The show's history

[FOLN@NFan]

whats up w/ all the missing cast from lots of seasons?? and what were this shows spinoffs? this is a (nother) show that i remember when i was little, and i know nothin about it lol

Doug

[Brad]

Doug,

The show ran from 1984-1992 on NBC. It aired Thursday nights at 8:00 PM for most of its run.

As for missing cast members, I'm not sure what you mean, but I can take a stab at it.

Sabrina LeBeauf (Sondra) didn't join the cast until the tenth episode. It's pretty funny to hear Cliff talk about how he has four children in the first episode.

Geoffrey Owens (Elvin) joined the show a little later. I believe it was in the second season.

Lisa Bonet (Denise) left the show during the fourth season to take the character to her own spinoff, "A Different World." She left that show, which was originally based around her character, after only one season and returned to "The Cosby Show" in 1988 as a recurring guest star. At that point, she was pregnant with her first child with Lenny Kravitz and was written off the show (Denise went to South America, I believe). She returned in the 1989 season with a new husband and step-daughter. Bonet was fired in 1990, never to return to the show.

Joseph C. Phillips (Martin Kendall) joined the cast in 1989 as Denise's new husband. Raven-Symone showed up at the same time as his daughter, Olivia.

Erika Alexander (Pam) joined in 1990. She was cast as Clair's streetwise second cousin who came to live with the Huxtables.

In 1990, Fox put "The Cosby Show"'s popularity to the test by putting "The Simpsons" up against the show. "The Simpsons" ultimately won the ratings war and the cast and crew decided to end the show in May of 1992.

[ThomasE]

Actually Lisa was let go in the spring of 1991 and the show aired at 8:30pm from July to September of 1992 and the Cosby Show still came over the top when it came to the Simpsons.

[FOLN@NFan]

ok thanks!

[ClesStahn]

I wonder what she did to get fired...

[Superbatboy]

The Simpsons really messed up The Cosby Show's ratings.

But TCS did EXCELLENT most of the time it was on

(1984-1985) #3
(1985-1986) #1
(1986-1987) #1
(1987-1988) #1
(1988-1989) #1
(1989-1990) #1 *tied with Roseanne for the top spot
(1990-1991) #5 *Simpsons in the same time slot
(1991-1992) #18 *Simpsons totally ruin TCS ratings