Back in the 1980s, The Coby Show was the most popular show on television, making its creator and star, Bill Cosby, one of the most popular actors in America. Today, however, Cosby’s reputation is something very different, with the comedian having been convicted of sexual assault. While the conviction was ultimately overturned, many have had difficulties reconciling the personal failings with the creative success, but one star of The Cosby Show doesn’t have that problem.

Raven-Symoné began her professional career in 1989 when she debuted on the sixth season of The Cosby Show. In a recent appearance on Jamie Kenney’s Hate to Break it to Ya podcast, the subject of Cosby came up, and the actress made it clear that she keeps her feelings about the man and the show separate, saying…

Separating the art from the artist is an argument that has been made in many cases. Sometimes people become fans of particular works only to discover later that somebody behind those creations held views they disagree with, or perhaps did things either immoral or illegal. Those fans then need to figure out how to square that with the creative work, which they likely still love.

There's little argument that The Cosby Show meant a lot to a lot of people. It did change television, but that didn't stop the Television Academy Hall of Fame from removing Bill Cosby from its ranks. Sometimes the actions of the creator do have an impact on the creation.

Not everybody has found that separating the art from the artist is feasible, and not everybody believes that’s what should be done, but Raven-Symoné does. She’s able to appreciate what The Cosby Show means to people, and what the show meant to the broader culture, while clearly condemning Bill Cosby for his actions. She continued…

Raven-Symoné's feelings echo many of those from others who were also part of the show. A former producer admitted The Cosby Show was likely tarnished in the immediate aftermath of the accusations, but hoped people would eventually be able to appreciate the show on its own merits. Another “Cosby Kid” Keisha Knight Pulliam has said that The Cosby Show was the work of more than one person, and thus the show still deserves its accolades.

This may be one of those situations where there is no right answer, and each person will need to approach the question of the art and the artist in their own way. Many will likely feel as Raven-Symoné does. It’s a difficult enough question to grapple with that not everybody will feel the same.

In a lot of ways, The Cosby Show is kind of like Lord Voldemort in that it is the show that shall not be named. We all know why the sitcom's legacy is tarnised, so I'm not going to get into that. That said, with unfortunate death of Malcolm-Jamal Warner, people started name-dropping the show again (even though MJW was more than just Theo Huxtable).

You know what? I'm actually glad, because The Cosby Show SHOULD be mentioned given what an important series it was. Now, while I'm purely speaking from a Black perspective, it wasn’t important to solely Black people. Nope.

It was important to America as a whole. Because kind of like how Diddy has become sort of a punchline with today's kids, younger generations likely have no idea the impact that The Cosby Show had on this country, and I want to get into that.

Here Was A Show Starring A Black Family That America Openly Embraced

I'm going to let you in on a little secret. I did NOT like The Cosby Show when I was a little kid. I actually grew up watching The Simpsons, which was a competitor to the Huxtable family at the time. The Cosby Show just seemed too…safe, I suppose? Too homey. (And I mean “homey” as in comforting. Not “homey” as in Homey the Clown from In Living Color, which I also watched - they had Jim Carrey!)

Anyway, The Cosby Show was just too plain Jane for me for constant viewing. Yes, I watched episodes here and there as a child - and even hated to admit that I enjoyed them - but I was a Fox Network kid all day who bled Simpsons yellow.

But, do you want to know who did grow up watching The Cosby Show on a regular basis when she was younger? My Filipino wife. For all the reasons I didn't want to watch The Cosby Show, her family did. Because here was a safe, inviting Black family that America embraced with open arms. They presented parenting challenges that any family, no matter the race, could understand, which is why they were often called “America's family.”

That fact still blows my mind today. Yes, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air also transcended racial boundaries, but that show's popularity skewed younger because of Will Smith. I genuinely believe that some folks who might not be fond of Black people WANT to like us, but they might be afraid because of what they possibly saw on the news. The Huxtable family wasn't scary, though, which I think was very important for the Black community as a whole.

Cliff And Clair Huxtable Also Offered Something For Black Kids To Look Up To, Both Professionally And As Parents

Cliff Huxtable was a doctor, and his wife, Clair, was a lawyer, and I don't think I can overstate what a big deal this was back in the day. Because even today, if you ask most parents what they'd like their children to become once they're older, they would probably be least ashamed if their children either went into medicine or law.

Now, yes. I'm well aware of what kind of doctor Cliff was (and that his office was in the basement), but I'd rather just focus on the fact that both Huxtable parents were professionals, and that they were also loving parents. Because guess what. A lot of young people grow up wanting to be something they saw on TV or in a movie when they were younger.

For instance, I wonder how many Black kids watched The Cosby Show and wanted to become doctors or lawyers (or good parents!) when they grew up. I also wonder how many of them went to Med school, or Law school because they, too, wanted to be like the Huxtables and own a brownstone in Brooklyn Heights to raise a family.

Today, a lot of my Black and Hispanic students (I'm a teacher outside of working for this website) dream of becoming athletes or YouTubers. They don't really have a Cliff or Clair Huxtable to look up to these days. But, my generation did, and that was a big freaking deal.

There Were So Many Life Lessons On The Show That Still Hold Up Today

As I said earlier, I didn't really watch The Cosby Show when I was a kid. I actually watched it when I was 18 and it was on Nick at Nite (which alongside shows like Roseanne and A Different World, I think The Cosby Show was one of the best shows on the late night programming block).

Because as an adult, I could appreciate many of the life lessons each episode tried to get across. For example, the pursuit of education was an ongoing theme on the show. Cliff and Clair often mentioned college, and the kids were often seen studying or worrying about upcoming tests. (Hell, the last episode of the series featured Theo graduating from college).

Or, what about how the Huxtable children were treated? Growing up, I laughed as Homer literally strangled his child, but the Huxtable children were listened to, given guidance, and allowed to make mistakes. I know a lot of parents today look to Bluey for guidance on how to raise their children (including myself), but The Cosby Show was showing people how to be model parents decades prior to the loveable dog family.

In every way, The Cosby Show had something to teach both impressionable kids AND impressionable adults, and pretty much all of those lessons still hold up today.

Lastly, It Felt Safe And Warm, And It Still Feels Safe And Warm

I've recently gotten my daughter into The Simpsons, and while I'm happy that I have one more thing that I can share with her, I also kind of regret it. Because some of the more risque jokes literally have me cringing when we watch it together. Also, some of the jokes can actually be pretty dark, like the death or Maud Flanders or Frank Grimes.

However, I wouldn't have this problem with The Cosby Show, since it always felt like safe and warm humor. Unfortunately, the show isn't readily available these days like The Simpsons (again, for obvious reasons), so I can only really show her clips of the show. That said, those clips feel unlike anything we have today, since The Cosby Show was just special.

And yes, I have no problem saying that. I often have a hard time separating the art from the artist, and The Cosby Show will unfortunately never be viewed in the same way that it once was in its heyday. That said, it still doesn't take away from how important the show once was to myself (in my later years) and to millions of others. It was the warm, safe show.

So, yes. I get it. You may not want to mention The Cosby Show, but I do; elephant in the room, notwithstanding.

But, what do you think? Good or bad, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Throughout the history of TV, there have been a number of shows that have managed to strike a chord with audiences and become a timeless piece of Americana in the process. The Cosby Show, which aired on NBC for eight seasons from 1984 to 1992, is such a series. However, the classic sitcom’s legacy has been a topic of debate over the past several years, amid the legal complications of its co-creator and lead star – Bill Cosby. Amid the drama, some of his former co-stars have spoken out on whether the show’s legacy should be tarnished as a result. Series alum Keshia Knight Pulliam is now getting candid about that subject.

The 44-year-old actress gained worldwide fame when she was cast as the diminutive and adorable Rudy Huxtable back in the 1980s. Though she’s done more in the years since her stint on the family comedy ended, she still occasionally discusses the show and her experiences. The show is set to turn 40 in 2024 and, ahead of that, the star was asked about how the show’s legacy should be weighed in light of the controversies surrounding the lead. The House of Payne star stated that the acclaimed sitcom “was bigger than one person.” She gave the following sentiment as well:

It’s true that The Cosby Show was conceived as a vehicle for Bill Cosby, though it did prove to be an ensemble piece, featuring skilled actors like Phylicia Rashad, Lisa Bonet and Malcolm-Jamal Warner. Keshia Knight Pulliam herself was also lauded for her performance as the youngest Huxtable sibling, even earning an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in A Comedy Series at the age of six. Pulliam went on to tell People that she’s thankful for the position she was in during that time in her career: 

The show’s presence on TV and within the public consciousness has changed in recent years, though, as Bill Cosby has faced various sexual assault allegations dating back to the ‘70s. He was found guilty on three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault against accuser Andrea Constand. A judge sentenced Cosby to three to ten years in prison, though he was released after two years in 2021 due to his case being voided as a result of a past deal the star made with a prosecutor. 

Amid his sea of legal troubles, the now-86-year-old comic received support from a handful of his former co-stars. Keshia Knight Pulliam showed up to support him at his trial in 2018 and, years earlier, in 2015, Pulliam defended him while also saying at the time that she hadn’t been in contact with him. Clair Huxtable actress Phylicia Rashad also shared a celebratory post after the Ghost Dad star was released from prison early and later apologized for it.

The Cosby Show reruns were pulled from various networks years ago as a result of the scandals. Despite that, the show is still available to watch in some places, and fans still seek it out. Keshia Knight Pulliam makes a fair assessment about the series, as it did contribute a lot to pop culture and served as a precursor to some of the great Black sitcoms of the past few decades. Still, it’s likely that the discussion revolving around its connection to the titular star will continue for the foreseeable future. 

Bill Cosby has been released from jail, but his legal troubles are far from over. After his 2018 conviction decision was overturned on a legal technicality earlier this year, another suit has been filed against the former comedian. 

