http://nostalgiarush.blogspot.com/2014/08/top-5-worst-claire-huxtable-moments.html

I have gone on and on complaining about Debra Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond. But while I hate her, the truth is she isn’t that far removed from the sitcom mother’s that came before her. I got to thinking the other day about one of my favorite shows, The Cosby Show. Specifically I was thinking about Claire Huxtable, played of course by Phylicia Rashad. She was a strong, smart, independent woman who loved her family as well as her career. Cliff admired the hell of how smart she was and there was no doubt they were in love with each other and respected each other.She also supported her kids and was always there for them, with advice or a firm hand.

But that being said, she could be really overbearing at times. Seriously, to the point of being just plain mean. In fact she could almost be at the level of Debra Barone, There are lots of times she was almost unlikable! So in my never ending quest to be fair, since I have said so many horrible things about Debra Barone let me show that even a good TV mom has her moments. Here are my top 5 worst Claire Huxtable moments (and yes some are less moments than they are character traits).

#5. The Pilot

Fair is fair, and this is the pilot which means that the characters are just getting started and the actors haven’t even really figured out how to play them yet. That being said, why is Claire such a witch in this episode? This was obviously before Clair was turned into the smart, independent woman she would becomes. Here she is more the stereotypical aggravated sitcom mother who sends the father up to deal with the kids. She seems downright hostile, at one point asking Cliff why they have four children. I get that she would be angry at Theo but yelling at him isn’t the answer (Thankfully the show itself points this out in the episode where Theo is diagnosed with Dyslexia). There is another scene where sends the kids upstairs after dinner like a drill sargeants and tells them to wash up and go to bed. Yes this was coming from Cosby’s stand up act but it was kind of stupid their to. She whines that she was beautiful, before the children came. Finally when Cliff looks for a little affection she points out that “this is how we got the children”. Cliff backs off… for a second. Heck there’s even a line where Cliff says he loves Theo, and maybe his mother loves him too. She was awful in the pilot but thankfully this did not last because no one would have liked her if it had.

#4. Treating her kids like law clients (or not as adults)

Yeah this one really bugs me. While there are lots of times Claire will stand up for her kids, there are others when her anger gets the better of her. There was one episode called “Theogate” where Claire puts Theo on a mock trial. But that one I can almost overlook since Theo kind of asks for it. But that isn’t the only time she pulls the lawyer bit on the kids. One time when Rudy was hurt while playing with Theo, she goes straight up prosecutor with him. It’s hard to describe if you’ve never seen it but she sounds like she is testifying before a judge rather than talking to her son. Uh yeah Claire, he’s still your son and you have to know what happened was an accident. An avoidable accident, sure, but still an accident. I also understand being annoyed that Theo lied about it but still why treat him like he is a hardcore criminal? Kids do things like this all the time. In another episode Claire was so upset with Sondra and Elvin’s landlords she was ready to file papers against him, whether Sondra and Elvin approved or not. They are the tenants not to mention adults. In fact very often Claire had trouble treating her kids like adults. One perfect example was the time Sondra was sick and Claire and Elvin’s mother literally took the twins from Sondra’s care without her approval. Yeah in real life that could almost be considered kidnapping, thankfully Sondra was enraged (partly due to her illness and partly thanks to Elvin) and gave Claire a good dressing down.

#3.”Mrs. Huxtable Goes to Kindergarten”

This is her episode to shine, and in the A story she does. The story involved Claire being invited to a talk show with three very white, very conservative men. Well that’s all fine and good, but I want to talk about the B story. Claire has apparently decided they need new furniture, and not only does she pick the couch out without so much as saying anything to Cliff but she tries to arrange the move at a time when she knows he will be working. What??? I get Clair is independent and all, but Cliff is still he husband and she had no right doing that without talking with him first. Of course the easy answer to that is, Cliff would never have allowed the change so she had to do it behind his back. Sorry, not buying that one. All she was doing was delaying the inevitable because no matter when he saw the change she made, he wasn’t going to be pleased. The worst part is that if she had just talked to him she would have convinced him eventually….like she does at the end of the episode! Oh, and we’ll get to this more in a bit but there is a a small part in the A story where the green room has donuts and coffee. Of course she wont allow Cliff to eat the donuts that are at the TV station. Why? Got me! What kind of diet is Cliff on anyway???

