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Did The Cosby Show become dated the moment Roseanne went on the air?

posted 6 years ago by TMC-4 (19586)
8 replies | jump to latest

To put things into perspective, The Cosby Show was about a family where the dad was always right, the mom and dad always had wise and pithy advice for their kids (or a funny joke), where the kids recognized the wisdom of their parents and where no one ever really made a meaningful mistake. In essence, The Cosby Show was the epitome of happy family sitcom to that point.

Roseanne when it first came on in 1988 however, blew it up (as did The Simpsons and you can argue, Married...with Children). The Conners in contrast to the Huxtables, were a family that featured people who didn't like each other at times, were ignorant and flawed and made bad decisions. Also as partially a consequence of those decisions, the Conners didn't have a great life - and yet they were also a family.

This is probably why Roseanne seems to hold up better and is funnier than The Cosby Show because it addressed much harsher realities.

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

The Cosby show was very 80's it was an upbeat positive time. The Cosby show really wasn't any different to Family Ties, Growing Pains, Who's the Boss and all the other sitcoms other than the family being black. It was all very light and fluffy and any serious issues tackled weren't done well and were never mentioned again Diff'rent Strokes was great at that.

I don't know if the show became dated when Roseanne started but the shtick was getting old, Married with Children was a parody of the goody two shoes families. Roseanne went for a slightly more realistic approach. The Simpsons when it started was kind of gritty as well.

I know that now I can't watch the fluffy sitcoms but I can still watch Married with Children and although never a big fan Roseanne so I think that grittier approach has more longevity.

[–] Furienna (3330) 5 years ago

Well, I believe that the world always was big enough for both kinds of shows to exist at the same time.
Besides, some people had wealthy well-educated parents.
And I guess that they could relate more to "Cosby Show" than to "Roseanne" or "Married... with children".

[–] Artisan (3464) 4 years ago

The 80's was an upbeat party decade. Everything on TV was happy, you had cars that could talk (Knight Rider), millionaires adopting orphans (Diff'rent Strokes), it was just all fantasy.

By the end of the 80's and the beginning of the 90's things changed, Grunge replaced hair metal, things got grittier. It was no longer about happy happy happy. Sitcoms in general started changing.

[–] marktayloruk (2428) a year ago

Cosby meets Roseanne?

[–] liscarkat (17177) 7 months ago

"Roseanne" was a better, funnier show. But all families are not dysfunctional. There really are bland families where everything is under control and bland, or at least gives that appearance.

[–] Furienna (3330) 7 months ago

"Appearance" is the right word.
It is clear that Cliff and Claire wanted to be seen as perfect even though they weren't.

[–] BKB (7393) 5 months ago

Season 1 of ROSEANNE was the Best.. Without Roseanne, ABC and the rest of the liberal cast wouldn't have had "The CONNERS"

[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7524) 5 months ago

I mean Boy Meets World and Home Improvement were Family shows. I was going to mention Family Matters but once Steve Urkel became a main character in season 3, it wasn't the same kind of show as The Cosby Show. I like Family Matters but not the same genre.