New reports indicate that Lili Bernard, an actress who had previously worked alongside Bill Cosby on The Cosby Show, is officially suing her former co-star for sexual assault for “no less than” $25 million. She claims that Bill Cosby drugged and assaulted her at a casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1990. According to Lili Bernard, he threatened to “erase” her acting career if she attempted to tell anyone about the incident. Per Yahoo!, she has reportedly suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety since the alleged event. 

While Lili Bernard spoke out against Bill Cosby when he was first accused in 2015, her case was thrown out due to the former statute of limitations. However, New Jersey recently implemented a two-year ‘look back’ policy that allows sexual assault victims to prosecute their abusers in civil court no matter when the alleged harassment took place. In an official statement, Lili Bernard explained the rationale behind her decision to pursue her case. She said:

Bill Cosby was among the first Hollywood heavyweight to be accused of assault as part of what became known as the #MeToo movement. After 60 women spoke out against him, Bill Cosby was originally convicted of drugging and assaulting Andrea Constand in 2018. After serving three years of his ten year sentence, however, his conviction was overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. 

The news broke wide and Cosby's former The Cosby Show co-star even made waves when she commented. At the time, the judges held that Bill Cosby’s initial prosecutor was bound by a previous agreement to not sue the former actor. He was released from prison last June. 

Andrew Wyatt, Bill Cosby’s legal representation, holds that the actor is maintaining his innocence and intends to fight any new charges. The publicist also told Yahoo! Entertainment: 

No official court dates for the new case have been announced. This story is currently developing, so check back for updates as they occur. 

Bill Cosby's recent unexpected release from prison continues to spark reactions of all kinds, and anyone who thought that Cosby would make an attempt to avoid the public's attention has seen the opposite happen. Though he stayed silent during his post-release press conference with his legal team, it wasn't long before Cosby got vocal on social media, and he had quite the strong reaction to the backlash facing former Cosby Show co-star Phylicia Rashad over her tweet celebrating Cosby's newfound freedom.

For those who might have missed it, Phylicia Rashad's initial reaction to Bill Cosby's prison release showed her to be fully in the disgraced comedian's corner, though the ensuing widespread fallout led to Rashad deleting that particular tweet, as well as following up with another message saying she fully supports victims of sexual assault. But not before it had drawn the attention of Howard University, where Rashad was appointed dean of the school's College of Fine Arts, which happened just two months prior. The university shared a statement distancing itself from Rashad's opinions, which is what sparked Cosby to issue the following statement in response, according to THR:

The legally blind Bill Cosby did not hold back in rebuking both Howard University and the entirety of mainstream media with accusations that the school was somehow not supporting Phylicia Rashad's freedom of speech, and that the media itself was to blame for the January 6 storming of the Capitol. (No one who has been arrested in connection with the insurrection is part of the mainstream media, to note.) Though the statement was technically in defense of his former co-star, it's not unbelievable to think that Cosby's comments about the media at large were tied to the mountain of coverage surrounding his release in and of itself, as his release definitely sparked a resurgence in conversations surrounding the variety of sexual assault allegations made against him over the years.

Though Bill Cosby seemingly had no issue with slamming Howard University, Phylicia Rashad understandably took a completely different path of communication. Rashad penned a letter to the school's students and staff formally apologizing for her pro-Cosby sentiment and the implication that she was not supportive of sexual assault victims. In it, she said:

It's been nearly seven years since comedian Hannibal Burress restarted conversations about the widespread rumors of Bill Cosby's past sexual exploits, which led to a massive backlash throughout the entertainment industry, with several cancelled projects and more surrounding his 2018 arrest and sentencing for multiple counts of aggravated indecent assault against Andrea Constand. His release occurred after it was ruled that his due process rights were violated concerning an agreement made years prior with a former district attorney that his court testimony during the initial 2005 court case could not be used to prosecute him. It's unclear at this time if Constand's legal team, or those of any other victims, will make new attempts to take Cosby back to court.

This week, many were surprised to learn that Bill Cosby, who was in the middle of serving a ten-year prison sentence for allegedly assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004, would be released from prison after having only served a little over two years. The news drew a myriad of responses from the public. The comedian’s former Cosby Show co-star, Phylicia Rashad, was among those who responded, as she took to Twitter to share a celebratory message. The post drew a massive amount of backlash, leading the actress and Howard University dean to walk back her statements in a separate tweet. Now, Rashad has apologized for her post in an open letter to the school’s students and parents.

Howard University alum Phylicia Rashad was named the dean of the school’s revitalized College of Fine Arts back in May. Following her tweet on Bill Cosby’s release, a number of Howard students and alumni took issue with her sentiments, with some calling for her dismissal. In her open letter (via CNN) to the student body and their parents, Rashad stated that she opposes sexual violence and understands the university’s policies on it:

Phylicia Rashad also discussed how she hopes to rectify the situation in the coming weeks. In the letter, she also stated that she intends to “to engage in active listening and participate in trainings to not only reinforce University protocol and conduct, but also to learn how I can become a stronger ally to sexual assault survivors and everyone who has suffered at the hands of an abuser.” She also mentioned that she has since removed “that upsetting tweet.”

After that tweet was posted, Howard University released a statement in which the school addressed Phylicia Rashad’s comments. While the school acknowledged her follow-up tweet, it noted that her initial tweet “lacked sensitivity towards survivors of sexual assault”:

Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction was overturned by Pennsylvania’s highest court on June 30. The ruling was made after it was discovered that Cosby made a deal with a former prosecutor, which prevented him from being charged in the case.

After news of the overturned conviction broke, a spokesperson for Bill Cosby released a statement, calling the development “amazing news” and thanking the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. As of this writing, Cosby has yet to release a personal statement on the matter. We’ll keep you posted with any updates as they arrive.

Bill Cosby’s early release from prison sent shockwaves throughout Hollywood and the rest of the country, and while the myriad responses on social media have largely been opposed to the way things played out in court, The Cosby Show patriarch's former co-star Phylicia Rashad excitedly voiced her support for his release. But that opinion wasn't shared at all by another famed sitcom mom, as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’s Original Aunt Viv actress Janet Hubert had some blunt thoughts about Rashad’s public reaction.

For background, The Cosby Show vet and current This Is Us star Phylicia Rashad took to Twitter to voice her support for her former television husband upon hearing the news of Bill Cosby’s prison release. Here's how she initially expressed her thoughts on the whole ordeal:

Decades after the classic sitcom ended, Bill Cosby obviously still holds a special place in Phylicia Rashad’s heart despite the shift in public opinion on Cosby’s legacy, which became more widespread after comedian Hannibal Burress used his act to reflect on sexual assault allegations being an ignored known in the entertainment industry. On several occasions, Rashad has spoken out against the embattled star’s critics, so she may very well have some kind of retaliatory response for Fresh Prince alum Janet Hubert as well. (To be sure, Rashad did post a follow-up tweet professing her solidarity with assault victims.)

Upon seeing Phylicia Rashad’s Twitter post, original Aunt Viv Janet Hubert took clear issue with Rashad's supportive message and decided to reprimand The Cosby Show alum on Twitter. With her candid post, Hubert also shared the aforementioned notion that stories of Bill Cosby's sexual misconduct were a well-known secret in Hollywood. Here's how she put it:

The Fresh Prince star wasn’t done with Rashad, either. After her first tweet, Janet Hubert followed up with some allegations of her own in a second message, saying:

Janet Hubert’s take on Bill Cosby’s release gave some insight into Hollywood’s power struggle, and she attempted to make Rashad aware of the other side of the public discourse surrounding Cosby's release. While she spoke bluntly, Hubert's message to Rashad wasn't the kind of vicious attack that others were quick to fall back on, to the point where she even warned Rashad of suck attacks.

These posts about Bill Cosby’s prison release definitely isn't the first time Janet Hubert has been outspoken about problematic circumstances in Hollywood. The OG Aunt Viv went back and forth with former Fresh Prince co-star Will Smith for years over her departure from the sitcom. The two co-stars had a strained relationship dating back to the second season, but Hubert and Smith finally made up after three decades as part of last year’s Fresh Prince reunion special.

With opinions about Bill Cosby's personal affairs aside, fans can still support the two iconic television moms by streaming The Cosby Show on Amazon Prime Video and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on HBO Max.

In a surprising turn of events regarding Bill Cosby's ongoing attempts to be released from prison, the iconic comedian and actor is apparently actually getting out of prison in the very near future. Despite previous attempts to appeal Cosby's prison sentence failing to make legal waves, Pennsylvania's highest court made the ruling on June 30 to overturn the 83-year-old's sexual assault conviction. As it stands, Cosby will be released from prison after over two years of incarceration, and just a fourth of the way into his expected sentence.

The Pennsylvania court ruling came after the discovery of an agreement made between Bill Cosby and a previous prosecutor that actually prevented the entertainer from being charged in this particular case, according to the Associated Press. It appears that District Attorney Kevin Steele, whose call it was to arrest Cosby, was legally required to enforce his predecessor's vow to not charge Cosby after he offered his own possibly incriminating testimony for Andrea Constand's civil suit.

Even though there was no written proof that such an agreement took place, Justice David Wecht ruled that Cosby had the aforementioned agreement in mind when he offered his personal testimony, believing that what he said wouldn't be used against him. It's in the court's view that the "only remedy" in the matter that would uphold the public's justice system expectations was to overturn the conviction, also adding "barring any further prosecution" to that sentiment.

Bill Cosby was in the midst of a ten-year sentence for his alleged assault of accuser Andrea Constand back in 2004, with comedian Hannibal Burress having initially sparked renewed attention into rumors about rape and molestation allegations. That was the start of the downfall, with Netflix pulling back on a comedy special deal signed just months earlier, combined with NBC axing a sitcom agreement and multiple other deals falling apart behind the scenes.