#2. Refusing to admit weakness

This sounds like a vague one but one of her worst traits is the inability to admit that she is not perfect and needs help. In a season two episode she breaks her toe, and is downright mean at people who try to help her. Especially Cliff who is only trying to make her comfortable. It takes Russell tricking into using a cane to mellow her a bit. Get over yourself Claire, an injury is not a weakness. In another episode she has to go on a diet, and of course has to keep it from Cliff because she knows the grief he will give her after all the grief she has given him. There is another episode where is afraid of snakes, and tries to make is Cliff’s fault for scaring as her a kid. Even Cliff laughs at that one. An early episode shows her failing at pottery and gets some ribbing about it from Cliff and Denise. Problem is she refuses to acknowledge the fact that she blew the assignment, even trying to defend it. One scene I loved came from yet another episode and was when she snuck a taste of Cliff’s chili…when it was still piping hot. She tried to hide this from Cliff, but he catches on and has a little fun with her by giving her a drop of water. It’s always nice when Cliff gets the chance to lord it over Claire. Why? That is answered in the final section.

#1. Treating Cliff like a child

Yeah, I know. Cliff often acts like an overgrown child. When he is sneaking a desert meant for company that is one thing. I also get not allowing Cliff to repair stuff because, well, he sucked at it. But man does Clair get a little carried away with how she treats him. Like the dieting nonsense. The first episode where Cliff going on a diet comes up is good, but it becomes a running gag that he has to eat rice cakes while watching others eat stuff he loved. He’s an adult, right? The donut example above isn’t the only time this happened and it was always annoying. In the Halloween episode Cliff carves a pumpkin which Claire rejects and hides in the corner. She says that Vanessa wants the party to be “adult”, which apparently means boring. Seriously what teenager wants to have an “adult” party?? How about forbidding Cliff to buy things at an appliance store he loves. Because, you know, they are so cash strapped. That’s why it was ok for her to spend thousands of dollars on a painting but he can’t buy himself a lousy remote control. In fairness to the last one Cliff takes it upon himself to one up her by going to a different store altogether and buying whatever he wanted. There were also many times when she would scold Cliff for feeling a certain way, only to turn around and feel that way herself. Once involved Denise and a spacy new boyfriend. When Cliff hated him she told him to calm down, when she hated him that was another story. Another instance was when Sondra and Elvin were opening a wilderness store. She scolded Cliff for being angry at Elvin but then was just as angry when Sondra announced the same thing. Cliff even had to ask in the episode why it was OK for her to rant and rave but not him. Her answer? Because that’s her child. Yeah it made no sense to Cliff either.

So after all that, why do we like her over Debra Baron then? It seems like Claire can be just a big a pain in the butt. The reason I think is because unlike Debra, while Claire was tough at times it was balanced out by her warm side which we saw often. She was fun, she was affectionate, she would stand up and support her kids and stand by her husband. Also the husband was allowed to have a backbone once in awhile. Cliff did get the better of her at times and called her out when she went a bit nuts. And we never doubted they loved each other. Ever. This is why Claire is not hated the way Debra Barone is. Debra treated Ray like an idiot even when it was uncalled for, and never had to apologize for it. And this is becoming another Debra is evil rant so I think I will stop it here.

Despite my griping The Cosby Show was and will always be one of my favorite shows of all time. Hope you enjoyed this, till next time my friend be good to yourselves.

Clair only really became a nagging bitch after one of Cliff's friends almost died from a heart attack. That's the episode that triggered Clair's obsessive need to keep Cliff healthy. She was worried about his life. About her claiming Sondra was HER child, she explained that she was the one who gave birth to Sondra, not Cliff, which entitles her to rant and rave much more than Cliff gets to.

Wonder if she would have stood by that ridiculous claim as much if the situation merited monthly child support payments from Cliff. Methinks NOT.

Yes, but junk foods like hoagies and donuts that Cliff was into are okay to eat in moderation. She forced Cliff to eat healthy all the time to the point where an occasional hoagie was off limits. While I'm not denying that childbirth is something that bonds a woman and her child together both physically and mentally, but just because she gave birth to Sondra doesn't give her any more of a right to her than Cliff.

That was a good article about Claire!

And as for Theo and his dyslexia, it wasn't like he couldn't read, but he would get things wrong while taking tests.

I agree with number one. I remember that episode where Cliff and Claire spend the evening with Denise's rude boyfriend who was disrespectful. Cliff should have kicked his rude unemployed, not going to school ass out of his house.

Yes Claire's reaction was it was OK to be disrespectful of Cliff but when the loser boyfriend went at her, her tune was different.

To be fair though, that guy did make some good points. It can look weird to other people that a doctor will get paid more than a midwife, even when there are no complications, and that a lawyer can defend a client, whom they know is guilty of the crime. That boyfriend was a good match for spacy Denise, by the way, whether her parents liked him or not...

The idea of a doctor having to justify himself to this unemployed loser was what got me and Cliff was too nice to him. I do agree that he was the perfect match with airhead Denise.

