4-14-2008 at 1:46 pm
Like many people between 25 and 40, I grew up watching the Cosby Show. My siblings and I are all white, middle class Jews from the same two loving parents, who have been married for almost 41 years. The show reinforced the lessons my parents taught us: regardless of race, religion, etc., we really are all the same.
The color of Dr. Huxtable’s skin (or anyone elses’ for that matter) has never been an issue for me. He was very much like my own father-kind, loving and supportive. In fact I saw him as “my TV dad.” My parents did not allow us to watch TV unless our homework was done. I used to slack off on doing my homework for most of the week. The Cosby Show was on Thursday nights. It was on Thursday nights I got to visit with “my TV dad.” My homework was always done on Thursdays.
posted by Andrew on 4-25-2008 at 4:54 pm
I wasn’t a big original cosby show fan…but when he came back with a fresh show with Doug E. Doug, it was fantastic!
posted by sir jorge on 5-6-2008 at 6:45 pm
It was pointed out to me that in a house with growing kids, and friends coming in and out of the house all the time, why was there only a quart of milk at a time in the fridge?
posted by Amity on 5-12-2008 at 8:31 pm
The final straw for ‘Wild Child’ on TCS was her co-starring in the film “Angel Heart”, which featured her teenaged voodoo priestess character in an emotionally disturbing (simulated) sex scene and showed her topless a couple of times. (Not to mention that the film was just plain raw at other times.)
Although this role did wonders for her indie cred, it would never be confused with goody-goody Denise. It handed “marketably wholesome” TCS the perfectly media-correct opportunity to rid itself of her increasingly diva-esque antics.
(She’s still acting. In fact, she’s been announced for the now-in-production Coen Bros. remake of “Gambit”. [I hope it's another strong role, Lilakoi Moon!])
posted by louis_cyphre on 5-25-2008 at 8:39 pm
The realk Mystery associated with Bill Cosby is how he allowed himself to be fitted with the two series that he had before “The Cosby Show.”
The First if I recall correctly was a weekly sitcom about an inner city High School Phys. Ed Teacher/Coach. he had a few of his routines, such as “The handball Court” in one episode. But most of the others were lame.
posted by Dr. D on 6-5-2008 at 10:47 am
What was the name (and story) of the little girl who appears late in the show? Wasnt she Denise´s daughter? I love this show…
posted by GTT on 6-30-2008 at 12:28 pm
Olivia!
Denise’s step-daughter Olivia Kendall.
(imdb.com/name/nm0712368/)
posted by Jason English on 6-30-2008 at 12:48 pm
TCS trivia: When Denise returns home from Africa, Martin–whom she married while in Africa without her parents’ knowledge–comes with her. The actor that plays Martin had also appeared on the show a few seasons earlier, but as Sondra’s boyfriend.
(That was obviously before Sondra met Elvin.)
posted by Elizabeth on 7-24-2008 at 2:12 pm
wow reading some of you guys comments…really gives me more clues about the show that I didn’t know.
posted by Mona on 11-27-2008 at 7:23 pm
my cousin played the twin son of elvin and sondra…woopdee doo lol
posted by Hunnid on 11-28-2008 at 12:08 am
Olivia was played by raven symone. who now has her own show on the Disney channel “that’s so raven”. and like every other disney star she’s putting out albums…she was formerly a cheeta girl.
posted by Rachel on 12-10-2008 at 11:20 pm
I was a bit distracted by their thin glass front door and the idea of an OB/GYN office in the basement… but oh, well. :)
I still love Claire’s rant to Vanessa about having “BIG FUN in Baltimorrrrre!” It’s on YouTube!
posted by Amanda on 1-3-2009 at 5:37 pm
Wasn’t Olivia played by Raven Symone? THE Raven Symone? Correct me if I’m wrong.
posted by Blessing on 3-9-2009 at 9:40 pm
Yep, little Olivia was played by Raven-Symone. I was watching a bit of “That’s So Raven” at work (we turn the TV in the kids’ area to Disney), and was surprised to see how much she’d grown (and saddened to see how much older I was).
Also, Keshia Knight-Pulliam is in the movie adaptation of “Madea Goes to Jail.” In an interview she did a few weeks ago, she said she was turning 30 this year. If THAT doesn’t make you feel old (like it did with me), nothing will!
posted by Steve on 3-16-2009 at 4:10 pm
Oh yeah, almost forgot… I didn’t know Carl Anthony Payne was Cockroach. All I knew him from was Martin, where he played his friend Cole.
posted by Steve on 3-16-2009 at 4:14 pm
My favorite episode is when Rudy was having a party with ehr little friends and Dr. Huxtable was giving teh kids “horsey” rides on his knee. When it came to be Peter’s turn Cliff got a look of dread on his face and did teh slowest “horsey” ride ever! Classic…waht was the name of Rudy’s obnoxious, know-it-all (or so he thought) friend/”boyfriend”…was it kenny?
posted by Chris on 6-17-2009 at 5:18 pm
His name is Kenny but she called him “bud”
posted by Karissa on 7-24-2009 at 12:02 am
Kenny aka “Bud” is now Gus on the USA series Psych
posted by Justin on 9-25-2009 at 10:25 am