I watched this show religiously from mid-season 1 all the way to the final episode, and while I enjoyed it a great deal there was one thing that bugged me more and more in the later years...

Did anyone else ever feel like this show added way too many characters and then discovered they just plain didn't have room for them all?

Now don't get me wrong, I have no problem with a large cast, if it's done well. But towards the end of The Cosby Show's run, the vast majority of episodes would feature 25% of the credited cast at best. You could watch 3 different episodes and see 3 entirely different sets of characters!

Why was this? I mean, I would be really bothered if I was starring on a hit show for many years and suddenly I was told, "Oh, you're only doing 7 episodes this year so we can focus more on all these new people we added..."

Originally posted by Michael1973
I watched this show religiously from mid-season 1 all the way to the final episode, and while I enjoyed it a great deal there was one thing that bugged me more and more in the later years...

Did anyone else ever feel like this show added way too many characters and then discovered they just plain didn't have room for them all?

Now don't get me wrong, I have no problem with a large cast, if it's done well. But towards the end of The Cosby Show's run, the vast majority of episodes would feature 25% of the credited cast at best. You could watch 3 different episodes and see 3 entirely different sets of characters!

Why was this? I mean, I would be really bothered if I was starring on a hit show for many years and suddenly I was told, "Oh, you're only doing 7 episodes this year so we can focus more on all these new people we added..."

The reason for this was the actors who played Vanessa and Theo were in college in real life. Mr. Cosby, a strong believer in education, worked around their school schedule so that they attend classes. In the final season you did not see Vanessa and Theo that much.

I did have a problem with the final two seasons of the show as they were adding extra people on there. It got to a place that you did not know who was whom anymore. The people that they added on there had no significance to the show. It brought the show down even further.

Let's not even go there about Olivia.

For the show to continue, they really had no choice but to add new characters. With Vanessa and Theo in college and Denise off the show, there was a huge void.

Okay, I kind of figured Vanessa was in college in real life (since her character was), but I didn't realize that Theo was too. That makes sense. But what about Rudy? She was 13 I think, and still only appeared in less than half the episodes in the last season. Same with Sondra and Elvin.

I guess it's always bugged me when secondary sitcom characters start to be seen more often than the "regulars" on the basis that the actors are more readily available. This happened on Roseanne as well.

I like it when there are a lot of people, because that way there's always a lot going on all the time. Of course, I'm an only child, so I've always thought that having a big family would be fun...umm, when you're a kid. I don't think it would be much fun for the parents.