Just a note that this was one of the most cynically stupid plot twists in history of sitcoms. The notion that this doctor/lawyer team who were constantly engaged with their children just didn't quite pick up that their son couldn't read till college (or late high school?) was ludicrous.

Well, to be fair, that plot point was merely a case of art imitating life, as Cosby himself noted on many occasions that it happened in real life to his son, Ennis.

To be fair though, that guy did make some good points. It can look weird to other people that a doctor will get paid more than a midwife, even when there are no complications, and that a lawyer can defend a client, whom they know is guilty of the crime. That boyfriend was a good match for spacy Denise, by the way, whether her parents liked him or not...

I agree.

It wasn't the fact that he was young and disrespectful that bothered Cliff and Clair, but the fact that he was asking really taboo questions.

The idea of a doctor having to justify himself to this unemployed loser was what got me and Cliff was too nice to him. I do agree that he was the perfect match with airhead Denise.

Denise really did not become a spacey airhead until the later seasons, when Lisa Bonet was initially written off the series after appearing in Angel Heart, in which her character had a squicky sex scene, against the wishes of Bill Cosby, who wanted her to remain contractually pure.

Okay, this is getting really off topic, but... Denise had been a bit crazy in the earlier seasons too. Let me just mention three examples:

1: She once wanted to sleep outside on a street in order to get tickets to some concert, in a big city with a lot of crime happening. Okay, I know that Blossom and Six on "Blossom" did the same thing some years later, but still! I can really understand why Cliff and Claire didn't like that idea.

2: She bought a really bad car, that hardly even was running. How could she have ever thought that was a good idea?

3: She was considering going to the university of South Dakota, just because no one she knew was going there. Again, WTF?

So yeah, she was even worse after she dropped out of Hillman and didn't know what to do with her life. But I don't think that Denise was ever supposed to be "normal", as she had always been a nutty neo-hippy chick. Even after she had supposedly settled down with a husband and a stepdaughter, she would often do some rather stupid things. Like remember how she refused to move out of her parents's house, until she and Martin only could get what must have been the most stupid apartment ever? And she also was determined to become a teacher without going back to College, which didn't work out either of course.

Okay, this is getting really off topic, but... Denise had been a bit crazy in the earlier seasons too. Let me just mention three examples:

1: She once wanted to sleep outside on a street in order to get tickets to some concert, in a big city with a lot of crime happening. Okay, I know that Blossom and Six on "Blossom" did the same thing some years later, but still! I can really understand why Cliff and Claire didn't like that idea.

2: She bought a really bad car, that hardly even was running. How could she have ever thought that was a good idea?

3: She was considering going to the university of South Dakota, just because no one she knew was going there. Again, WTF?

So yeah, she was even worse after she dropped out of Hillman and didn't know what to do with her life. But I don't think that Denise was ever supposed to be "normal", as she had always been a nutty neo-hippy chick. Even after she had supposedly settled down with a husband and a stepdaughter, she would often do some rather stupid things. Like remember how she refused to move out of her parents's house, until she and Martin only could get what must have been the most stupid apartment ever? And she also was determined to become a teacher without going back to College, which didn't work out either of course.
You know something, I never really thought of that. It seems that her airheadedness was always there in the early seasons, but didn't really become that noticeable until the later seasons.

Cliff was whipped. I hated when she stuck her tongue at Cliff. Come on! She was a grown woman and he was a doctor. This is one of the reasons I refuse to watch The Cosby Show.

Yeah, Claire could be really mean to Cliff.

Cliff's mom was no prize either; it kind of plays into the theory that some guys will marry a woman who is like their mom. I remember the last episode, his mom hung up the phone before Cliff had a chance to speak to his now pregnant daughter. His mom doesn't apologize but turns and smugly says "she needs her rest." That was extremely disrespectful to Cliff. His house, his phone and his daughter and his mom pulls a stunt like that. If my mom had done that, I'd have told her off and told her to never pull a stunt like that again.

Yeah, that was a rude thing to do.

I agree that was extremely rude.

Cliff's mom was no prize either; it kind of plays into the theory that some guys will marry a woman who is like their mom. I remember the last episode, his mom hung up the phone before Cliff had a chance to speak to his now pregnant daughter. His mom doesn't apologize but turns and smugly says "she needs her rest." That was extremely disrespectful to Cliff. His house, his phone and his daughter and his mom pull a stunt like that. If my mom had done that, I'd have told her off and told her to never pull a stunt like that again.
That was mean and downright rude!! That really made me boil!! Did the writers and Cosby want the female characters to dominate the men? They thought this was funny? It wasn't. The only episode I will ever watch on DVD is the male pregnancy episode but that's it!