After he was charged and arrested in 2015 prior to the statute of limitations expiring, Cosby's first trial saw a single accuser being allowed to testify, though that all ended in the jury being deadlocked. For the retrial, the judge allowed five other accusers to testify against Cosby with stories of their alleged experiences with him in the 1980s. And while it was initially deemed suitable as a way of showing a pattern of sexually deviant behavior, the Pennsylvania Supreme court viewed the testimony as having tainted the trial. He was convicted in 2018, and officially began his sentence in September of that year.

At this time, it's not known whether prosecutors will try and find some way to move forward by appealing the court's decision, or if they will make further efforts to try Cosby for a third time, which may not be so likely, given the court's ruling. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Bill Cosby made it clear that the comedian and his legal team are overjoyed by the court's revised decision, telling this to Insider:

Further details about Bill Cosby's release were not revealed, though it's likely the comedian will have his own statement to deliver once the time is right. As well, it's unclear whether this high-profile reversal will have any effect on other cases involving #MeToo-esque allegations against celebrities.

After a prolonged court battle, along with years of public allegations, it was officially announced that Bill Cosby is going to prison. As it was reported earlier today, the comedian and television star is sentenced to serve three-to-ten years in state prison-- relating to a 2004 case involving sexual assault. The details are still coming, but here's what we know about the update in the trial. Please be warned, the details can be considered graphic in nature.

The trial update was reported by The Associated Press. While the disgraced comedian has received copious allegations of sexual assault throughout the past few years, this prison sentence is related to a 2004 case, where he drugged and sexually assaulted a woman inside his gated estate. The case is noteworthy for a variety of different reasons, particularly as one of the first high-profile #MeToo personalities sent to prison for his convicted crimes. As the legal and justice system ran their course, this conviction is considered by many to be the final chapter of Bill Cosby's tarnished legacy.

During the trial as the verdict was set to be delivered, Montgomery County Judge Steven O'Neill proclaimed the following statement to Bill Cosby.

When asked about the verdict by CNN, Lili Bernard, a woman who accused Bill Cosby of drugging and raping her, said the following response.

Camille Cosby, the wife of Bill Cosby for 54 years who has continued to defend her shamed husband (as she did earlier this year) -- despite the widespread sexual allegations and accusations of presented against her husband -- was notably not seen in court when the decision was decided. Earlier this year, Bill Cosby was found guilty three counts of aggravated indecent assault. He is expected to serve a maximum of ten years in prison, as well as a minimum of three years behind bars before he can receive parole. Based on his age and physicality at this stage of his life -- he is legally blind and needs a cane to walk around -- there's a fairly decent chance the once-beloved comedian might live out his final days locked up in prison.

In addition to this prison sentence, Bill Cosby was also expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences alongside Roman Polanski, and he was also kicked out of the TV Academy's Hall of Fame. There is no shortage of disgraces Bill Cosby has received -- and will certainly continue to receive -- in the wake of this conviction. We'll continue to keep you posted on the ongoing developments and updates in this criminal case.

When the TV show Cheers gets mentioned, either in passing or as one of the greatest small screen comedies of all time, it's hard not to picture Ted Danson's Sam Malone standing behind the bar and donning both a sparkling smile and a head of perfectly coifed hair. But when Cheers was first coming together at NBC back in the early 1980s, there was a moment when it was possible for Bill Cosby to have become the guy pouring beers for Cliff and Norm. Here's what co-creator Les Charles about the initial casting process.

Just think: if brothers Les and Glenn Charles had been excited about getting a major TV star front and center for Cheers, then nabbing Bill Cosby would have been pretty big. Cosby's career in the 1970s was probably more celebrated for his stand-up comedy than for films like The Devil and Max Devlin and the sketch comedy show Cos. Still, though, considering the writing and the ensemble cast had as much to do with Cheers becoming a mega-hit as Ted Danson's affable charisma, Cosby wouldn't have needed to stretch his own personality much to gain viewers.

Alas, Les and Glenn Charles had no interest in adding a well-known entertainer for the role of Sam Malone (or whatever the lead character's name would have otherwise been), and went with Ted Danson, who'd been working on TV movies and bit parts on comedies like Laverne & Shirley and Taxi. The part turned Danson into a superstar, and set him up for a career in which he's been able to pick and choose winning roles on shows such as Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Good Place, with the latter also on NBC.

And it's not like the network absolutely failed hardcore when Cheers' creators passed on adding Bill Cosby. Just two years after the bar-set sitcom made Sam and Diane the most dynamic romance around, The Cosby Show debuted on NBC and became a hard-to-stop juggernaut in both the ratings and the Emmys game. (Appreciation for the show has suffered due to Cosby's sex offender conviction, to be sure.) And as far as "What If" situations go, though, this scene below would be worlds different if Danson was replaced with Cosby.

Beyond the prospects of seeing Bill Cosby waxing sarcastic with Carla, the Charles brothers also revealed to THR that another one-time comedy icon, Sid Caesar, had specific interests in joining the show in its development period. According to Glen Charles:

Since Sid Caesar lived until 2014, unlike late actor Nicholas Colasanto, his version of Coach would have presumably survived throughout the entire run of the show, Which means we never would have gotten to meet Woody Harrelson's Woody Boyd, which would have been a travesty. So let's all thank the TV gods for making Cheers a show that hasn't lost a step over the years.

Though Cheers is only around in streaming form these days, it's absolutely worth a rewatch every so often. But there are tons of other new shows coming to primetime soon, and you can find it all with our summer premiere schedule.

Ever since the sexual misconduct allegations against producer Harvey Weinstein were made public last October, the Me Too movement has been putting an ever-growing spotlight on sexual harassment and assault more so than ever, whether it's in Hollywood or in other industries, at work or in personal settings. But even before the Weinstein scandal broke, two high-profile entertainment figures who were in the news for sexual misconduct allegations were comedian Bill Cosby and director Roman Polanski. Now it's been announced that both men have been expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

In its public statement (via THR), the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski are no longer members of the organization, saying that "the Board continues to encourage ethical standards that require members to uphold the Academy's values of respect for human dignity." The vote to expel Cosby and Weinstein occurred on May 1 and is part of the board of governor's efforts to enforce a Standards of Conduct that was implemented following the scandal surrounding Harvey Weinstein, who was also expelled from the Academy. Polanski, however, will still keep his the Oscar he won for directed 2003's The Pianist. Cosby was also recently kicked out of the Television Academy's Hall of Fame, which included his bust being removed from display.

Also known for his work on movies like Uptown Saturday Night and TV shows like The Cosby Show, Bill Cosby was recently found guilty of three counts of aggravated assault against Andrea Constand in 2004. Cosby's first trial ended as a mistrial with a deadlocked jury last year, but it went to retrial and the jury reached its verdict after 14 hours of deliberation. Cosby has not been sentenced yet. While Cosby had been investigated for sexual assault and harassment last decade, it wasn't until additional allegations came out starting in late 2014 (with Cosby being accused of assaulting numerous women between 1965 to 2008) that significant progress started to be made. Cosby has also been stripped of his honorary degrees from Yale University and Temple University.

As for Roman Polanski, who's directed movies like Chinatown and Rosemary's baby, he fled the United States in 1978 after he plead guilty to drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl. He hasn't returned to the States since then, and requests for his extradition have been denied. Polanski will be a character in Quentin Tarantino's upcoming movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which is set in 1969 around the time of the Manson Family murders (of which Sharon Tate, Polanski's girlfriend, was one of the victims) and will be released on August 9, 2019.

Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for all the latest in movies news, and if you're interested in planning your trips to the theater later this year, head over to our 2018 release schedule.

Last week, Bill Cosby was found guilty of three counts of aggravated indecent assault, with the 80-year-old comedian subject to face a maximum of ten years in prison for each count. Should the conviction go through, there's a better-than-decent chance that Bill Cosby will die behind bars. It has been a stunning turn of events, to put it mildly. Everyone has an opinion about the controversial subject, but one person who hasn't spoken out since the court of law ruled against Cosby is the comedian's wife, Camille Cosby. Married to the actor since 1964, Camille has been Bill's partner for 54 years. Sure enough, she has something to say about the verdict. In a scathing open letter, Camille Cosby didn't mince words about what happened to Bill Cosby, and how she blames the media for what it went down.

The open letter, published by NPR, finds Camille Cosby claiming Bill Cosby was the victim of "lynch mobs," whom she believes presumed Bill Cosby's guilt before her husband went to trial. Here's what Camille Cosby wrote.

The three-page statement concludes with Camille Cosby claiming Bill Cosby is an "innocent person" who has been found guilty "based on an unthinking, unquestioning, unconstitutional frenzy propagated by the media." Here's Camille Cosby's exact quote.

Camille Cosby was mostly absent for Bill Cosby's most recent trails, although she has continued to defend her convicted husband through the accusations made by more 60 women of sexual misconduct. This open letter was released around the same time the comedian was kicked out of Television Academy's Hall of Fame, with his name and statue scrubbed away, as it was announced earlier this morning.

Now that Bill Cosby has been found guilty by the court, the question that looms ahead is what sentence will Bill Cosby receive. Due to his age, celebrity stature and handicaps, including blindness, there are discussions being had about Bill Cosby's potential prison situation, including whether or not he'll need an assigned caretaker or special accommodations. We'll keep you informed on future developments.

At one time broadly considered to be one of the most wholesome celebrities on the planet, Bill Cosby is currently about as far from that lauded precipice as he could be. In April, Cosby was found guilty of three counts of aggravated incident assault, his first conviction after spending the last few years facing a growing number of sexual assault and rape accusations. And his once-untouchable career continues to erode, as the Television Academy has removed Cosby's name and statue from its Hall of Fame.

