Um...yeah, what I said in the headline. Posting this because it was a hallmark show, and because I need to stop thinking about the stupid, depressing shit in my life.
I started rewatching the series recently. And a few things stood out to me. First, Cliff Huxtables was a goofball, but he was neither stupid nor evil. Most of the times when he told his kids that they were messing up, he had a pretty good point. I know I kinda wave off the "stupid father" stereotype that gets used in shows and commercials, but it actually is nice to see a guy who, although not good at everything, is actually both a good guy, and pretty smart, but still flawed.
Clair was often the same. Rougher with the kids, and a bit shrill (occasionally cussing in Spanish), but what she did usually made sense, given the circumstances.
And last person I'll note is Theo, since in an odd way, he's kinda the Uncle Iroh of the show.
Bear with me here.
He was, in a strange way, a focus of the show. The pilot featured him giving a heartwarming "accept me the way I am" speech to Cliff...only to have Cliff throw his speech against the wall. The ending was of his graduating from college, after struggling, being diagnosed with Dyslexia, and pushing trough it. He was not the main focus, per se, but he was a lynchpin - much like Iroh was in Last Airbender. Although Iron was clearly much wiser, and I am mixing genres...
One last thing...The Cosby Show was black. And I don't mean it like the Jeffersons or anything, but in a very real way. Theo had an anti-apartheid poster in his room, wasn't ever brought up. Cliff once told his kids to wait "under the car" after they lost Rudy. Rudy herself referred to her friend Kenny as "Buuuud!" Cliff once battle-danced against a semi-famous tap dancer. This was really cool to me when it aired, and be black, without being aggressively so, and it'll work. They weren't angry, they weren't going to marches, they weren't calling white people "honky", it's just a black family, the end. I really loved that.
I started rewatching the series recently. And a few things stood out to me. First, Cliff Huxtables was a goofball, but he was neither stupid nor evil. Most of the times when he told his kids that they were messing up, he had a pretty good point. I know I kinda wave off the "stupid father" stereotype that gets used in shows and commercials, but it actually is nice to see a guy who, although not good at everything, is actually both a good guy, and pretty smart, but still flawed.
Clair was often the same. Rougher with the kids, and a bit shrill (occasionally cussing in Spanish), but what she did usually made sense, given the circumstances.
And last person I'll note is Theo, since in an odd way, he's kinda the Uncle Iroh of the show.
Bear with me here.
He was, in a strange way, a focus of the show. The pilot featured him giving a heartwarming "accept me the way I am" speech to Cliff...only to have Cliff throw his speech against the wall. The ending was of his graduating from college, after struggling, being diagnosed with Dyslexia, and pushing trough it. He was not the main focus, per se, but he was a lynchpin - much like Iroh was in Last Airbender. Although Iron was clearly much wiser, and I am mixing genres...
One last thing...The Cosby Show was black. And I don't mean it like the Jeffersons or anything, but in a very real way. Theo had an anti-apartheid poster in his room, wasn't ever brought up. Cliff once told his kids to wait "under the car" after they lost Rudy. Rudy herself referred to her friend Kenny as "Buuuud!" Cliff once battle-danced against a semi-famous tap dancer. This was really cool to me when it aired, and be black, without being aggressively so, and it'll work. They weren't angry, they weren't going to marches, they weren't calling white people "honky", it's just a black family, the end. I really loved that.
