NEWS ONE – Comedian, actor and educator Bill Cosby launched his iconic sitcom The Cosby Show in the fall of 1984, introducing a successful African-American couple and their children in the borough of Brooklyn.

The show ran for eight years, joining a small and elite class of network long-running television shows with a predominantly black cast. The Cosby Show aired its last episode twenty years ago today, interestingly enough during the height of the race-related Los Angeles riots inspired by the Rodney King case.

The visionary aspects of Cosby’s show were often criticized by some for only showing a small slice of the African-American family, but that same distinction was also praised by many. With Cosby portraying Heathcliff Huxtable, an obstetrician and his co-star Phylicia Rashad playing his attorney wife Clair, the show was inspired by much of the main star’s personal journey in education, marriage and family life. The Huxtables and their four unique but generally well-mannered children were often resistant to Cosby’s teachable moments.

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