Can Bill Cosby Save the Family, Again?

I remember The Cosby Show well. Growing up as a middle class African American with married professionals for parents, the show should have struck a major chord in me. Dr. and Mrs. Huxtable looked and spoke like my parents; they were well-educated like my parents and similarly championed education and hard work; they policed their childrens’ homework and romantic relationships, making standards work, enforcing discipline; they made a place in their children’s lives for grandparents, kept on good if reserved terms with not necessarily black neighbors, and upheld traditional black Christian faith without being consumed by “the Church.” Just like us. But it did not strike a chord.

Perhaps I was too young? Born at the end of the 1970’s, it may not have been possible for me as a child to appreciate how groundbreaking The Cosby Show was. But I suspect the reason is that it was so normal. Each time my family tuned in, we were watching ourselves: the same voices, the same toys, the same issues. What is so big about that? Is that how one wishes to be entertained? At that age, I would rather have been watching the A-Team or Airwolf. Moreover, the characters’ lives resembled those of many of our neighbors and friends, black or white. So while I enjoyed the show, it did not make the impact on me that it did on some of my white friends.