Bill Cosby was inducted into the TV Academy's Hall of Fame in 1992, with The Cosby Show having been one of television's biggest hits through the 1980s. And as it goes with entertainers that get inducted, a Cosby bust was crafted and put on display at the California-based Hall of Fame. All of the busts were removed and stored as the new Saban Media Center was being constructed, and according to Deadline, one Academy spokesperson confirmed that Cosby's would not be among the busts that will be returned to the courtyard. The same spokesperson confirmed that Cosby's name had been stricken from the Academy's Hall of Fame website.

While the Academy has already taken those steps to wipe Bill Cosby's name from one set of honorees, no plans are currently in place to take away the physical Emmy awards that he'd received over the years -- three were for her his performances on the '60s drama I Spy, with the other for his 1969 comedy program The Bill Cosby Special -- nor the Bob Hope Humanitarian award he received in 2003. Which isn't to say these things won't happen in the future, but there are "no plans" for them to occur now.

The TV Academy relatively recently kicked Harvey Weinstein out of its ranks following the producer's controversial string of accusations against him, though he wasn't in its Hall of Fame. Conversely, Bill Cosby wasn't a member of the TV Academy, so it was only the Hall of Fame distinctions that were addressed here.

In 2015, Andrea Constand filed three charges of aggravated incident assault against Bill Cosby in a Pennsylvania court, and though that attempt eventually ended in a mistrial, the case led to unsealed court documents from the civil suit Constand filed against Cosby in 2005. That case's deposition transcripts revealed Cosby acknowledging engaging in casual sex with women that involved the illegal use of Quaaludes, among other high-profile reveals. When Constand's case went back to the courts as a trial by jury, things ended much differently, with Cosby convicted of all three counts.

Everyone invested in this case is no doubt awaiting word on what kind of sentence Bill Cosby will get, as well as what other headlines will be made in the interim. (His wife Camille Cosby has since released a vitriolic statement blaming "mob justice" for her husband's conviction.) In the meantime, check out when some of TV's newest hits will be around by bookmarking our summer premiere schedule.

Bill Cosby appeared in a Pennsylvania court on the morning of Monday, June 5. The 79-year-old former comedian faces three counts of indecent assault for purportedly assaulting a woman after drugging her in 2004. The case is but one in a sea of allegations against Cosby. In recent years, more than 50 women have come forward to allege he assaulted them. The accusations against Cosby continue to bewilder and upset many of his past supporters. However, not everyone has cast aside the actor. In fact, Cosby entered the courthouse with an unexpected advocate on his arm: Keshia Knight Pulliam, the actress who played Rudy Huxtable, the daughter of Bill Cosby's character, on The Cosby Show.

Keshia Knight Pulliam and her former television dad entered the court looking optimistic. They laughed and smiled from time to time despite the serious, somber mood of the moment. They avoided questions from reporters and seemed to focus on keeping their arrival at the courthouse as comfortable as possible under the circumstances. Later, Bill Cosby--or the person who manages his Twitter account--posted the following photo of him with Knight Pulliam together at the courthouse:

It is not the first time Keshia Knight Pulliam has shown support for Bill Cosby. In January 2016, the actress reportedly referred to the onslaught of accusations against Cosby as "an unfortunate situation," but she steered clear of adding too much opinion by stating she was not there on the night the alleged incidents occurred, so she could not know the truth. Then, in an episode of Knight Pulliam's podcast, Kandidly Keshia, the actress again tackled the subject of the accusations against Cosby on her podcast when her guest, Amber Rose, expressed dismay about people sticking up for him. Keshia Knight Pulliam suggested she did not think Cosby to be guilty because the reports did not align with the person whom she had known. Knight Pulliam also indicated she continued to have love for Cosby and reminded listeners,

So far, there is little news about how the case is going. There is speculation Bill Cosby's legal team, led by defense attorney Brian J. McMonagle, might attempt to put a dent in the integrity of the victim to sway the jury. At the same time, some people assume Kevin R. Steele, who leads the prosecution, might appeal to the emotions of the jurors, so says TMZ. Camille Cosby, Bill Cosby's wife of 53 years, was not present with her husband and Knight Pulliam, but she might attend other proceedings. We'll have to wait and see if any of Bill Cosby's other former acting partners might show support for Bill Cosby by joining him at the courthouse as Keshia Knight Pulliam did. Stay tuned.

A gifted host on a TV awards show will usually keep things running at a good pace. The host will know how to cut the speeches of celebrities short, not to mention will know how to go with the flow and cut sketches when a broadcast is running long. It helps when a TV host is not only affable, but amusing as well. During the 68th Annual Emmy Awards, Jimmy Kimmel brought his a-game, taking not only lead actors but even producers to task in a way that was both amusing and a little edgier than usual. Still, Jimmy Kimmel wasn't the only person who threw some unexpected laughs at us during tonight's broadcast. You can catch our favorite jokes, below.

Jimmy Kimmel Roasts Mark Burnett

Jimmy Kimmel took a few pretty hard shots during his monologue this year. No one was roasted harder than Mark Burnett, the famous TV producer who is responsible for several big shows like Shark Tank. Jimmy Kimmel wasn't giving him flack for the ABC reality series; instead, he was giving him flack for bringing Donald Trump to television when he created The Apprentice and its follow-up The Celebrity Apprentice. In fact, Kimmel took the joke pretty far, noting that we have Mark Burnett to thank for where we are today with the election and so forth.

It went on for a minute or so, including one comment about a plan to put Miley Cyrus on the Supreme court and booting Mark Burnett over that wall Donald Trump plans to build should he win the election.

Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang Crack Jokes About How To Get More Asian Talent In The Arts

Aziz Ansari was all over the 2016 Emmy Awards. At one point he and his creative partner on Netflix's Master of None, Alan Yang, won in the writing for a comedy series category. They used the platform to talk about how they hoped more Asian individuals would get into the arts, but they did it in a way that also proved to be pretty amusing. Here's Alan Yang's specific joke:

In the context of an otherwise pretty sincere speech, this joke caught us off guard, in a good way. We'll be remembering the speech from the two funny guys in the days to come.

The Emmys Voiceover Person "Introduced" Bill Cosby

Jimmy Kimmel and co. pulled a fast one on the stars attending the Emmys but also the audience watching from home. In the middle of the broadcast, the voiceover guy introduced Bill Cosby as the next person coming out onstage. There was the most awkward of pauses, and then Jimmy Kimmel popped up onstage, telling the riveted audience that he was just messing around and wanted to see how we'd all react to hearing Bill Cosby get announced. It was yet another unexpected moment, and it'll probably be best remembered for Tina Fey seemingly mouthing something like, "Is this a Cosby joke?" in the background.

So Many O.J. Simpson Case Jokes

American Crime Story was on fire during the Emmy's, so much so that a big topic of conversation was O.J. Simpson. From a car chase joke played out during the opening video to jokes about Marcia Clark and Sarah Paulson, who played Clark on The People v O.J. Simpson, jokes about the FX series and the real life case that inspired it were all the rage. Among them were some off-color bits, including but not limited to:

Regardless of where he's looking from, something tells me famed lawyer Johnnie Cochran would have gotten a good laugh at that.

Kit Harington And Andy Samberg's Hilarious Emmys Soundbites

I mean really, there's not much we can say about this other than simply include the quotes. After Kit Harington and Andy Samberg came onstage to present the best Variety talk series award, the two pitched some Emmys soundbites the show can use before the ceremony. It started out tame, but then...

You can always count on Andy Samberg to do something profoundly weird.

John Oliver's Hilarious And Touching Emmys Win

It's been clear for the last couple of TV seasons that John Oliver has picked up the mantle where the likes of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert left off. His work paid off at the 2016 Emmy Awards when his HBO series Last Week Tonight With John Oliver won the award for Outstanding Variety Series. After thanking a lot of people, John Oliver cracked a nerdtastic joke about actually wanting to be played off for talking too long.

Luckily, the ABC broadcast obliged. In addition, Jimmy Kimmel followed this up with a joke about how he too was wondering when they would play John Oliver off. Considering Jimmy Kimmel Live was up for the same award, the joke hit all the right notes.

Matt Damon's Feud With Jimmy Kimmel... Continued

Speaking of Jimmy Kimmel losing out to John Oliver, his loss conveniently led to one of the greatest bits of the night and one of the moments that will likely prove to be one of the most talked about. Shortly after the host officially lost his category, Matt Damon dropped by the 2016 Emmy Awards for no other reason than to give Kimmel a hard time for failing. It was brilliant.

You can check out the full and vicious video of Matt Damon giving Jimmy Kimmel crap for losing out to another late night host here.

The Perfect Setup For A Maggie Smith Joke

Downton Abbey has notoriously cleaned up at awards ceremonies over the past few years, and apparently, this year was really no exception. The ITV drama recently ended its run, and Jimmy Kimmel wasted no time in cracking a joke about how Maggie Smith didn't even bother to show up for the Emmys, despite it being the show's last season. This ended up being the perfect setup for a follow-up joke because Maggie Smith actually ended up winning her category this year.

As soon as it happened, Jimmy Kimmel strutted back onstage and told the Downton Abbey actress that she could find her award in the lost and found. Sure, it wasn't the most offensive or the most blue bit of the night, but the setup for the joke couldn't have been more perfect.

For a full update on who won and who lost the major categories at the 2016 Primetime Emmy Awards, check out our updated list.

Media attention on Bill Cosby and his possibly lurid past hasn’t been that heavy in recent months, although there are still stories to be found. Well, the formerly non-tarnished comedy legend has found the spotlight anew in the form of a lawsuit firing back at some of his accusers, in part saying that their defamation of his name and character led to his financial losses when both NBC and Netflix decided to drop his projects from their rosters. I’m sure you readers have some interesting faces happening right now.

