MovieChat Forums > The Cosby Show (1984) Discussion > I didn't like Cliff's character on the s...

I didn't like Cliff's character on the show very much.

posted 8 years ago by Purplecover101
24 replies | jump to latest

Sure the show was amazing and Cliff was funny on several occasions, but his overall personality annoyed me.

He was sarastic towards his children and super eager to get rid of them. Additionally, he seemed to show a lot of favoritism towards Rudy, the youngest child.

Like when Rudy and Vanessa were fighting, Rudy was rude enough to barge into the bathroom while Vanessa was putting her makeup and shove her. But cliff singles out Vanessa just b/c she's "older" then her. I
personally HATE HATE HATE when parents use that card as an excuse for siding with the younger kid.

[–] pioneergrrrl 7 years ago

He always picked on Theo because of his learning disabilities. I HATED that. Theo just should have grown a pair and told him off.

[–] IcingOnTheCake 7 years ago

It wasn't known that Theo had a learning disability until later. Theo was first shown as just another kid getting bad grades. He also was shown trying to take shortcuts such as not wanting to work hard for Mrs. Westlake and listening to a record and then reading Leland (the show's version of cliff notes) notes for a Shakespeare exam.

[–] Navaros 7 years ago

It wasn't known that Theo had a learning disability until later.

This is true...but, according to mr. cosby's revisionist history version, it is not true. mr. cosby has claimed that the show features a continuous arc of Theo having dyslexia from the first episode to the last.

[–] IcingOnTheCake 7 years ago

He would have had it from the start but no one knew it until he was older. The parents didn't know it. They had no reason to suspect anything was wrong before Theo was diagnosed. He wasn't trying too hard early on, he often tried to take shortcuts. It was discovered after he buckled down and still had issues.

[–] Furienna (3322) 7 years ago

You make it sound like Theo never tried before he was diagnosed, which is probably totally untrue.
But he did have dyslexia and couldn't get any help with that before he was diagnosed.
Which would have made things harder for him than for other people.
So giving up on getting good grades in school or taking short cuts?
That is very realistic approaches in that situation.

[–] pioneergrrrl (2390) 4 years ago

show took place in the 80s when special education existed (it was passed in 1975) --teachers could have proactively identified him as needing to obtain help. They could have told his parents. Yes his teachers could have suspected it and told his parents. I don't buy this at all.

Yes his 'professional' parents both of whom had to be aware of developments in law/medicine to keep their licenses would have known about special education and that Theo could have obtained services.
.

[–] Furienna (3322) 4 years ago

Good points. So I can only guess that poor Theo, on top of having a pair of smug but clueless parents, only had incompetent teachers, who didn't care about having him screened for dyslexia.

[–] pioneergrrrl (2390) 4 years ago

yes and legally the public school (his parents did not send him to a place where he wore uniforms) had to tell his parents if he was potentially elgibile for services

as a pediatrician, cliff huxtable also would have known about policies impacting the schools and child development. he would advise parents to get their own children tested evaluated (schools have to do it for free under this law)

[–] Furienna (3322) 4 years ago

Actually, Cliff worked as an ob/gyn and not as a pediatrician.
But otherwise, you're right.
Theo must have been supposed to be a case, that fell through the cracks somehow until he was in College.
Bill Cosby's real life son also had to go through High School with dyslexia without a diagnosis.
Thus, this storyline is a lot more realistic than what you might think.

[–] GreenGoblinsOckVenom86 7 years ago

It wasn't known that Theo had a learning disability until later. Theo was first shown as just another kid getting bad grades. He also was shown trying to take shortcuts such as not wanting to work hard for Mrs. Westlake and listening to a record and then reading Leland (the show's version of cliff notes) notes for a Shakespeare exam.

I haven't watched the show in full and didn't know this. He does pretty well later on when he becomes a Teacher at the end of the show. Happened to catch one of the later ones when it was on TV quite a few years ago.

"I'll be back!" The Terminator

[–] marktayloruk (2386) a year ago

What's wrong with taking shortcuts?

[–] Navaros 7 years ago

I don't think show was amazing, other than perhaps that many of the guest actors were very talented.

Most of the episodes have little to no story. An "amazing" show would not have that problem.

[–] kentry 7 years ago

His point was that Vanessa being the older child should not have let a little girl play with her mind. Though not punishing Rudy for shoving Vanessa into the bathroom vanity went a bit too far.

Drake is repetitive. He just raps the same thing over and over as if he is in an insane asylum!LOL:D

[–] jtmovies 7 years ago

Vanessa and Theo actually addressed this to their parents in the 5th or 6th season. They actually told them how Theo was wrongly punished numerous times for having bad grades including missing a date before it was discovered that he had a disability.

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[–] Furienna (3322) 7 years ago

I had to cheer on Vanessa for taking that stand against their parents. Cliff and Claire had been really unreasonable towards Theo, and it was about time that someone pointed that out.

[–] Matildawormwood (1545) 3 years ago

Well they both were forced to sleep in the attic for the night to work out their differences.

[–] ZakkWyldeMyLittlePony 7 years ago

Michael Jackson's transgender personality combined with his over stuffed ego annoyed me. I say that because it tires me that ignorant Michael Jackson fans blindly call out Bill Cosby but also blindly defend Michael Jackson. When these delusional Michael Jackson fans aren't trashing Cosby, they are busy ripping on Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, and Bryan Singer and being rude to people who just so happen to not like their precious Michael Jackson.

Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath watch My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

[–] Furienna (3322) 7 years ago

Not that a hateful bullshit post like this towards MJ and his fans belongs in this thread in the first place.
But I have to reply anyway.
Firstly, MJ was never a transgender person.
Sure, it is true that he had an androgynous image.
But that is not necessarily the same thing as being transgender.
And he didn't have a bigger ego than any other celebrity of that stature.

And as for people like Roman Polanski and Bill Cosby, they have all admitted they were guilty of their crimes.
But MJ never did that, because he was innocent of these vile allegations. So there is the difference!

[–] gcarras (2728) 7 years ago

All of what you said, ZakkWyldeMyLittlePony=My points exactly.:)

[–] Furienna (3322) 7 years ago

I didn't care much for Cliff either. He believed that he was funny even though he wasn't, and I don't like how he handled certain situations with the kids.

[–] BourbonKing (5655) 4 years ago

He's just a reflection of Bill Cosby who never liked in the first place. Smug, arrogant and not even funny to me. But, apparently he had mass appeal to both blacks and whites, but I just found his act stale and conceited.

[–] Artisan (3464) 4 years ago

Sitcoms of the time all followed the same method, genius kid, loser kid, smarmy youngest kid we are all supposed to believe is cute.

One parent is calm and all knowing, the other parent more laid back or incompetent.

Plots are vacuous and by the end of the show you forget what happened.

Cosby was no different. He just had the star power for the media to hype it more than the average sitcom.

[–] Furienna (3322) 3 years ago

I would say that you simply don't seem to belong to the target audience for "squeaky clean" family sitcoms.
But if you wanted to watch something with your kids, there are worse things out there than "Cosby Show".
Of course, it is now ruined by its star having been revealed to be a serial rapist.
But before that, I did enjoy it along with many other similar shows from the '80s and the '90s.
Even though I could never warm up to the supposedly awesome parents Cliff and Claire.
However, all of the kids (except Sondra) were okay.

[–] marktayloruk (2386) 3 years ago

Cliff smug selfrighteous always right- had idea for episode in which Theo takes up boxing or some friend of his gives a practical demonstration of why he thinks he can make it as a fighter Imagine Cliff with his jaw wired up!