Eh... The male pregnancy episode was utter crap, just like most of the dream/fantasy episodes on "The Cosby show". But I have to agree with you about all the negative attitudes against the men, that we some times saw on this show. They were all like "women are so superior to men" and "women can do whatever they want to men". And crap like that gets so old so fast.

That is why I stopped watching the show. The male bashing had gotten too much. Cliff should have asked his mother to leave his home.

Clair was a strong woman during the early days of depicting strong women on television. She wasn't perfect but she worked hard and loved her family.

Clair was a strong woman during the early days of depicting strong women on television. She wasn't perfect but she worked hard and loved her family.
Now she is too perfect.

Clair was a strong woman during the early days of depicting strong women on television. She wasn't perfect but she worked hard and loved her family.
Claire was a smug, bossy control freak. And no, that is not a good thing.

Claire was a smug, bossy control freak. And no, that is not a good thing.

No, she was a good wife, mother, and professional woman. She had to work hard and knew her family needed structure. They seemed to know she loved them and she helped to well provide for them. She was well involved, more parents today should be.

No, she was a good wife, mother, and professional woman. She had to work hard and knew her family needed structure. They seemed to know she loved them and she helped to well provide for them. She was well involved, more parents today should be.No she was a smug,bossy know it all and I hated that.

Indeed. Most of the time, Claire was either way too perfect or a smug control freak. And yes, a know-it-all. So it was hard to relate to her or even like her.

And she was really mean to Vanessa. Supposedly, because she saw the most potential in Vanessa, so Claire got extra mad when Vanessa would screw up, but to extreme measures. Vanessa lies to go to a concert, but gets reamed out to an extent that's bordering on the abusive. If Theo or Denise had pulled the same stunt, I doubt either would have faced Claire's wrath to those levels. I mean, clearly, the girl had learned her lesson. No wonder Van took extra classes just to start college early and get the **** outta that house!

Oh yeah, I feel so sorry for Vanessa in that epsiode. Sure, you can argue that Cliff and Claire had reasons to be angry with her. After all, their sixteen-year-old daughter had gone out of the state without even asking them for permisson. And lied to them about where she would spend the night! But when you consider that the evening had been a disaster for her, I have to feel plenty of sympathy for her. And was it not enough for Claire to yell at her in the car all the way from Baltimore? No, she had to yell at her at home too! And even Cliff said he had to stay a certain distance away from her, or he wouldn't be able to stop himself from physically hurting her...

And speaking about Vanessa leaving for College early, did you notice how happy Cliff was to get one of his kids out of the house? But it was only an expected reaction from a cold father, who celebrated every year when the summer break was over and the kids would start school again. Yeah, I don't see why so many people see him and Claire as the perfect sitcom parents. Because they are not!

Oh yeah, I feel so sorry for Vanessa in that epsiode. Sure, you can argue that Cliff and Claire had reasons to be angry with her. After all, their sixteen-year-old daughter had gone out of the state without even asking them for permisson. And lied to them about where she would spend the night. But when you consider that the evening had been a disaster for her, I have to feel sympathy for her. And was it not enough for Claire to yell at her in the car all the way from Baltimore? No, she had to yell at her at home too! And even Cliff said he had to stay a certain distance away from her, or he wouldn't be able to stop himself to physically assault her.

Yeah, I don't see why so many people see them as the perfect sitcom parents.


I forgot that the concert was out of state, adding to Vanessa's error. And the whole thing with the fire nearby where they thought Vanessa was certainly added to Cliff and Claire's worry, but that part wasn't Vanessa's fault! I agree, Vanessa's actions were reprehensible, Claire had every right to be upset, but the anger was overdone! Poor Van never even got a chance to explain how terrible the evening was.

Indeed. It is one thing to be angry, but it was really painful to watch Claire's rage in that episode. Especially when you felt sorry for Vanessa even before that.

I'm reminded of the episode of "Full House", when everyone was livid with DJ when she lied and skipped school to get an autograph from Susy Q. And if you don't know the details about it, it might look like DJ did the wrong thing. But she did ask her father for permission to miss one school day in her entire lifetime to get that autograph. Heck, she could even have gone back to school for the rest of day after she met Susy Q. But without even considering it, Danny said no. And it all went downhill from there. But it was really painful to see Joey of all people just take DJ's autograph and throw it in the garbage bin. And why did they have to make even Stephanie become furious with her? So the moral of the episode was supposedly that DJ had been selfish and bla bla bla. But I could only see that Danny, Joey and Stephanie acted like jerks towards her.

