Cosby Show 25th Anniversary on WGN America

[Pavan]

2002 Reunion, classic episodes marathon, all-new 25th anniversary special, and shows that aired on NBC the night it premiered (Family Ties, Cheers, Hill Street Blues):

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/blog/20...thons-fox.html

[Scoobiedoo30]

The 25th Anniversarry Marathron will be great to watch

[Pavan]

WGN AMERICA CELEBRATES THE 25th ANNIVERSARY OF THE COSBY SHOW

WGN America to Air Viewer's Choice Marathon, Recreation of 1984 Program Lineup,

Online Contest and Online Game


NEW YORK, August 19, 2009 -- Twenty-five years ago, America welcomed comedian Bill Cosby and his television family into their homes. On September 20, 1984 The Cosby Show debuted and families across the country were introduced to the Huxtables, an upper-middle class African-American household with patriarch Heathcliff "Cliff" Huxtable played by Bill Cosby.

Sunday, September 20, 2009 marks the 25th anniversary of The Cosby Show and to celebrate the milestone (to the day) WGN America will be airing a series of tributes to The Cosby Show including the replication of the original NBC Thursday night lineup as it aired on Thursday, September 20, 1984 (the day The Cosby Show premiered) with interviews by Lilly Tartikoff, a Cosby Show Viewer's Choice Marathon, an online contest and an online game.

The Cosby Show detailed the lives of Cliff, his wife Clair (Phylicia Rashasd) and their five children: Sondra (Sabrina LeBeauf) Denise (Lisa Bonet) Theo (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) Vanessa (Tempestt Beldsoe) and Rudy (Keshia Knight-Pulliam) as they grew up in Brooklyn, NY. The series, which ran for eight seasons from 1984-1992, garnered numerous awards including: two Emmy Awards (Outstanding Comedy Series, 1985 and Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series, 1984), three Golden Globe Awards, and multiple NAACP awards. Rated #1 for five consecutive seasons (1985-1990) Time Magazine and TV Guide ranked The Cosby Show in their lists of "Greatest Shows of All-Time" and Entertainment Weekly and USA Today selected the show for their "Top TV Moments in History" lists.

WGN America will honor Cliff, Clair and the kids with a replication of the original lineup as it aired in 1984, a Cosby Show Viewer's Choice Marathon with an online contest, and an online trivia game.

"As we have seen with the success of WGN America's current Sunday lineup "Outta Site Retro Night," our viewers love nostalgia and to recreate the programming of 1984 allows us to offer viewers a chance to re-live a history-making lineup," said Sean Compton, SVP of Programming and Entertainment, Tribune Broadcasting. "The strength of this 1984 night brought comedy back to primetime and forever changed the way families watched television."

Following the WGN America broadcast of the Chicago Cubs baseball game at 5:30pm ET, WGN America will be committing the prime and overnight schedule to The Cosby Show and the NBC Thursday night line-up that dominated the 80's. At 5:30pm and 6:00pm ET will see two best-of episodes and at 6:30pm ET WGN America will air a 25th Anniversary Special. Then from 7-10pm ET WGN America will re-air the original Brandon Tartikoff NBC Thursday night line-up EXACTLY AS IT AIRED IN 1984: The Cosby Show: "Pilot Presentation," Family Ties: "The Gambler," Cheers: I'll Be Seeing You, Parts 1 and 2" and Hill Street Blues: "Eva's Braun."

Additionally, WGN America has interviewed philanthropist Lilly Tartikoff who shares her thoughts on the iconic programs of 1984 and memories of her husband, programming visionary Brandon Tartikoff. Lilly's interviews will air as interstitials in primetime from 7-10pm ET during the WGN America recreation of the 1984 lineup.
From 7-10pm ET WGN America will adopt the NBC theme "Let's All Be There" (circa 1984) using original promotional elements (A special thank you to NBC for sharing their archive materials).

"Brandon Tartikoff was a visionary without professional peer, and his greatest achievements occurred during his fight with a disease which ultimately defeated him. This event is as much a tribute to the Cosby Show as it is to the man behind it," said Compton.

In the afternoon (1:30pm-5:30pm) and overnight (11pm-4am ET), WGN America will air a viewer's choice marathon of the top ten Cosby episodes voted by our viewers at WGNAmerica.com. Voting for The Cosby Show Viewer's Choice Marathon http://www.wgnamerica.com/pages/cosby/ <http://www.wgnamerica.com/pages/cosby/> begins today and runs through Monday, September 14th.

The Cosby Show Viewer's Choice Marathon will also have a contest component, all viewers who submit their favorite episode to WGNAmerica.com will be entered to win a complete DVD set of all eight seasons of The Cosby Show autographed by Bill Cosby plus a Cosby Show Prize Pack. Four runners up will receive a complete DVD set.
WGN America's Cosby Show marathon is sponsored on-air in part by Kraft Foods.

Set to debut later this month, WGNAmerica.com will offer an online Cosby Show game. Put your Cosby family knowledge to work with The Cosby Show Time Machine and solve trivia puzzles to get the Huxtable kids back to 1984 but be careful, wrong answers wills send them to the set of other shows! The Cosby Show Time Machine was conceived and built by Tribune Interactive's Adver-gaming Team.


WGN AMERICA Schedule for Sunday 9/20 (ET)

1:00p "The Cosby Show 25th Anniversary Special"
1:30p The Cosby Show: Viewer's Choice TBA
2:00p The Cosby Show: Viewer's Choice TBA
2:30p The Cosby Show: Viewer's Choice TBA
3:00p The Cosby Show: Viewer's Choice TBA
3:30p The Cosby Show: Viewer's Choice TBA
4:00p The Cosby Show: Viewer's Choice TBA
4:30p The Cosby Show: Viewer's Choice TBA
5:00p The Cosby Show: Viewer's Choice TBA

5:30p The Cosby Show: "Best Of" Episode TBA
6:00p The Cosby Show: "Best Of" Episode TBA
6:30p "The Cosby Show 25th Anniversary Special"

7:00p The Cosby Show: Pilot presentation
7:30p Family Ties: The Gambler
8:00p Cheers: I'll Be Seeing You, Part 1
8:30p Cheers: I'll Be Seeing You, Part 2
9:00p Hill Street Blues: Eva's Braun

10:00p WGN News At Nine

11:00p The Cosby Show: Viewer's Choice TBA
11:30p The Cosby Show: Viewer's Choice TBA
12:00a The Cosby Show: Viewer's Choice TBA
12:30a The Cosby Show: Viewer's Choice TBA
1:00a The Cosby Show: Viewer's Choice TBA
1:30a The Cosby Show: Viewer's Choice TBA
2:00a The Cosby Show: Viewer's Choice TBA
2:30a The Cosby Show: Viewer's Choice TBA
3:00a The Cosby Show: Viewer's Choice TBA
3:30a The Cosby Show: Viewer's Choice TBA

[bliggenstrauff]

That'll be cool to watch. It'll be like when Tv land did that once with The Bob Newhart show and some other shows from CBS a few years ago. Anyway, it'll be cool to see all that Cosby Show stuff as well as seeing Family Ties on another channel, Cheers at an earlier time, and Hill Street Blues