Blockbuster TV: Must-See Sitcoms in the Network Era

Chapter 5: The Cosby Show

I [5] The Cosby Show n September 1984, The Cosby Show premiered. In hind­ sight, it is likely to be the last of television’s prime­time programs to achieve a blockbuster audience. Clearly, in the future many programs will attract good numbers and good demographics, but the impact of cable and video and digital recording and playback permits late capitalism’s dream: the segmented audience. Nielsen ratings over the summer of 1999 seldom showed network audiences exceeding ratings of 15. Dispersed across many channels, or popping in time­shifted or rented tapes or enjoying computer games, audiences have so much variety and choice that even media­hyped phenom­ ena such as the final episode of Seinfeld or the live season pre­ miere episode of ER will be only a brief blip in audience at­ tention. Network television will likely still command space in social discourse. Seinfeld contributed greatly to our common casual language: “sponge­worthy,” “the soup Nazi,” and “master of your own domain” are understood—even if some­ one has not seen the program, just as we all know “round up 141 The Cosby Show / 142 the usual suspects,” “make my day,” and “the force be with you.” However, even a very successful program may not be watched the evening of its initial broadcast. We are now post—prime time. I shall return to this point in the epilogue.1 The Cosby Show turns out to be the last program to secure some semblance of a cross­sectional, loyal audience, and it may have helped stave off the impact on the ratings of the new technologies for several years. Symptomatically, one of the programs—The Simpsons—to cut into the Cosby audience was from the upstart network FOX and was a show targeted to a very specific market segment.2 Arriving on NBC’s Thurs­ day night lineup on 20 September 1984, The Cosby Show’s debut program achieved a rating of 21.6, and a 39 share. In its second season, The Cosby Show pulled “nearly half of the total television­viewing public.” Moreover, it was top­rated with “kids, teens, adults under fifty­five, men, women, high­ and low­income families.”3 Such a success was not without controversy, however. Al­ most immediately, questions were raised about the social im­ pact of the black family commanding this attention. The problem was not that the family members were black but that this black family was not like so many other black families previously seen on prime­time television. It did not fit stereo­ types, and some critics questioned whether—even if this were a realistic representation of the upper middle class’s experi­ ence in the United States—that representation was the most socially beneficial one to disseminate. This discussion has had no apparent outcome despite extensive critical and quantita­ tive research.4 Although the social implications of The Cosby Show are undetermined, its place within broadcast history re­ The Cosby Show / 143 mains prominent as one of the last broadly based, long­term, mass­media entertainment experiences created by television. The Initial Reception of The Cosby Show In terms of ratings, The Cosby Show started strong and then became stronger. The pilot episode secured a 21.6 rating and a 39 share for NBC, a network running third in the overall race for viewers. By the fourth week of its showing, The Cosby Show beat out the first half­hour of Magnum, P.I., and, with a 21.3 rating, placed seventh in viewed programs for the period ending 21 October 1984. Number one was Dynasty for ABC with a rating of 26.3 and a share of 39.5 By late November, commentators noted that cable televi­ sion and independent stations were continuing to eat away at the network audience. Only the sitcom, and especially The Cosby Show, was holding against this overall trend. At the end of the November sweeps, The Cosby Show had reached number one status with a 31.4 average and a 47 share. Other NBC sitcoms were also doing well—Family Ties, Cheers, and Night Court on Thursday nights were all in the top ten, and its hour­long dramas secured prestige for the network.6 If the statistics for the top programs for the 1980s are re­ viewed, the ultimate power of The Cosby Show becomes ob­ vious. For the end of the 1984–85...