So what I'm trying to say is, kids will do stupid things and even lie to you some times. And even though you have the right to be angry with them, I believe that you should also be able to forgive them and understand how much a young girl might want to do things like going to a concert or getting an autograph. And too many parents on these American sitcoms just failed in that department.

Indeed. It is one thing to be angry, but it was really painful to watch Claire's rage in that episode.

She was wretched :wave:

Indeed. It is one thing to be angry, but it was really painful to watch Claire's rage in that episode. Especially when you felt sorry for Vanessa even before that.

I'm reminded of the episode of "Full House", when everyone was livid with DJ when she lied and skipped school to get an autograph from Susy Q. And if you don't know the details about it, it might look like DJ did the wrong thing. But she did ask her father for permission to miss one school day in her entire lifetime to get that autograph. Heck, she could even have gone back to school for the rest of day after she met Susy Q. But without even considering it, Danny said no. And it all went downhill from there. But it was really painful to see Joey of all people just take DJ's autograph and throw it in the garbage bin. And why did they have to make even Stephanie become furious with her? So the moral of the episode was supposedly that DJ had been selfish and bla bla bla. But I could only see that Danny, Joey and Stephanie acted like jerks towards her.

So what I'm trying to say is, kids will do stupid things and even lie to you some times. And even though you have the right to be angry with them, I believe that you should also be able to forgive them and understand how much a young girl might want to do things like going to a concert or getting an autograph. And too many parents on these American sitcoms just failed in that department.

Good point! These episodes could have given us a critique of a society so obsessed with celebrity worship and sympathy for teens who feel the need to lie and cheat to meet and/or see their favorite celebs, instead of downright degradation.
I think Facts of Life handled this better (if I remember correctly), with Mrs. G kind of going along with Tootie's infatuation with Jermaine Jackson (?), knowing she'd get over it, and admitting to the power of a fan crush.

I have not seen "Facts of Life", ever. But I remember two other episodes on two 90s sitcoms, which handled a similar situation in a much better manner.

The first one is from "Family Matters" and is about Laura wanting to go with her friends to a Seal concert in a different state. Harriet and Carl say no at first, but they later come to realize that they hadn't been fair. Especially as they were totally okay with Eddy (who was two years older, but still) going camping with complete strangers, because he was a guy. So in the end, Laura could go to the concert (even if she had to call home on a cellular phone on a regular basis, so they could know that she was okay).

Then there is an episode on "Sister Sister", where the girls get a good sum of money from an uncle on their birthday. Which gives them the idea to skip school to go see a Boys II Men concert in a different city. Of course, they only end up in all kinds of trouble (and there was no concert either, because it had been cancelled. Ray and Lisa were angry with Tia and Tamera, but they still were fair enough to let them have their surprise birthday party in peace.

Theo always seemed to be the favored child, then Rudy, then Denise, then Sondra.

Vanessa always seemed to be treated like ****. Not sure why but from this incident in the thread to her being told that she brought her relationship with Dabnis to them "on a garbage can lid" it seems like she was treated by both insufferable Huxtable's with contempt and a constant eyeroll.

Even the chubby white kid got more love from them. :lol:

Theo always seemed to be the favored child, then Rudy, then Denise, then Sondra.

Vanessa always seemed to be treated like ****. Not sure why but from this incident in the thread to her being told that she brought her relationship with Dabnis to them "on a garbage can lid" it seems like she was treated by both insufferable Huxtable's with contempt and a constant eyeroll.

Even the chubby white kid got more love from them. :lol:

That chubby kid was Peter, right?

That chubby kid was Peter, right?

Yes. Good catch!

I forgot they gave him a name. :)

Yes. Good catch!

I forgot they gave him a name. :)

I thought he was hilarious, he didn't even talk, but he stole every scene he was in.

I thought he was hilarious, he didn't even talk, but he stole every scene he was in.

They should have let his stay and grow up with Rudy and Bud

It would have been nice to hear him talk eventually too.

But I agree, he was hilarious.

Like a non speaking Little Dougie Heffernan. ;) :D

They should have let his stay and grow up with Rudy and Bud

It would have been nice to hear him talk eventually too.

But I agree, he was hilarious.

Like a non speaking Little Dougie Heffernan. ;) :D

He did talk in at least one episode, possibly more. I either heard or read somewhere that Peter didn't talk much because the actor that played him (Peter Costa) had a lot of trouble remembering his lines.

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He did talk in at least one episode, possibly more. I either heard or read somewhere that Peter didn't talk much because the actor that played him (Peter Costa) had a lot of trouble remembering his lines.

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Oh, thanks for the clip and the scoop on that.

It explains a lot. :wave:

Claire was a smug, bossy control freak. And no, that is not a good thing.