Cosby’s retaliation is over a defamation lawsuit filed in December 2014 by Tamara Green, who was then joined in the legal action by other accusers Therese Serignese, Linda Traits, Barbara Bowman, Joan Tarshis, Louis a Moritz and Angela Leslie. They claimed his denial of their allegations has hurt their reputations, and he’s saying their accusations are what caused his “honorable legacy and reputation” to take a (breathtakingly steep) downfall. The counterclaims say they were “willfully, maliciously and falsely accusing” Cosby of the sexual crimes, and that the whole thing is basically a way to rake him for his money. You can also throw some emotional distress in there.

Much of the post-accusation attention given to Cosby’s entertainment value revolved around Cosby Show reruns getting yanked from certain networks, and both sides of that argument. But rarer were mentions of the up-in-flames NBC sitcom pilot from Mike O’Malley about an older man (Cosby) relaying wisdom to several younger generations of his family, or the Netflix special Bill Cosby 77, which was scheduled for a post-Thanksgiving premiere. Both of those projects got scrapped as the accusations came out, and both would have likely made Cosby a pretty penny.

Indeed, anyone would be angry about someone “engaging in a campaign to assassinate” their character, and it’s understandable that someone would want to get compensation if someone else ruined a job prospect. So, the basic gist of the counterclaims is easy to grasp, but the complicated largeness of Cosby’s case in particular changes everything, in a number of different ways that are better suited for courtrooms and paperwork than this website. Suffice to say, it’s a move that undoubtedly looks particularly awful to those standing on the opposite side of the road from Cosby.

As THR reports, the accusers’ attorney Joseph Cammarata calls this “playbook” behavior as a way to shift focus, and he wondered why Cosby is only going after these accusers, rather than going against the many others. I have to think it’s because they sued him first, and that if he would somehow win this case, that’s when he’d start going after others one by one.

No amount was specified for damages being sought, so we’ll just have to wait to hear more about this case in the coming days and weeks.

If you, like millions of other Americans, were watching Scandal on Thursday night, you might have noticed that a storyline hit a little close to home, if home is entertainment news . The episode partly centers on Frank Holland, a college professor accused of drugging and raping a bunch of women, and many have wondered if this was Shonda Rhimes’ take on Bill Cosby in something of a “ripped from the headlines” approach. The simple answer: No, it wasn’t.

Not so surprisingly, when Rhimes got wind of that assumption lurking around her fanbase, she had some magnificently straightforward words to put those assumptions to rest. Here they are, according to EW:

Just in case you missed that, Rhimes not only cut down anyone who thought she was basic enough to resort to headline stories in order to get her material, but she also shined a light on all of the victims that aren’t getting legal or emotional justice because their attackers weren’t famous. There was room to cut Cosby down as well, but she didn’t take it.

So that’s the official version, but it’s obvious to anyone paying attention that there were more than just a few coincidental details that tied “Even the Devil Deserves a Second Chance” to Cosby’s controversial history. The episode centered on a former student accusing her old professor of drugging and raping her, so the relationship between victim and predator aren’t exactly the same here at least. Somebody check the casting call to make sure it didn’t call for a “storytelling former sitcom star with a fondness for brand name gelatin.”

For one thing, the one victim becomes a whole host of them once women get the courage to come forward. It’s referred to several times that he spent decades doing these despicable things and his reputation remained intact. Of course, Olivia Pope is going to be the person to get this dude behind bars, though life may not imitate that smoothness quite as well. But anyway, the guy in the episode was a winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, as was Cosby, and it was one of the relatively few things not taken away from the comedian after the allegations began. Rhimes & Co. could have probably changed that to something else if they really didn’t want to conjure up Cosby thoughts.

What do you guys think? Will next week’s episode reflect on one of the many high-profile crimes that happened over the past six months, or is Shonda Rhimes not interested in doing that kind of thing? Scandal airs every Thursday night on ABC.

Sometimes, the best way to get people wanting you back in the spotlight is to actively stay out of that spotlight for a while. That’s what happened with Eddie Murphy, whose return to comedy is highly anticipated (as if Meet Dave never happened), and the world saw a return of the classic Eddie over the weekend when he dusted off his Bill Cosby impression when accepting the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. It’s everything we hoped it would be. Check it out in the video below, with Murphy getting on stage at the 2:23 mark.

It’s crazy to think that Eddie Murphy’s Cosby impression is around 30 years old, as it was first brought to audiences at large through his ridiculously successful (and raunchy) stand-up feature Raw, and his updated impression actually creates a glorious full circle for Murphy. Rather than plainly shitting on Bill Cosby’s legacy, Murphy angled it to talk about him giving up trophies and awards after the plethora of rape allegations surfaced, and in Cosby’s voice, Murphy said that he wanted to talk to some of the people “that feel I should give back my motherfucking trophies.” Part of Murphy’s act on Raw was about Cosby asking him to never say “fuck” on stage again. It certainly didn’t stop in that show, and he’s still dropping F-bombs decades later. Felt kind of like a diss to me.

While it’s not clear if Murphy still respects Bill Cosby as a human being these days, he clearly isn’t interested in stirring up the hate-mongering pot just to do it. He had a chance to crap on Cosby during SNL 40 earlier this year and chose not to, recently explaining that joking about Cosby in that context would have only hurt him and his accusers, as well as not being a very good vehicle for Murphy to return to Saturday Night Live with. Cosby liked that approach, though we’re not sure what he’d have to say about this.

The question now becomes: Will PBS keep that joke in the final broadcast of the award ceremony, or will they cut it out in order to remain as non-controversial as…well, as PBS. Each year’s ceremony is obviously edited for TV for both time and because of light censorship, but now that the Internet has jumped all over Murphy’s impression, the producers’ decision becomes that much harder.

Mark your calendars to find out, because Eddie Murphy: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize will hit PBS on Monday, November 23. In the meantime, we’ve still got our fingers crossed that the comedian will be working with Netflix soon.

The entire world has a very different view of Bill Cosby today than they did a couple of years ago. Many people have trouble reconciling the performer with the man. It’s actually a little odd then that Saturday Night Live”s Kenan Thompson had an experience with Cosby that actually makes more sense now that the facts have come out. In his recent appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Thompson spoke about a time he worked with Cosby and the utterly bizarre thing Cosby said to him.

Apparently, while filming 2004’s Fat Albert Cosby felt it was of vital importance to inform Thompson that he would become so famous because of the film that he would need to ... uh... double his normal allocation of genitalia. Your childhood memories just keep getting crushed over and over again don’t they? What was a strange experience for Thompson at the time becomes creepy in a modern context. Meyers describes it as a Usual Suspects-type experience upon realizing the truth. There is some real humor in the exchange on the late night show, however. Thompson apparently rationalized the comment at the time as “it’s football season.”

For decades, Cosby had been one of the most family-friendly comedians on the planet. As the creator of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids on Saturday mornings and The Cosby Show on primetime TV, hearing Bill Cosby talk about how many women Thompson would be attracting, and in such vulgar terms, must have been more than a little shocking for the SNL performer. Still, we know that people are not their television personas. However, at the time, Thompson had no idea how different Cosby actually was.

Bill Cosby’s career is just short of completely over today after multiple women have accused the actor and comedian of rape. He’s had multiple projects canceled and even his previous work is being pulled off the air. A&E recently gave several of the women their own television special in order to discuss their allegations.

Of course, we'd like to point out the other thing that makes the statement so completely out of left field, is the idea that a Fat Albert movie would result in Kenan Thompson becoming such an object of desire. We like Kenan’s work and we’re sure lots of women find the guy attractive but Fat Albert isn’t exactly the volleyball scene from Top Gun. If there is a place where Cosby’s statement is appropriate, it’s not the set of a PG-rated family film based on a Saturday morning cartoon.

At this point, everybody who has ever met Bill Cosby is probably reconsidering every interaction they ever had with the man. We’re glad that Kenan Thompson is able to separate the movie he made from the man and still be proud of the work. Only time will tell if the rest of the public feels that way.

TV networks and Netflix have been doing all they can to distance themselves from Bill Cosby in the past several months, but that doesn’t mean that his tarnished legacy won’t make it to the small screen in one form or another. A&E, a network more known for Norman Bates and redneck Christians than revealing exposés, will debut an all-new special later this month that centers on a group of women that have accused Cosby of rape in the past. Not the most comfortable time you’ll spend with your TV this fall season, I can guarantee you.

The special, which is going by the title Cosby: The Women Speak, will use as its content first-hand interviews with several of Cosby’s accusers. In telling their stories, they will in essence give a timeline of both the comedian’s public downfall as well as his formerly private history of alleged rape and sexual abuse. The show will approach his lurid life decade by decade, highlighting details already well-documented, as well as bringing new ones to light.

As far as who viewers can expect to see speaking during Cosby: The Women Speak, it’s confirmed that One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest actress Louisa Moritz, model Beverly Johnson and publicist/journalist Joan Tarshis will all be taking part in the interviews. In total, more than a dozen accusers will appear on the special, and given that there are now over 50 women that have accused the former sitcom star of severe wrongdoings, it’s anybody’s guess who else will be speaking out.

Beyond showcasing just the accusers, the special will also look at the roots of this relatively recent explosion of accusations against Cosby, which came after a video of comedian Hannibal Burress, in which he called Cosby a rapist, went viral. It was a joke that he’d had in his act for a while, but after it went all around the Internet, the scandal reached a fever pitch and women started coming forward. It’s unclear whether or not Burress himself will be speaking on the special.

Following the first accusations, Cosby saw his career resurgence take a complete nosedive, as his talk show appearances were canceled, his highly anticipated Netflix special was shelved, and his burgeoning NBC comedy with Mike O’Malley was axed. Reruns of The Cosby Show were pulled by TV Land (and reruns of The Cosby Mysteries continued to stay off the air). This special might well be the only time we see Cosby’s face on a new TV program for quite a while, unless he decides to give any more interviews.

Cosby: The Women Speak will premiere on A&E on Thursday, September 17, at 10 p.m. ET.

