2009 Black History Month: Favorite Black TV Characters (#3)

By: Luke Florence

My Favorite Black TV Characters

#3 - February 26th - Bill Cosby as Cliff Huxtable - "The Cosby Show"

This is going to be impossible. Any words that I write will only do an injustice to this living legend. In many ways, Bill Cosby IS this list. Without Bill, I seriously doubt Bernie Mac or Dave Chappelle gets their own show. I doubt my top two picks happen as well. And while Redd Foxx came before him, Sanford and Son did not even come close to the gigantic success The Cosby Show encountered.

He was everyone's favorite dad. With a large family of five roaming the Huxtable house, Cliff attempted to keep it all together. Don't ask me how he managed to do it, or managed to find the time. Cliff was a doctor on top of being in charge of such a diverse family. Not gonna lie, Cliff was the man.

Every once in a while, a show comes along and changes things. For my generation, it was The Cosby Show. A show about two successful black parents raising a family. It had never been done. But, The Cosby Show prevailed, almost immediately, and has had a lasting impact on our entire generation. After its' eight-year run ended, it cemented itself as one of the most successful sitcoms of all-time.

Bill Cosby has done enough Jello pudding commercials that one might think he is turning into Fat Albert himself. He also came into the entertainment business as a stand-up comedian, but make no mistake, his role as Cliff Huxtable is what he will be remembered as. It's funny, even though I could name all five Cosby kids in order, (Sondra, Denise, Theo, Vanessa, and Rudy), it took me a couple extra seconds to remember Bill's characters' name. By now, those two are almost synonymous.

Cosby's style of humor is timeless. Just as I can watch The Fresh Prince and still laugh, the same can be said of The Cosby Show. Bill is the one to thank for that. He can make an entire scene hilarious without even saying anything. But, usually, Bill makes his opinion known verbally. He loves his kids, but also wants him out of the house, as a running joke on the show is Bill keeping a tab of how much money his kids owe him.

My favorite aspect of Cliff Huxtable is how much he was a real dad. He was caring, cautious, protective, and taught his children the importance of hard work. He always had a lesson to teach, but always had a unique way of teaching it.

Even though there were always people coming in and out of the Huxtable household, Cliff seemed to develop a relationship with everyone. My favorite non-blood-related relationship was the one Cliff had with Elvin. Those two could not have been more different, and every encounter ended with me laughing.

Again, this entire list should just be called the Bill Cosby list. Because, again, he is the man. He is a pioneer, and like I mentioned at the beginning, a living legend. Thank you Bill.

And then there were two.

Enough from me tonight. Make sure to check out Barnes' blog (on my sidebar) to find out what he thinks as we get dangerously close to the end of February.

Hint for #2: We've touched on this many times throughout the list. But this guy and his best friend are the definition of the black-white relationship I love.

Until tomorrow, "read it, roll it, hole it."