When was The Cosby Show on TV and who was in the Huxtable Family along with Bill Cosby and Lisa Bonet?
THE comedy landscape was changed forever when The Cosby Show arrived on American TV in 1984.
A ratings smash hit, and the first celebrated sitcom featuring a predominantly black cast, it was based on the life of its now infamous star Bill Cosby. Here are the details...
What was The Cosby Show, when was it on and what was it about?
The Cosby Show was a US TV sitcom that aired on NBC from September 1984 to April 1992.
It ran for eight series and each episode was around 25 minutes long.
The show — which drew up to 30million viewers per episode — followed the life of the Huxtable family, made up of a successful Brooklyn couple and their five children.
Though funny, the sitcom also dealt with serious subjects like teen pregnancy and dyslexia, and Cosby emphasised he wanted the show to be "educational".
Many critics also praised its positive portrayal of a black family that smashed racial stereotypes, inspiring other programmes like In Living Colour, 227 and The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air.
Who played the Huxtable family?
Comedian Bill Cosby, 80, played dad Clifford, an obstetrician and jazz trombonist, and his wife Clair, a lawyer, was played by Phylicia Rashad.
Their children were Sondra (Sabrina La Baeuf), Denise (Lisa Bonet), Theo (Malcolm-Jamal Warner), Vanessa (Tempestt Bledsoe) and Rudy (Keshia Knight Pulliam).
What role did Bill Cosby have in making the show?
After reaching the height of his fame in the 1970s, film and TV star Cosby's career seemed to be on the wane by 1984.
But two fans of his stand-up comedy just happened to have their own major TV production company.
They got Cosby together with two screenwriters to create a show based on his stand-up routines, which were in turn inspired by Cosby's family life with wife Camille.
Cosby insisted the show be shot in New York rather than Los Angeles, and also composed the show's theme tune, Kiss Me, with Stu Gardner.
What else do we know about The Cosby Show?
Whitney Houston nearly took a role in the show as eldest Huxtable daughter Sondra, but decided against it due to the time commitment.
The Simpsons character Dr Hibbert is a parody of Clifford Huxtable, inspired by the fact the Fox cartoon was scheduled opposite the NBC comedy on Thursday nights.
The Cosby Show also spawned a spin-off comedy in 1987 called A Different World, which initially followed the Huxtables' second daughter Denise to her life in college.
When the actress who played Denise, Lisa Bonet, got pregnant, the show was revamped to include other new characters, and it ran until 1993.
But Lisa's pregnancy caused major tension between her and Cosby, and she was fired from the main show in 1991.
More on Bill Cosby
Malcolm Jamal-Warner, who played Clifford's son Theo, has said the show's legacy is "tarnished" because of the sexual assault allegations levelled at Cosby.
Since Cosby's accusers and their stories began to come out, repeats of The Cosby Show have been pulled from most US channels.
The comedian has now been found guilty of drugging and molesting a woman 14 years ago.