While Bill Cosby used to be an icon and an idol to many people of all races and all walks of life, he has become an entertainment pariah following accusations by dozens of women who claim that the comedy legend took sexual advantage of them in the past, often with the help of drugged drinks. And these actions didn’t just put Cosby in a negative light, but also his entire past, with many looking down on the oh-so-wholesome The Cosby Show. One of the show’s producers hopes that this reaction has an expiration date, though.

For the first time since Bill Cosby first found himself at the center of a public outcry, Tom Werner of the production company Carsey-Werner has shared his thoughts on where the legacy of The Cosby Show sits in the current climate.

Werner, who told TV Insider that he still considers the series “one of the most groundbreaking shows in television,” is understandably wary of taking a different approach in defending a series that many consider (or used to) one of the greatest sitcoms of all time. It is indeed hard for most people to separate a person’s creative work from their personal life, and although time tends to help in those kinds of situations, Cosby has been accused of some severely heinous shit by a lot of women. It’s hard enough to distance oneself from one crime, much less a number that seems to keep growing by the month.

Eventually, though, Werner hopes that people can view the show without that hideous filter and be able to enjoy the stories and the acting. This has all certainly affected Cosby’s co-stars like Phylicia Rash?d, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Lisa Bonet and more, possibly also making them a little nervous to talk about the series in public. It’s so strange to think that The Cosby Show used to do battle in the ratings against The Simpsons, which became a public nuisance because Bart said “hell” and “damn” and other relatively lighthearted behavior. If we only knew then what we know now.

You probably won’t be seeing Cosby anywhere but the news in the coming months or years, as his Netflix special ended up getting dropped by the streaming giant. His potential NBC sitcom got stonewalled almost immediately. Interestingly, that show was being put together by Mike O’Malley, whom Werner appeared with at TCA to promote the Starz comedy Survivor’s Remorse, which the two worked on together.

Do you guys think that The Cosby Show will ever be viewed independently of Bill Cosby’s actions?

It appears that Bill Cosby's toxic status has led to one big career consequence. Netflix, who partnered last year with the formerly beloved potion-popping comedian for a subsequently-shelved stand-up special, has finally taken the next step in nixing the program altogether.

Speaking at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour, Netflix chief content officerTed Sarandos made the announcement that the termination of their planned Cosby comedy special, Cosby 77 was official. With more appalling revelations continuing to surface about Cosby’s deceptive, maliciously ribald activities; notably his seemingly unrepentant admission earlier this month to drugging women with Quaaludes before violating them, the camel’s back that was Netflix’s benefit of the doubt for Cosby snapped like a dry twig. Making what might be the most obvious point ever about the Cosby cut, Sarandos explained why they won't release the special, as reported by The Wrap:

While the move by Netflix to pull the Cosby special seems to be the only one that could have been made at this point, some might argue that the measure has come far too late. When Netflix announced the Cosby 77 special last August before the initial eruption of allegations against Cosby, it seemed to be part of a wider measure by the streaming service to boost its reputation as a source for original comedy, while celebrating the legendary comedian and sitcom dad’s 77th birthday. However, once the media hullabaloo erupted a few months afterwards, Netflix's initial measure of pulling the stand-up special rather than axing it completely might have been perceived as a calculated move to simply wait out the storm.

Yet, in Netflix’s defense, the initial media eruption against Cosby was over “allegations” that came to the table with no provenance other than the growing number of accusers. One could also argue that Netflix made the only objective move, given what was known at the time, to simply shelve the stand-up special while resisting the urge to grab a torch and pitchfork until substantive facts were made apparent. In fact, such a demonstration of public patience is a rare thing in this social media-driven age in which severe punishment is as commonly used as emojis. Of course, with those substantive facts about Cosby’s pastimes now apparent, the folks at Netflix made the only decision they could. They can at least hold their heads high since they neither threw a possibly innocent man under the bus, nor did they disingenuously stand behind an accused rapist, based on some misguided affection for the man who, during the 80s and early 90s, was once widely considered America’s Dad on television.

Interestingly enough, Netflix continues to offer the classic sitcom in question, The Cosby Show as part of its mail-delivered DVD rental inventory. Sarandos addressed the issue by explaining that in this particular instance, the program was produced by NBC, rather than being the kind of Netflix-branded original content that would have implied a tacit support for the embattled fallen star. It makes sense, to a degree. Despite carrying a tainted name and star, The Cosby Show featured a large cast ensemble and remains an important part of American pop-culture history, in spite of Cosby’s alleged actions.

The same, however, cannot be said for Cosby 77, which has now been stripped of its premiere. The question of whether or not the stand-up special will eventually surface might be dwarfed by the more poignant question asking WHO would want to see the thing at this point?

If there’s any public figure that people are running from faster than Donald Trump, it’s Bill Cosby. The actor and comedian who has been accused of multiple counts of rape and has been left out in the cold by even his most ardent supporters. He’s now been cut from a new film that he had a large part in helping create.

Painted Down is a documentary about the history of black stunt men and women in Hollywood. After standing behind Cosby back in November, when the most recent allegations were fresh, Deadline reports that the film’s producers have now had to change their tune and cut Cosby from the piece. Producer Nonie Robinson had this to say:

In the deposition in question, Cosby reportedly admits to obtaining quaaludes for the purpose of giving them to women he wanted to sleep with. While some tried to take a wait and see approach with the allegations against Cosby, the deposition pushed many over the line. Whoopi Goldberg, who co-hosts The View with former Cosby co-star Raven-Symone, was one has only recently said that evidence is pointing to his guilt. Cosby’s talent agency, CAA, dropped him last year shortly after the accusations were made public.

While interview footage with Cosby is going to be taken out of Painted Down it doesn’t look like his presence will be completely removed from film. This makes some sense as it turns out it’s actually difficult to tell the story of the history of black stuntmen without him. While Cosby was filming I Spy back in the 1960’s he witnessed a white stuntman being "painted down" to look black in order to play him for stunts. Cosby objected and was able to get a black stuntman hired. As it turned out, there were few black stuntmen in Hollywood at the time, something Cosby didn’t realize, and this was the first time a lead actor had ever spoken out against what was a widespread practice. That single act by Cosby is credited with helping to create the Black Stuntmen’s Association and launching numerous new careers.

The producers of Painted Down are only the most recent to cut ties with Cosby following the allegations. NBC and Netflix both ended projects they were working on, and even reruns of The Cosby Show have been pulled off the air. These days the only way Bill Cosby is referenced is as a punchline.

If you’ve been keeping tabs on all of the SNL 40 stories that have been rolling around the Internet this week, you may have already heard that Eddie Murphy was supposed to be involved with an actual sketch where he would do an impression of Bill Cosby, but backed out when he realized he didn't want to "kick" someone while they are already down. Today, Bill Cosby spoke out through a spokesperson, stating that he is “very grateful” Murphy didn’t rise to the bait.

Eddie Murphy looked super uncomfortable appearing on a live stage during SNL 40 and it doesn’t surprise me a wee bit that he might want to avoid a controversial sketch. As NBC News notes, Murphy was expected to appear in the “Celebrity Jeopardy” sketch that featured some former favorites, including Norm Macdonald’s Burt Reynolds and Darrell Hammond’s Sean Connery, as well as Jim Carrey’s newer Matthew McConaughey impression. During the sketch, a Video Daily Double pops up featuring Kenan Thompson’s Bill Cosby making his favorite drink. Basically, the Murphy bit would have been the same thing, except with Murphy’s actual spot-on impression.

Bill Cosby has dealt with about every kind of bad press he could possibly get since rape allegations first arose a few months ago, so Murphy's refusal to do the impression must be a bright spot for The Cosby Show actor. In the time since Bill Cosby's bad press initially came to light, more women have come forward stating Bill Cosby forced himself on them after feeding them drugged cocktails, and the comedian has since had his career go down the drain. A Bill Cosby comedy special, Bill Cosby 77, was dropped by Netflix. A new sitcom was stopped in its tracks by NBC. Meanwhile, the jokes related to the Cosby allegations just keep coming.

That wasn’t the first time that SNL has taken shots at Bill Cosby. It's already happened during “Weekend Update,” and there’s a good chance that more jokes of this ilk will eventually work their way into sketches. After all, even though Murphy declined to be a part of the joke, his shoes were still filled by Kenan Thompson. Regardless of what happens to Cosby in the future, Eddie Murphy, at least, is staying out of the tumult.

It seems every day there is a new story popping up about rape allegations against Bill Cosby. Going in to the Golden Globes, we knew it would be a hot topic, and a definite joke laid out by the two female comedians. Amy Poehler and Tina Fey didn’t wait long to take a stab at the prolific comedian and TV icon. Take a look at a Vine of one of the jokes below.

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler told us they’d have a few Bill Cosby jokes up their sleeves. And man they weren’t kidding. The vine above posted by Fansided above was in Poehler’s progression of describing the film Into The Woods. It started describing the different fairy tale characters in the film, how Cinderella ran away from her prince, Rapunzel was thrown from a tower, and then Poehler adds in the joke above:

But that wasn’t all. Fey put her two cents into the joke, telling the audience about how Cosby has recently spoken out about the allegations. Impersonating his voice, Fey jokes, and then Poehler does her own Cosby impression to the following phrase:

The audience was stunned, and you could see as the camera scanned the crowd that people were uncomfortable and unsure to laugh. Because even though you could tell that people were muffling their own laughs, they didn’t want to let it out. You see in the audience Meryl Streep putting her head down, Jessica Chastain with her mouth-dropped, and George Clooney hysterically laughing. There were mixed reactions, for sure. We knew it would happen though and we wouldn’t be surprised to hear more later in the awards show.

Expect some more hysterical and unsettling jokes from the dynamic duo as the show progresses. And keep updated on the winners in both film and TV at their respective Cinema Blend pages.

