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For another episode of 'Here's Why', we take a look at Bill Cosby's short lived sitcom 'Cosby' which ran from 1996 to 2000. The series would go through multiple obstacles before eventually being taken off air at CBS.

I saw it a couple of times and didn't care for it.

Cosby https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115144/

I really like this show a lot as I just recently binged watched the entire series over the course a few weeks not long ago. The episode where the cast remembered Madeline Khan after she passed away was very nicely done.

The series had a very talented cast with seemingly great on screen chemistry among the cast mates. Bill Cosby as Hilton Lucas, Phylicia Rashad as Ruth Lucas, T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh as Erica Lucas, Doug E Doug as Griffin Vesey & Madeline Kahn (RIP) as Pauline Fox.

https://static.wixstatic.com/media/500463_b408ae5e85b0472a9ea249a3f8a8f635~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_590,h_440,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01/cosby.webp

I agree a 4 season show isn't a failure. There are a fair number of shows still in circulation that ran 4 or fewer seasons.

Also I think this show did a lot better in syndication (I know it was aired here for several years and maybe on TBS) than some longer-running shows--I'm thinking of some low-rated sitcoms in the early 2000s NBC kept on life support year after year.

If the show "failed" then it was because it slowly but surely, morphed into an imitation of The Cosby Show. It's one thing to have Phylicia Rashad play Bill Cosby's wife again (Thelma Hopkins was originally slated to play the role). But then in later seasons, they kept adding new kids for Cosby to interact (https://web.archive.org/web/20140402222435/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/topic/3128475-cosby-with-madeleine-kahn-without-all-the-kids/#entry3228965) with. As others have said (https://web.archive.org/web/20140402222435/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/topic/3128475-cosby-with-madeleine-kahn-without-all-the-kids/#entry3224472), all this only served to show how superior The Cosby Show was. It was basically, The Cosby Show if Cliff and Claire Huxtable were more "blue collar" and not snobs (https://web.archive.org/web/20140402222435/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/topic/3128475-cosby-with-madeleine-kahn-without-all-the-kids/#entry3227567). The show definitely wasn't helped (https://web.archive.org/web/20061031142308/http://www.jumptheshark.com/c/cosby.htm) by Madeline Kahn's death.