Summertime Roundtable: The Cosby Show—“The Infantry Has Landed (And They’ve Fallen Off The Roof)”
In Warren Littlefield’s new book about his time at NBC during the ’80s and ’90s, he tells a story about watching the pilot episode of The Cosby Show. There’s a scene where Cliff confronts Theo about his bad grades, and Theo says he might not be on the path to a high-paying professional career like his parents’, but they should still love him “for who I am.” Littlefield writes that “the audience, led by the young people, really applauded Theo for standing up to his father. They were on his side.” Then Cliff says, “Theo, that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. You’re going to study because I said so. I brought you into this world, and I can take you out.” Littlefield writes that the same audience that had just joined in on the rote applause of Theo’s “I gotta be me” line went crazy applauding: “It was as if they were saying, ‘God Bless you, Bill Cosby, for taking back your role as a parent and telling these spoiled children to study… The younger members appreciated Theo’s speech, but then when Bill said, ‘I can take you out,’ everyone in the audience was united; the place went nuts. At that moment, it felt like breakthrough television.”