Saturday Night Live “Weekend Update” hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che have finally started to fall into a comfortable rhythm on the late night stage. This weekend, the writers even gave newbie Che some tougher material, having him address the Bill Cosby controversy that is currently taking the Internet by storm. Check it out, below.

While “Weekend Update” often covers oddball news stories along with viral stories, taking a humorous tone to describe what’s going on, this week the segment tackled some tougher material when Che brought up Bill Cosby. The veteran comedian has been in the news all week this week, after more than a dozen women have come forward to accuse Cosby of sexual assaults over the years. It’s hard to make those accusations funny, but it’s also difficult to see how “Weekend Update” could just skip over the biggest news story of the week. So, Che capably turns the bit into a complaint about Cosby’s actions having ramifications for fans of Cliff Huxtable.

Bill Cosby’s actions have harmed the reputation of one of TV most iconic characters, Cliff Huxtable, who for years brought laughter to network TV. Reruns of the show have aired in the years subsequent, but this week, TV Land stated that episodes of The Cosby Show have been pulled from the channel following all of the bad press related to the comedian. Che does note that one day there might be hope for The Cosby Show's reputation, however.

TV Land’s certainly not the only TV outlet to distance itself from Bill Cosby. Earlier this week, the streaming service Netflix announced it has shelved the Bill Cosby comedy special, Bill Cosby 77, until further notice. NBC also had a sitcom starring Cosby in the works, but decided to drop the project following Netflix’s decision. While many of the allegations that have come to light stem from events that occurred decades ago, as more and more stories have surfaced, it’s easy to see why companies might be distancing themselves from the comedian. Unfortunately, the headlines keep coming and coming, and even NBC's SNL can’t help but get its two cents in.

Given the recent news related to multiple rape accusations made against Bill Cosby, it's not all that surprising to learn that another TV show involving the actor/comedian is being impacted by the controversy. The latest TV project to be affected by this developing situation is The Cosby Show, the reruns of which air on TV Land, or did until the network decided to pull them from their lineup.

EW posted confirmation today that TV Land has removed all syndicated repeats of The Cosby Show, as confirmed by a representative from the network. The site doesn't specify a reason, but there's no doubt that it's a reaction to the unfavorable -- to put it mildly -- press Bill Cosby has been getting of late, as allegations that he raped several women have resurfaced.

Co-created by and starring the stand-up comedian, The Cosby Show aired on NBC, ran from 1987 to 1992 and centered on the Huxtables, an upper middle-class family living in New York. It's easily one of the better and beloved TV comedies of the 80s, and certainly worthy of a place on TV Land, a network that specializes in classic TV shows. But given the controversy surrounding Bill Cosby, it's understandable that TV Land might want to distance itself from the situation by removing the series from their schedule. Whether it's temporary or permanent remains to be seen, but taking into account the continued reports related to the controversy, the situation doesn't appear to be fading from the public eye anytime soon.

This controversy related to Cosby isn't exactly new. Vulture actually lays out a timeline of the accusations, which goes back to 2002, though the accusations being made relate to alleged incidents that go back decades. The controversy was brought back to the surface when comedian Hannibal Burress made a (barely) joke about Cosby's alleged sexual assault during a stand-up comedy routine. The video of the performance went viral and caught a lot of attention. The situation was made even more public after a meme-generator posted on Cosby's Twitter page backfired hard as people used it to comment on the rape allegations.

In the wake of continued reports related to the accusations, Bill Cosby's small screen projects have dropped off one by one, including the cancellation of a Late Show appearance, Netflix's planned Bill Cosby 77 comedy special, which was supposed to premiere next week, and the TV comedy NBC had in development. With these recent cancellations, TV Land may have felt the pressure to follow suit in pulling The Cosby Show from their schedule. That, or the cancellations made their decision a bit easier. We can only speculate. Regardless, it's one less Cosby project on the air as the comedian continues to make headlines over this very disturbing news.

NBC just became the latest company to turn on Bill Cosby. On Wednesday, the network announced that it has dropped plans to have the veteran comedian return to primetime. Writers on the show were informed today that the sitcom starring Cosby as the head of a family would not be moving forward to series. The NBC sitcom is not the first Cosby project that has been dumped following recent rape allegations.

Over the past year, Bill Cosby has seen his public profile grow. Way back in January, the older comedian worked out a deal with NBC to return to network television. By August, NBC was moving forward with a pilot, hiring writer Mike O’Malley. The sitcom would have followed Cosby as Jonathan Franklin, a wizened old man who dispenses advice to several generations of his family, including kids and grandkids. Also in August, Cosby worked out a deal with Netflix to bring a comedy special to the streaming service. But as the rape allegations heightened, Cosby has found these lucrative deals getting dropped.

EW broke the news, also noting that Bill Cosby has been dodging rape accusations since the 1970s, but none of them really made their way into the public eye until last month, when Hannibal Buress went out of his way to call Cosby a rapist. The video went viral, and the spotlight was turned on the comedian. Since then, at least 13 women have come forward as potential victims, and three of them, Barbara Bowman, journalist Joan Tarshis and former model and fashionista Janice Dickinson, have publicly spoken out about being forced to engage in sexual activity with the actor. Regardless of what happened with Cosby in each of these individual circumstances, the press surrounding the comedian right now just isn’t good.

A few days ago, Cosby’s Late Show appearance was canceled after the allegations came to light. Then yesterday, Netflix said the planned comedy special has been shelved just a few days before its release. (Bill Cosby 77 was expected to hit the streaming service next week, on Friday November 28). That left NBC with a big decision to make, and today the network made it.

Of all the projects Bill Cosby had going, NBC's had the most at stake. The network poured plenty of money into making Bill Cosby a thing again, signing on a well-known TV name in Mike O'Malley to get the project off the ground and ordering a pilot months ago. But airing the series might have been a true disaster for NBC, a network which already has enough problems without bringing Bill Cosby into it.

Bill Cosby has told a lot of stories in his long and decorated career, but none of them are currently saving it from being in flux following a still-growing list of sexual assault and rape claims that have been made against the comedian. The latest blow to Cosby’s future involves his upcoming Netflix special Bill Cosby 77, which has been taken off of the schedule and is currently floating in limbo until his legal troubles are resolved one way or another. We can’t celebrate the birthday of an alleged rapist AND the impending marriage of renowned whack job Charles Manson in the same month.

Bill Cosby 77 was scheduled to hit the streaming service on Friday, November 28, the day after Thanksgiving. It’s interesting to note that Netflix isn’t outright cancelling the special, which they’ve already sunk a certain amount of money into. Here’s how they put it in the press release, according to Deadline.

That’s a pretty optimistic thing to do, though I’m certain the world will see this special released at some point in the future. Cosby is no stranger to rape allegations, as it’s the older ones that spurred comedian Hannibal Buress to add an extended rant against Bill Cosby to his act. That, in turn, was followed by increased interest in past claims as well as new allegations, the latest of which involves former model Janice Dickinson. She claims he gave her a pill for a headache and the next thing she knew, she was waking up naked and violated, and also alleges the story was meant to appear in her 2002 autobiography, but she was pressured into leaving it out.

It is with Dickinson and another woman’s most recent claims that Netflix decided to officially back off from streaming the special. The service had only just recently affirmed their intentions on showing it amid the allegations, but obviously enough was enough for them. They’re hardly the first to put Cosby at a distance, as his planned appearances on both Late Show and The Queen Latifah Show were axed. His big interview with NPR resulted in him just avoiding the topic altogether, which was expected.

Now the big question: what will NBC do? It was only a few months ago that the network finalized a deal with Bill Cosby and Mike O’Malley for a new family sitcom where Cosby was the elderly patriarch who taught his kids and grandkids all about values and things that probably wouldn’t involve sexual debauchery. NBC is probably putting more money into their show than Netflix did with the comedy special, so they may wait this out a little longer. But there’s no denying they’ll be scrutinized by Cosby’s growing non-fanbase.

Let us know how you feel about this news in the poll below.

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It has not been a good week for America’s Dad, Bill Cosby. The iconic comedian's upcoming appearance The Late Show with David Letterman slated for Tuesday November 19th has been canceled. He has been replaced by former talk show host Regis Philbin, a standby for Letterman many times before when a guest bows out of a Letterman spot.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, it is unclear as to whether Cosby or Letterman’s people canceled the appearance but a rep for The Late Show declined to comment. Cosby also recently bowed out of a scheduled appearance on The Queen Latifah Show, so it's evident these accusations are causing enough of a stir to impact the comedian's work. This all stems amidst the rape allegations that surfaced after stand-up comic Hannibal Buress brought them to the forefront in a recent performance.

Since Buress' set, the allegations of Cosby's alleged sexual misconduct have been brought back into the forefront. It is no secret that in 2006, the comedian settled out of court with a woman he allegedly sexually assaulted. However, according to official court documents, attorneys have plans to bring forward 13 other women with similar complaints. Adding fuel to the fire was an op-ed piece in the Washington Post by an alleged former victim of the comedian. In addition to the Buress set that brought the allegations back into the spotlight, apparently a new Cosby biography went out of their way to omit the rape allegations in the new tome.

To compound the explosive issue that one of America’s most beloved entertainers could be a multiple sex offender, Cosby’s social media team had a huge backfire earlier this week. The team had tasked users that follow Cosby on Twitter to create memes about the comic. Seems innocent enough except users used the platform to create memes about The Cos’ drugging and sexually assaulting multiple women. The tweet and the meme generator has been deleted as of Monday night.

As far as how Cosby's career might be affected immediately, he has a few things coming up. His latest comedy special is set to premiere on Netflix later this month. According to the information Netflix released back in August, the legendary entertainer brings his outlook on life and comedy to his favorite topics, relationships, marriage and children. The special was taped at the SF Jazz Center in San Francisco on Cosby's 77th birthday and directed by Robert Townsend and will premiere only on Netflix at 12:01 am Pacific on Friday, November 28. Netflix has not announced any plans to bump the special from their lineup on the holiday weekend but we can only speculate as to whether or not this controversy will impact the streaming special's viewership.

