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11. The Cosby Show: Representing Race

103 11 The Cosby Show Representing Race Christine Acham Abstract: Few sitcom families in television history have been as widely loved as the wholesome, wealthy, black family of The Cosby Show. Christine Acham re-examines the politics of The Cosby Show in the historical context of the Reagan-Bush era, in conjunction with the comedic persona and politics of star/creator Bill Cosby. On April 30, 1992, I tuned in to watch the last episode of The Cosby Show (NBC, 1984–1992). The LA riots had begun the day before, and news coverage of the ongoing chaos was broadcast during the commercial breaks. With the Rodney King verdict and the reaction of African Americans to continuing racism in American society televised twenty four hours a day, why would anyone choose to watch what seemed in 1992 to be an antiquated sitcom about a wealthy black family? I grew up with The Cosby Show and could recall vividly the earliest of episodes, such as when Rudy’s fish dies or when Denise makes a horrible replica of a designer shirt for Theo. While I had not watched the show regularly in years, it seemed appropriate to bid farewell to what was one of the most significant representations of a black family seen on U.S. television thus far. The Cosby Show was the top-rated program on television from 1985 to 1989, beloved by a cross section of the American audience, yet a battle over the meaning of blackness expressed in the program had raged since its debut on September 20, 1984. Television’s images of African Americans reveal a convergence of factors, including the legacy of black representation in American media, the ideology of the producers, and American social realities. The Cosby Show is a product of this amalgamation. In order to have a more nuanced understanding of The Cosby Show, it is essential to survey the social, economic, and political history from which this show emerged, while remaining cognizant of the comedic history of Bill Cosby and the influence he would have over the creation of the program. 104 Christine Acham The late 1970s found the United States in the midst of an economic crisis, the cause and solution of which became major points of contention between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential election. Reagan’s slogan “Let’s Make America Great Again” symbolized the rhetoric and reasoning of the campaign . The voter was meant to ask, what caused the downfall of this great nation? Reagan placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of the Carter administration and its investment in progressive social welfare programs. His flawed premise was that the liberalism of the post–civil rights era resulted in inflated governmentsupported entitlements, given to so-called undeserving minorities who were allegedly draining the economy.1 Since his 1976 bid for the Republican nomination, Reagan began to coalesce this cultural image of the undeserving minority with that of black people. One of Reagan’s favorite stories was that of a Chicago “welfare queen” who abused the system and lived a wealthy lifestyle. During the election period, Reagan used such hyperbolic anecdotes to appeal to whites struggling in a failing economy, suggesting that whites were the victims of reverse discrimination and being negatively impacted by such policies as affirmative action.2 The rhetoric of Reagan successfully cemented the strong racial division within American society, and his policies as president reversed many of the gains the black population had made in the post–civil rights era. With the support of television news, which emphasized stories of the failing black family, welfare cheats, and inner city-crime, blackness was increasingly demonized and criminalized in the Reagan eighties. The Cosby Show seemingly offered the perfect antidote for a black image in crisis through its presentation of a wholesome and wealthy black family led by the well-known assimilationist comic Bill Cosby. While his early routines used some racially based humor, he evolved in the 1960s into a monologist who told stories of, amongst other topics, his childhood and family life without overt markers of race. Television was seen as the way to truly cross over to mainstream audiences, and in 1963 Cosby had that opportunity with a successful appearance on NBC’s The Tonight Show (1954–present) that led to other television appearances and an article in Newsweek. Cosby’s early success came at the specific time in African American history when black frustration with the lack of social progress...