stant gratification, and the most common venue for
both qualities was the marketplace. Commodities
had been marketed throughout the twentieth cen-
tury as standing for particular lifestyles, but in the
1980’s, the purchase of commodities itself became a
popular lifestyle. Plays such asOther People’s Money
(1988) and movies such asWall Street(1987) com-
mented pointedly on a culture of greed, while the
Reagan administration and its conservative allies
trumpeted the benefits to the economy of a middle
class freely spending its increased disposable in-
come.
Further Reading
Glickman, Lawrence B., ed.Consumer Society in Ameri-
can Histor y: A Reader. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell Univer-
sity Press, 1999. Comprehensive anthology of fo-
cused essays covering the specific periods and
issues in the history of U.S. consumer society. Bib-
liography and index.
Hurley, Andrew.Diners, Bowling Alleys, and Trailer
Parks: Chasing the American Dream in the Postwar
Consumer Culture. New York: Basic Books, 2001. A
study of the marketing of middle-class lifestyles to
working-class Americans; focuses in part on the
racial and gendered aspects of postwar consumer
culture.
Nye, David E., and Carl Pederson, eds.Consumption
and American Culture. Amsterdam: VU University
Press, 1991. Collection of essays discussing the
function of consumption and consumerism in
American culture; published immediately after
the 1980’s and focused particularly on American
history from the perspective of the events of that
decade.
Strasser, Susan.Satisfaction Guaranteed: The Making of
the American Mass Market. New ed. Washington,
D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 2004. History of
consumer habits, markets, and advertising in the
United States, focusing especially on the creation
of brand names and brand loyalty, as well as the
constant drive of the market to create and exploit
new desires.
Sheila Golburgh Johnson
See also Beattie, Ann;Bonfire of the Vanities, The;
Business and the economy in the United States; En-
vironmental movement; Fads;Family Ties; Power
dressing; Reagan, Nancy; Reagan, Ronald; Reagan
Revolution; Reaganomics;Wall Street.
Cosby Show, The
Identification Television comedy series
Producers Marcy Carsey (1944- ),
Tom Werner (1950- ), and Bill Cosby
(1937- )
Date Aired from September 20, 1984, to April 30,
1992The Cosby Showportrayed the daily lives of an upper-
middle-class African American family. The show revital-
ized the television sitcom, rejuvenated the NBC network
and Thursday night television, and created debate regard-
ing its lack of discussion of racism.The initial idea to createThe Cosby Showcame after
comedian Bill Cosby presented a monologue on
child rearing onThe Tonight Show. While the mono-
logue was well received, the National Broadcasting
Company (NBC) hesitated to add the show to its pro-
gram schedule. The program was then offered to,
and rejected by, the American Broadcasting Com-
pany (ABC). The networks’ executives were reluc-
tant to accept the show for a variety of reasons. They
feared that the situation comedy was a dying genre
and that American viewers would in any case not be
interested in a show with a completely African Amer-
ican cast. Cosby’s prior career in television had met
with mixed results, so he could not be counted on to
produce a hit. At the eleventh hour, however, just in
time to be added to the fall lineup, NBC decided to
order a pilot and five additional episodes.Story Line On September 20, 1984, the first thirty-
minute episode ofThe Cosby Showaired. The show,
taped before a live audience, centered on the
Huxtable family of 10 Stigwood Avenue, a brown-
stone in Brooklyn, New York. Its situations generally
involved immediate household members: Heath-
cliff “Cliff” Huxtable, played by Cosby, an obstetri-
cian/gynecologist; Claire, played by Phylicia Rashad,
a corporate attorney; and their children Sondra
(Sabrina Le Beauf), a college student and later a
parent; Denise (Lisa Bonet), the renegade; Theo
(Malcolm-Jamal Warner), the academically strug-
gling only son; and little girls Vanessa (Tempestt
Bledsoe) and Rudy (Keshia Knight Pulliam). Later
episodes also included stepgranddaughter Olivia
(Raven-Symoné) and her father, Lt. Martin Kendall
(Joseph C. Phillips); son-in-law Elvin (Geoffrey
Owens) and twins Winnie and Nelson; and grand-The Eighties in America Cosby Show, The 251