The 77-year old comedian is also set to be reteaming with NBC for a new sitcom but it's unclear if this controversy will affect the project's chances of moving forward. Despite their lucrative history, NBC may not want to be involved with Cosby should these legal difficulties continue to compound. Once the story hits the late night monologue circuit, things could get very ugly indeed.

Netflix is no stranger to comedy, but they've upped their game by announcing four exclusive new comedy specials that will begin streaming in the next few months. (Take that, werewolf soap opera!) The biggest name on the list is BIll Cosby, whose latest hour of stand-up is scheduled to fall somewhere in between performances by the stellar comics Jim Jefferies, Bill Burr, Chelsea Peretti and Chelsea Handler, whose special was previously announced. Watch out, Comedy Central.

Last month, Cosby taped Bill Cosby 77 at the SF Jazz Center in San Francisco to celebrate his own 77th birthday. The comedian, whose upcoming NBC pilot recently starting moving forward, can be seen telling his latest batch of stories when the hour-long engagement hits the streaming service just after midnight on Friday, November 28. Bill Cosby at 77, directed by Robert Townsend, follows last year’s Bill Cosby: Far From Finished, his first trip back up on the stand-up stage in 30 years.

Chelsea Handler will be moving to a more permanent place on Netflix’s schedule when her new talk show debuts in 2016, but Uganda Be Kidding Me Live will be the first of four docucomedies she’s releasing in between now and then. The special is set to hit Netflix on Friday, October 10, around a month and a half after her E! series Chelsea Lately airs its final episode on August 26. (Have you seen her Instagram promotional pic?)

Jim Jefferies, whose riotous FX series Legit was recently cancelled (and has its first season now on Netflix), will premiere his newest stand-up Jim Jefferies: BARE on Friday, August 29. Filmed in Boston’s Wilbur Theatre, this special is in TWO WEEKS, people! I’m a huge Jefferies fan – not that I dislike anyone on this list in the least – but every one of his specials has been pure gold. One of them is on Netflix now. Find it.

Bill Burr (Breaking Bad) is just as good at Jefferies at elevating depressing material to darkly hilarious heights. His latest offering, I’m Sorry You Feel That Way, was taped at Atlanta’s Tabernacle and will hit Netflix on Friday, December 5. You can also find two of his three previous specials streaming right now, and you won’t be disappointed.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Chelsea Peretti is a deceptively intelligent ray of sunshiney bliss, and her new special is set to turn the usual stand-up hour on its head. Directed by Lance Bangs, One of the Greats will puts Peretti’s talents for writing and performing on full display, and will hit Netflix on Friday, November 14.

One of television’s most legendary icons is closer than ever to returning to the small screen, as Bill Cosby's NBC family comedy pilot is now officially in the cards. NBC and Sony TV have signed the hundreds of dotted lines to bring into reality this multi-generational family concept with TV veteran Mike O’Malley, whose involvement was announced at the recent TCA press event. One has to wonder how big the sweater budget for this pilot will be.

It was first revealed back in January that Cosby and The Cosby Show’s executive producer Tom Werner were teaming up to try and conquer network TV in the new millennium with a still-untitled project, but all they had at the time was a vague concept of “a family sitcom geared towards Bill Cosby’s thoughts on families and sitcoms.” Several writers pitched their ideas, but top honors went to O’Malley, who is best known for his acting work on series such as Yes Dear and Glee.

As Deadline reports, the pilot’s central focus is mostly the same. Cosby will star as Jonathan Franklin, the wise and wizened top living branch of a large family tree. He “shares his many years of wit, wisdom and experience to help his daughters, sons-in-law and grandchildren navigate their complicated lives.” I bet there’s a lot of tough love going on inside that house, or retirement community, or wherever the show will be set.

The project will be overseen by showrunner extraordinaire Mike Sikowitz (Rules of Engagement), who will executive produce the pilot with O’Malley. Both men are busy developing other series – O’Malley with Starz’s basketball comedy Survivor’s Remorse and Sikowitz with CBS’ new sitcom The McCarthys – so it’s not clear how involved each would be should the series get past the pilot stage. If scheduling allows it, O’Malley is also set to star as one of Jonathan’s sons-in-law.

Bill Cosby hasn’t been the center of primetime comedy since Cosby went off the air in 2000, but he’s been making a resurgence in the past few years, capping it all off with the 2013 Comedy Central stand-up special Bill Cosby: Far from Finished. His delivery these days is sometimes stilted, but the guy still has a knack for storytelling that many other comedians have often mimicked but never perfected. Here’s a particularly windy tale from his appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show back in May.

The sitcom has a script commitment at this point, and Bill Cosby is set to make a big payday if the pilot doesn’t go into production for some reason. But who’s gonna drop out of a new Cosby series? Should everything follow through, NBC is planning on bringing the series to audiences in the summer or fall of 2015.

It's one thing to do a funny celebrity impersonation. It's another to do that impersonation to that celebrity's face. Jimmy Fallon is mastering that art on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, having previously engaged in a bit of impression-riffing with Jerry Seinfeld, and more recently showing off his Cosby impersonation to comedy legend Bill Cosby himself.

Ok, we're going under the impression that Mr. Cosby's being funny with his cut-it gestures...

And hilariously unimpressed expression...

...because his reactions are even funnier than Fallon's impersonations, I'd say.

As mentioned, Fallon had us in hysterics when he and Jerry Seinfeld engaged in a bit of impromptu impression riffing during Seinfeld's interview.

Fallon can dish it out, but can he take it? Damn right he can, though not entirely with a straight face. Watch him go face to face with Justin Timberlake in this recent Saturday Night Live episode in which Fallon impersonates Jim Parsons and Justin Timberlake impersonates Jimmy Fallon...

And if you can't get enough of Fallon's celebrity impressions, here's a video of Fallon demonstrating more of them on an episode of America's Got Talent:

And here's the list of who's lined up for The Tonight Show in the coming episode...

Bill Cosby is far from finished, as evidenced by his recent tour and Comedy Central stand-up special Bill Cosby …Far From Finished. But he's not done with TV yet either. The comedian and actor who served as one of America's favorite TV dads with his starring role in The Cosby Show is said to be reteaming with The Cosby Show's producer Tom Werner for an NBC comedy slated for the off-season development track.

Deadline says Cosby and Werner are meeting with writers for the project, which will center around Cosby as the patriarch of a multi-generational family and "will channel his take on marriage and parenting." That sounds right in Cosby's wheelhouse, both with his stand-up and the beloved sitcom that made the Huxtable family one of the most beloved TV families in the 80s. As Deadline points out, The Cosby Show revived the sitcom genre when it debuted in 1984, and NBC may be hoping this new comedy does the same.

Of course, neither the sitcom genre nor family sitcoms in general need reviving these days. CBS is dominating the comedy genre with The Big Bang Theory, and their comedies 2 Broke Girls, How I Met Your Mother and Two and a Half Men also bring in relatively strong numbers. ABC, meanwhile, has the family sitcom market virtually cornered with Modern Family, The Middle, Last Man Standing and newcomers The Goldbergs and Trophy Wife. Fox has Animation Domination on Sunday night, not to mention a Tuesday-night comedy line-up that's only getting stronger each year, Brooklyn Nine-Nine Golden Globe win included.

People are watching and enjoying comedies, they're just doing that a lot more at other networks. It seems like nothing NBC throws at their once powerful Thursday night slate really sticks. That includes one of their new shows, The Michael J. Fox Show, which brings us to a bigger point. The draw of a beloved TV star that prompts warm feelings of nostalgia isn't enough to ensure strong ratings.

The Michael J. Fox Show premiered to an audience of 7.5 million, which is a strong showing for an NBC comedy these days. But its last episode delivered a cringe-inducing 1.99 million viewers, coming in behind Sean Saves the World's 2.67 million, Community's 3.07 million and Parks and Recreations' 3.05 million. Just for comparison's sake, CBS' The Millers brought in almost 8 million viewers that night. So, yeah. People love Michael J. Fox — who also starred in a beloved 80s sitcom — but that's not coming through in the ratings for his comedy.

The above said, stars and casting are only one part of what factors into a successful comedy. The writing is also important, and as a comedian, Cosby has the experience and an appreciation for the humor that can be found in the challenges of married and family living. That's something that doesn't expire and could certainly translate nicely to comedy suitable for a modern TV series. So the optimist in me wants to curl up in an elaborately designed colorful sweater and believe that this venture could be a comedy that helps lift NBC out of its sitcom ratings slump. Time will tell. In the meantime, here's a snippet of Cosby's recent Comedy Central comedy special:

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Bill Cosby once starred in a movie opposite Sidney Poitier. Unfortunately, I’ll only ever remember riding that ridiculous Ostrich in Leonard Part VI. But back in 1974 he was in Uptown Saturday Night with Poitier, a movie that’s about to be remade.

The movie in question starred Cosby and Poitier as two men who sneak out to an illegal nightclub, have a winning lottery ticket stolen, and must recover it. Way back in 2002 Will Smith’s production company picked up the rights to it, intending to turn it into an all-black Ocean’s 11. Was there an all-white Ocean’s Eleven? I must have missed it.

2002 is a long time to wait but Pajiba now says there’s some movement on the project and the script is being rewritten by the guy who wrote Cop Out (note: not Kevin Smith) and they’ve attached Denzel Washington to the project. Presumably Will Smith would be involved as well, putting their massive, combined star power in a single film.

For now it’s all rumor, but who wouldn’t want to see what happens when Smith and Washington pull off a heist together on screen? Forget the script, with starp ower like that you don’t need anything else.