Here in southern California, we almost didn't get to see the finale of the show. On April 29, 1992 was the beginning of the L.A. Riots. It continued on Thursday, April 30, 1992. That was the night the Cosby Show normally aired. The television was showing 24 hour news coverage of the riots and the fires and so forth. On NBC I remember when the newscast guy was talking abt the riots and then he said words to the effect of "...let's remember how Thursday nights used to be while we show you the finale of the Cosby Show." It was very touching and it was great to watch the finale. Not only because it was the finale (Theo's graduation) but also because of what was going on nearby and how surreal everything seemed. It was great being able to watch a sitcom and forget abt the riots for at least an hour. After the finale, it was back to news coverage.

Here in southern California, we almost didn't get to see the finale of the show. On April 29, 1992 was the beginning of the L.A. Riots. It continued on Thursday, April 30, 1992. That was the night the Cosby Show normally aired. The television was showing 24 hour news coverage of the riots and the fires and so forth. On NBC I remember when the newscast guy was talking abt the riots and then he said words to the effect of "...let's remember how Thursday nights used to be while we show you the finale of the Cosby Show." It was very touching and it was great to watch the finale. Not only because it was the finale (Theo's graduation) but also because of what was going on nearby and how surreal everything seemed. It was great being able to watch a sitcom and forget abt the riots for at least an hour. After the finale, it was back to news coverage.


Was that connected to the Rodney King verdict?

Was that connected to the Rodney King verdict?
Yes it was.

Yes it was.


The first image that pops in my head from that incident was the guy being pulled out of his truck

Reginald Denny. Yeah, I can't help but think of him when I look back to that riot.

Reginald Denny. Yeah, I can't help but think of him when I look back to that riot.


Oh he was interviewed after that???


BTW: NBC in LA would have had to show the Finale to the viewers out there even if they had to air on Friday. So you would have saw it

I remember that. I live in Michigan, and even here back in '92 they were showing almost all day news covreage about the riots of the Rodney King trial. But, it seems like everyone still sat down one final time to watch the Cosby Show finale. They must have, as it was one of the highest rated finales in history.

But, thew whole Rodney King thing was bogus. I don't wanna get into that, though.

Oh he was interviewed after that???


BTW: NBC in LA would have had to show the Finale to the viewers out there even if they had to air on Friday. So you would have saw it

Reginald Denny appeared on Phil Donahue and countless other talk shows, he did interviews and other things. He became close to the mother of one of the guys who assaulted him. He carries no grudge.

As for the Cosby finale, yeah, we eventually would have had to see it, but the station's goal that night was to "bring some normalcy" (that is what the tv news guy said) since all we were seeing were these images of the riots LIVE. I think we were back to normal three days later (Sunday) when television programming was no longer pre-empted.