In hindsight, were Cliff and Claire Huxtable (especially Claire) very cold, critical, smug/arrogant, controlling parents that really shouldn't be held up as parenting role models?

In hindsight, were Cliff and Claire Huxtable (especially Claire) very cold, critical, smug/arrogant, controlling parents that really shouldn't be held up as parenting role models?
That's my point exactly. :cool:

Looking back at The Cosby Show, isn't it reasonable to suspect that Claire in hindsight, often displayed a haughty attitude? Did Claire ever really show any warmth to her that didn't at all feel disingenuous. Maybe it's my imagination but, Claire often came across as cold, rigid and condescending to everyone and treated her family like employees. Claire seemed to be particularly aggressive towards Vanessa (I don't think that she was anywhere near as harsh with her other kids like Rudy and Denise) and going out of her way to insult Cliff's intelligence. Like there would be times in which she would tell her husband, who's a doctor, how to care for his sick daughter.

And I think in one episode, when she was talking to Rudy about bothering his new juicer, she said something to the effect of, ‘I know why you wanted to play with the juicer—because it’s shiny and has buttons that light up. Those things amuse your father too.’ Claire when you get right down to it, could really be a pretentious snob who treated her husband as less than a man.

She became increasingly tough to take as the series wore on. I also noticed the conflict with Vanessa. I remembered thinking even back that that it would be realistic for Vanessa to become estranged from her parents as an adult, because of her mother’s mistreatment.

She became increasingly tough to take as the series wore on. I also noticed the conflict with Vanessa. I remembered thinking even back that that it would be realistic for Vanessa to become estranged from her parents as an adult, because of her mother’s mistreatment.
She did go off to College one year early, so yeah. :lol:

That's my point exactly. :cool:

Not that Cliff was any better. I just thought about this again after watching this YouTube examination/retrospective (https://youtu.be/khIS98DltT8) on The Cosby Show. Sure, Cliff was the goofier and more "fun" parent in the Huxtable household. But somebody elsewhere online, noted that he could also be very sarcastic towards his kids. And sarcastic in the vein that he really wanted them to be out of his sight.

Plus, he always picked on Theo over his learning difficulties. Of course, it's easy to argue that Cliff and Claire weren't aware that Theo was dyslexic, nor was Theo formally diagnosed until several years later. But still, special education from what I've gathered, was around when The Cosby Show took place (at least since 1975). Certainly, Theo's teachers could've been aware or suspicious of his struggles.

I hate to continue to go on this little tangent, but since Cliff and Claire were "professionals" in medicine and law shouldn't they have already been well aware of the developments in their respective fields of expertise?

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The Cosby Show: The Best Of Clair Huxtable


I found the very classy character of Claire Huxtable played exceptionally by Phylicia Rashad quite enjoyable to follow throughout The Cosby Show's run on NBC.

Clair Huxtable was a college educated professional working mother that held the Huxtable household together through thick and thin in their eight season on television.

It wasn’t just that Clair Huxtable was a strong, liberated woman with a career. It was that she had a husband and family who supported and valued her endeavors.

Claire Huxtable set an primetime example of how to be a good caring, nurturing, supportive mother and wife who could also be a disciplinarian whenever the situation presented itself.

Also, the character of Claire Huxtable was very good confidant of Healthcliff Huxtable whom he turned to seeking sage advice during the many situations that manifested within the Huxtable family dynamic.

One of my favorite scenes from The Cosby Show is when Theo's friend from college Danny comes over to the Huxtable house and has his time of the month statement about women before Claire in all of her graceful ways sets him straight with her Aunt Flo speech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwGNoPudceQ

Another very memorable scene with Claire Huxtable is when we are introduced to Elvin during season two of The Cosby Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StyFoHA49XA&t=132s

Elvin comes to the Huxtable brownstone bearing flowers and an apology; while he’s waiting, Clair passes through and tells Cliff she’s going to her office, and so Cliff offers to make dinner. After Clair leaves, Elvin asks Cliff, “Doesn’t it ever bother you that you get home from work and there’s not a hot meal waiting for you?” Cliff’s response: “Sometimes my wife comes home and there’s not a hot meal waiting for her. What’s your point?” “Well, I just feel that it confuses things when a woman works,” Elvin confesses. “My mother works, and I don’t like it. Sometimes when I come home, there’s nothing to eat.” Cliff has a good-natured laugh. “Well,” he asks, “are your hands broken?”

At the episode’s conclusion, Elvin returns to pick Sondra up, and Clair offers him and Cliff coffee while he waits. Elvin is surprised. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Huxtable, I didn’t think you did that kind of thing,” he says. By that “kind of thing,” he means “serving,” and once the notion of “serving your man” has been floated, Clair shuts it down but quick in what might be Rashad’s finest moment on the show.

