Cosby Show: Season 8 [DVD] [2008] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

By 1991 The Cosby Show was not exactly the commercial powerhouse it had been in the mid to late 80's but remained the hottest game in town. As with many a last season this series ties up many loose ends. There are five main plot points the generally extend throughout the seasons,sort of as mini story arcs: Cousin Pam trying to apply to collage and coping with Charmaine going away to collage,Cliff trying to build a private room for Clair now that most of the kids are away,Theo preparing for his upcoming graduation,somewhat of a teenage "love traigle" between Rudy,Kenny and their respective loves interests and new collage student Vanessa's truly bizzare relationship with the older but self sufficiant Dabnis,whom Cliff takes a shining to because of his abilities as a tinker. There are some funny moments this season but for the most part the episodes concentrate on developing and closing the story arcs and thus the characters themselves. Another important part of this season is that this is the very first season of The Cosby Show where Lisa Bonet doesn't make even a single physical appearance in the show;Dennise is only refered to casually in select episodes and is only spoken to over the phone (we don't hear her voice) in the finale. That finale is the 44 minute "And So We Commence",involving Theo's collage graduation and Olivia departing to join Dennise and Martin in Singapore (as well as finding out she's becomming a big sister). So this is a pretty good season but the wacky humor and individually great episodes are sacrificed in favor to tieing up the loose ends for the shows enevitable conclusion. It was kind of a sad day when the Huxtables left the airwaves in 1992;I personally believe prime time family comedy just hasn't been the same since then.

The Cosby Show began its eighth and final season on September 19,1991. The opening and closing montages intended for the season 7 run are finally used this season. Again,the cast is moving in rhythm to hip-hop featuring a trumpet and a snare drum. The reason for the delay of this opening's use:a mural seen in the background was not an original created by a group of artists. Bill Cosby finally received permission from the artists to use the facsimile(the group,in fact threatened NBC with a lawsuit if this was done without permission). This montage contained appearances by Lisa Bonet and Joseph C. Phillips which were deleted due to Bonet's termination and Phillips' write-out as a regular after season 7. So we see Erika Alexander in face and name this season(due to the recycling of the season 6 opener last season,only she appeared in name). So the regular cast went from eleven members(in 1990-91) to nine(this season). Gordon Cartrelle served as executive producer this season,succeeding Steve Kline(in 1990-91). Cartrelle was even a fashion designer and mentioned in the season 1 episode A SHIRT STORY. Now for the highlights:in the premiere episode,Vanessa(Tempest Bledsoe) announces her engagement to her college Lincoln University custodian Dabnis Brickney(William Thomas,recurringly). Cliff(Bill Cosby) and Clair(Phylicia Rashad) were not very delighted by the news,probably due to the fact that Vanessa was only 18 years old. It was written that Bonet's and Phillips' characters,Denise Huxtable Kendall and her lieutenant husband Martin had moved to Africa since Martin had been assigned to a naval base there. Martin's daughter Olivia(Raven Symone) was not allowed to join him and her stepmother,so she remained in Brooklyn with Cliff,Clair,Rudy(Keshia Knight Pulliam) and Clair's cousin Pam Tucker(Alexander). Martin(recurringly) visited 10 Stigwood Drive to see Olivia and everyone else when he was in the vicinity. Martin was in town when African singer Miriam Makeba(as herself in a guest appearance) visited the Huxtable household. He happened to see her perform live in Africa! This legendary series ends with Theo's(Malcolm Jamal Warner) graduation from New York University. In this syndicated two-part episode which premiered April 30,1992,Theo had a bunch of tickets to give for the ceremony. The graduates receive their diplomas by section instead of individually like middle and high school. Cliff had flashbacks of what he went through with Theo in the series premiere episode,which we see(back then,Theo had no intention of attending college). Also,Denise,unseen,announces on the phone to the Huxtable household that she and Martin are expectant parents,which means a half-sibling for Olivia. After the ceremony,Theo attends a party at the home of a fellow graduate. Cliff finally had repaired the Huxtables' ill-functioning doorbell,with a different melody now. He and Clair share one last romantic moment and "break the fourth wall". That means Cosby and Rashad broke character after their dance and walked by the studio audience with long,loud applause. The Cosby Show set another all-new low,finishing at #18. Although the rating wasn't too bad,Cosby decided he had enough of the sitcom and personally pulled the plug. NBC aired TCS for the very last time on September 17,1992 and on the following Thursday,he hosted the short-lived return of the game show,YOU BET YOUR LIFE on NBC. TCS's sitcom A DIFFERENT WORLD ran for one more season(in 1992-93) and Cheers got the Nielsen axe as well. The A LOOK BACK special,which NBC premiered in May 2002,would have been appropriate for this set,but instead it came with the season 1 episodes. Cosby and Rashad became a TV couple again in 1996 for the four-season run of CBS's Cosby(this should be available on DVD). Rashad even continued working in the New York theatre,frequently. Also,post-TCS,Tempest Bledsoe had a short run of her own morning talk show,THE TEMPEST BLEDSOE SHOW. Malcolm Jamal Warner,continued acting,later starring on WB's MALCOLM & EDDIE,even guest-starring on various shows such as THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL AIR,another NBC property. MJW,is also a musician,in the studio and on the stage. KKP attended Spellman College in Atlanta. In fact,TCS season 3 finale HILLMAN was filmed at Spellman,marking her first visit. Bonet,changed her stage name and spends time with her daughter Zoe,whose father is rocker Lenny Kravitz,from whom Bonet is divorced from. Sabrina LeBeauf focused on interior decorating and did guest-star on one episode of COSBY(as did KKP). Geoffrey Owens works primarily as a theater director. RS is now a big Disney star,the star of THAT'S SO RAVEN. She's a recording artist herself,releasing THIS IS MY TIME in 2004,for one. Long live the Huxtables! And Brooklyn!

This season was a pretty good season to me, even though I was disappointed that Pam went without a boyfriend and we stopped seeing her on the quirky episodes with Sly, but I got two new couples to look at. Rudy with Stanley (played by the late Merlin Santana) and Kenny with Deidre. Those four were amusing, specifically the ongoing beef between Kenny and Stanley, and my favorite episodes were "Particles in Motion" and "Some Gifts Aren't Deductible." The looks Stanley would give Kenny would crack me up more than the dialogue; Santana was dead-on with his acting.

I was also excited to see Special Ed on "WARNING: A Double-Lit Candle Can Cause a Meltdown" and really interested in Theo as a teacher. I enjoyed the group of kids Theo mentored as well as Cliff's "For Men Only" when talking about the "lost generation." Not too many shows talked about the stereotypes that brothas were getting at that age as deadbeat dads, the job issues, and talent.

Cons: I outgrew the look-how-cute-the-kids-are episodes quickly and fast-forwarded through those. After Rudy became a preteen, I just wanted to see the grown-ups, so I wasn't really interested in Olivia and the twins. Olivia was a recyled version of Rudy, so most of Olivia's episodes seemed like deja vu (ex. both of them wanted dogs [although Rudy got hers], both had best friends who were boys [runaway Peter and Bud for Rudy], both of them irritated the next oldest person, both did the grown-up woman singing performance), and I was content with leaving Rudy as the baby, plus I think I wanted Claire and Cliff to have the house to themselves too so the writers would have them doing new stuff. And somehow, Vanessa and Sandra were kinda boring as they got older.

This season was a little weird for me. I liked it, but I wasn't in love with the show the way I was in a few previous seasons. If not for Rudy's relationship with Stanley, I might've just went directly to "A Different World" when I was younger. However, I still loved "The Cosby Show," just not so much all of the episodes from this season.