The Cosby Show: Difference between revisions

** [[Alternative Character Interpretation]] also kicks in here as the whole mess begins with Sondra deciding at the last minute to not go out with the group, despite the date having been set a week ago, to work on her law school application. And throw in [[Poor Communication Kills]] when she basically expected Elvin to read her mind regarding her wishes just to be himself and not to be a gentleman.

* [[Hey, It's That Guy!]]: Adam Sandler as one of Theo's high school buddies, Angela Bassett and Iman as patients of Cliff, Naomi Campbell as the girlfriend of one of Theo's friends, etc.

** One of Rudy's friends in the episode 'Slumber Party' is [[Alicia Keys]], and 'Cockroach' is Cole from [[Martin]].

** [[Home Improvement|Jill Taylor]] is having her 8th child in a latter season 3 episode.

** [[NCIS|Tony DiNozzo]] is one of Theo's roommates in season 6.

** Then, of course, there's a very young [[That's So Raven|Raven Baxter]] as Olivia.

* [[Hide and No Seek]]: In one episode, Cliff sends Olivia upstairs to find his slippers because he doesn't want to play with her. He then tells her to find his yellow robe. However, Olivia becomes wise to his game because Rudy tells her that she's being tricked.

* [[Hide Your Pregnancy]]: Phylicia Rashad was visibly pregnant for much of season 3, and the writers ended up having her baby bump obscured by various props (most notably having Clair hold a giant teddy bear for no explainable in-universe reason).

** To clarify, Elvin's family was living with the Huxtables while waiting to close on their new house. Elvin made himself an egg salad to eat after work and left it in the fridge with the label of "E T," his initials. Cliff's excuse for stealing it was he thought it meant "Eat This."

* [[Ivy League for Everyone]]: Averted with Theo, though he did end up in a rather elite school.

* [[Kangaroo Court]]: Clair sets one up to get Theo to confess to telling half-truths over a recent incident.

* [[Karma Houdini]]: Subverted every single time one of the kids tries to hide something from the parents as they always get caught.

* [[Playing Gertrude]]: Phylicia Rashad, who played Clair, is only ten years older than Sabrina LaBeauf, who played her daughter Sondra.

** The actors who played Cliff's father and mother are eleven and ten years older than Bill Cosby, respectively.

* [[Poor Communication Kills]]: The reason behind all of the conflict in the Season 7 episode ''The Last Barbeque''.

* [[Real Life Relative]]: Phylicia Rashad's sister Debbie Allen as a sadistic aerobics instructor.

* [[Real Men Wear Pink]]: Cliff has a lot of pink outfits in season 1.

* [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]]: The show managed the very rare feat of being on the very pinnacle of the idealistic side without being barf-inducing or [[Narm]]-ish.

* [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad]]: He's never named, but Denise's friend in the ''Jitterbug Break'' episode shows off some [[Crazy Awesome]] dance moves.

** Kenny's never-seen brother also seems to dispense "wisdom" of this sort.

* [["Stop Having Fun!" Guys]]: In-universe examples being Cliff and Dr. Harmond, in an episode of Season 7 centered around a pinochle tournament.

* [[Title Drop]]: Only for a different show when Clair talks to Denise about how college is "[[A Different World]]."

* [[Tranquil Fury]]: The only time you ever saw Cliff fly off the handle was in one of the early 1st season episodes with Theo. Other than that, he pretty much remained calm on the outside whenever one of his kids did something insane. But he often reacted in this manner.

* [[Vitriolic Best Buds]]: Cliff and Sanford "Tailwind" Turner love to talk smack to each other, but they respect each other's talents as runners.

* [[Well, Excuse Me, Princess!]]: Sondra towards Elvin in Season 2. Especially when she gets mad at him for never getting mad himself!