“Let me tell you something, Elvin,” she tells him, not really suppressing her anger. “You see, I am not ‘serving’ Dr. Huxtable, OK? That’s the kind of thing that goes on in a restaurant. Now I am going to bring him a cup of coffee just like he brought me a cup of coffee this morning. And that, young man, is what marriage is made of. It is give-and-take, 50-50. And if you don’t get it together, and drop these macho attitudes, you are never gonna have anybody bringing you anything, anywhere, any place, any time, ever.”

https://eurweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/cosby-show-660.jpg

Not that Cliff was any better. I just thought about this again after watching this YouTube examination/retrospective (https://youtu.be/khIS98DltT8) on The Cosby Show. Sure, Cliff was the goofier and more "fun" parent in the Huxtable household. But somebody elsewhere online, noted that he could also be very sarcastic towards his kids. And sarcastic in the vein that he really wanted them to be out of his sight.

Plus, he always picked on Theo over his learning difficulties. Of course, it's easy to argue that Cliff and Claire weren't aware that Theo was dyslexic, nor was Theo formally diagnosed until several years later. But still, special education from what I've gathered, was around when The Cosby Show took place (at least since 1975). Certainly, Theo's teachers could've been aware or suspicious of his struggles.

I hate to continue to go on this little tangent, but since Cliff and Claire were "professionals" in medicine and law shouldn't they have already been well aware of the developments in their respective fields of expertise?
They were absolutely horrible towards Theo. :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1FRVXBC2Zo
The Cosby Show: The Best Of Clair Huxtable


I found the very classy character of Claire Huxtable played exceptionally by Phylicia Rashad quite enjoyable to follow throughout The Cosby Show's run on NBC.

Clair Huxtable was a college educated professional working mother that held the Huxtable household together through thick and thin in their eight season on television.

It wasn’t just that Clair Huxtable was a strong, liberated woman with a career. It was that she had a husband and family who supported and valued her endeavors.

Claire Huxtable set an primetime example of how to be a good caring, nurturing, supportive mother and wife who could also be a disciplinarian whenever the situation presented itself.

Also, the character of Claire Huxtable was very good confidant of Healthcliff Huxtable whom he turned to seeking sage advice during the many situations that manifested within the Huxtable family dynamic.

One of my favorite scenes from The Cosby Show is when Theo's friend from college Danny comes over to the Huxtable house and has his time of the month statement about women before Claire in all of her graceful ways sets him straight with her Aunt Flo speech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwGNoPudceQ

Another very memorable scene with Claire Huxtable is when we are introduced to Elvin during season two of The Cosby Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StyFoHA49XA&t=132s



https://eurweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/cosby-show-660.jpg
The problem is that I don't believe that Elvin was that bad.
I don't agree with everything he said or did.
However, I have to say that Claire and Sondra managed to rub me the wrong way more than he did.
And it was revealed that Cliff had been just as sexist (or worse) in his younger days.
Thus, I guess I found Elvin more sympathetic than the writers intended us to do.

Not that Cliff was any better. I just thought about this again after watching this YouTube examination/retrospective (https://youtu.be/khIS98DltT8) on The Cosby Show. Sure, Cliff was the goofier and more "fun" parent in the Huxtable household. But somebody elsewhere online, noted that he could also be very sarcastic towards his kids. And sarcastic in the vein that he really wanted them to be out of his sight.

Plus, he always picked on Theo over his learning difficulties. Of course, it's easy to argue that Cliff and Claire weren't aware that Theo was dyslexic, nor was Theo formally diagnosed until several years later. But still, special education from what I've gathered, was around when The Cosby Show took place (at least since 1975). Certainly, Theo's teachers could've been aware or suspicious of his struggles.

I hate to continue to go on this little tangent, but since Cliff and Claire were "professionals" in medicine and law shouldn't they have already been well aware of the developments in their respective fields of expertise?
They (Cliff/Claire) believed that Theo was just goofing around in his classes and not taking the class work seriously. When they found out what was was medically wrong with Theo (Dyslexia) they both apologized and were very supportive of him after the fact. Theo does graduate from college on the show so they show the entire circle of his learning disability from blame to diagnosis to overcoming. The final two episodes of The Cosby Show show were centered around Theo's graduation from college.

https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/the-cast-of-the-cosby-show-deon-richmond-malcolmjamal-warner-geoffrey-picture-id459131462

They (Cliff/Claire) believed that Theo was just goofing around in his classes and not taking the class work seriously. When they found out what was was medically wrong with Theo (Dyslexia) they both apologized and were very supportive of him after the fact. Theo does graduate from college on the show so they show the entire circle of his learning disability from blame to diagnosis to overcoming. The final two episodes of The Cosby Show show were centered around Theo's graduation from college.

https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/the-cast-of-the-cosby-show-deon-richmond-malcolmjamal-warner-geoffrey-picture-id459131462
How I loved it when Vanessa told them off for how they had treated Theo!

How I loved it when Vanessa told them off for how they had treated Theo!

The Cosby Show (With This Ring S08/E01 Full Episode) https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6he029
Vanessa brings home a boyfriend she has kept secret from her family.


The Cosby Show (The Iceman Bricketh S08/E07 Full Episode) https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6hfzbt
Cliff's parents find out that Cliff & Clair are meeting Vanessa's fiancé for dinner and insist of meeting him as well. They want to make sure the guy is good enough for their granddaughter.


The Cosby Show (Cliff Gets Jilted S08/E18 Full Episode) https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6hnojv
Sandra & Elvin hold a house warming party - but it is held at Cliff & Clair's house. Vanessa breaks the news that she and Dabnis have broken their engagement. Cliff is more upset than Vanessa.


Vanessa and her mixed up life had no right telling anyone off. She was running around with a much older man leading him on with marriage then ran away from him when things got too real for her to handle. Everyone who watched the show should recall her emotional map to the salad bar scene concerning Dabnis when she ran away from him without telling him where she was going.

Vanessa was constantly putting Dabnis in awkward situations with her family due to her emotional impulses from when she first introduced him to her parents (Dr Huxtable's serving a steak on a garbage can lid presentation metaphor) until she announced that the engagement was off at Elvin's house warming party (while the rest of the family unaware of the situation was welcoming Dabnis into the family).

https://img05.rl0.ru/afisha/-x472q65i/s5.afisha.ru/mediastorage/3d/b1/3b9007cc5fc04b09921f10abb13d.jpg

The Cosby Show (With This Ring S08/E01 Full Episode) https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6he029
Vanessa brings home a boyfriend she has kept secret from her family.


The Cosby Show (The Iceman Bricketh S08/E07 Full Episode) https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6hfzbt
Cliff's parents find out that Cliff & Clair are meeting Vanessa's fiancé for dinner and insist of meeting him as well. They want to make sure the guy is good enough for their granddaughter.


The Cosby Show (Cliff Gets Jilted S08/E18 Full Episode) https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6hnojv
Sandra & Elvin hold a house warming party - but it is held at Cliff & Clair's house. Vanessa breaks the news that she and Dabnis have broken their engagement. Cliff is more upset than Vanessa.


Vanessa and her mixed up life had no right telling anyone off. She was running around with a much older man leading him on with marriage then ran away from him when things got too real for her to handle. Everyone who watched the show should recall her emotional map to the salad bar scene concerning Dabnis when she ran away from him without telling him where she was going.

Vanessa was constantly putting Dabnis in awkward situations with her family due to her emotional impulses from when she first introduced him to her parents (Dr Huxtable's serving a steak on a garbage can lid presentation metaphor) until she announced that the engagement was off at Elvin's house warming party (while the rest of the family unaware of the situation was welcoming Dabnis into the family).

https://img05.rl0.ru/afisha/-x472q65i/s5.afisha.ru/mediastorage/3d/b1/3b9007cc5fc04b09921f10abb13d.jpg
That was after the episode, that I was talking about.
I don't see what the Dabnis situation has to do with anything.

That was after the episode, that I was talking about.
I don't see what the Dabnis situation has to do with anything.
Theo's Gift (S6/E5 Full Episode) https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5vmew7

(Video Description) https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5vmew7
Theo finds out that he has dyslexia so he changes the way he studies and gets a better grade in history.


It goes full circle just to show that character of Vanessa had her own issues to worry about and was not really in a position to tell anyone off especially her parents in relation thereof...word to the Wretched and alphabet drinking games.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTkwODMyNDE3Nl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMzI0NTM2MjE@._V1_.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E8l8l5zXEAY0NYV.jpg

Theo's Gift (S6/E5 Full Episode) https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5vmew7

(Video Description) https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5vmew7
Theo finds out that he has dyslexia so he changes the way he studies and gets a better grade in history.


It goes full circle just to show that character of Vanessa had her own issues to worry about and was not really in a position to tell anyone off especially her parents in relation thereof...word to the Wretched and alphabet drinking games.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTkwODMyNDE3Nl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMzI0NTM2MjE@._V1_.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E8l8l5zXEAY0NYV.jpg
But it doesn't matter what Vanessa did on other occassions.
She was in the right about telling her parents off about how they treated Theo.