the top of the Nielsen ratings: In its first year, it rock-
eted to third place, and for the next four years, 1985-
1990, it was the number one program on television.
Its large viewing audience helped NBC dominate
the other networks, particularly on Thursday nights,
which became home to the network’s most popular
prime time lineup.
In 1987,The Cosby Show’s producers created a
spin-off show,A Different World, featuring Denise as a
student at Hillman, a fictional African American col-
lege. Bonet’s Denise remained a series regular for
only one season, but the show ran for another five
seasons after her departure.A Different Worldwas
more willing, and even eager, to address the sorts of
social issues thatThe Cosby Showoften eschewed.
Meanwhile, afterThe Cosby Showended its eight-year
run, it was sold into syndication, where reruns earned
NBC millions of dollars per episode.
Further Reading
Bogle, Donald. “The Cosby Show.”Blacks in American
Films and Television: An Encyclopedia. New York:
Garland, 1988. Good overview of the television
show and its impact.
Dyson, Michael Eric.Is Bill Cosby Right? Or Has the
Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind?New York: Basic
Civitas Books, 2005. Examines and questions Bill
Cosby’s views on African Americans and his sup-
port of color-blind politics.
Fuller, Linda.The Cosby Show: Audiences, Impact, and
Implications. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press,
- A lengthy study of the show and its impact.
Hunt, Darnell. “Cosby Show, The.” InEncyclopedia of
Television, edited by Horace Newcomb. 2d ed.
New York: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2004. Summarizes
the show and gives many further readings.
Inniss, Leslie B., and Joe R. Feagin. “The Cosby Show:
The View from the Black Middle Class.”Journal of
Black Studies25, no. 6 (July, 1995): 692-711. Re-
views the positive and negative African American
responses toThe Cosby Show.
Merritt, Bishetta, and Carolyn A. Stroman. “Black
Family Imagery and Interactions on Television.”
Journal of Black Studies23, no. 4 (June, 1993): 492- - Reviews African American life on television
in 1985-1986.
Cynthia J. W. Svoboda
See alsoAfrican Americans; Comedians;Family Ties;
Facts of Life, The; Sitcoms; Television.
Cosmos
Identification Educational television series
Producer and host Carl Sagan (1934-1996)
Date Aired from September 29, 1980, to
December 21, 1980
Cosmosstimulated a resurgence in popular science pro-
gramming for American public and commercial television,
as well as making astronomer Carl Sagan a nationally rec-
ognizable personality.
On September 29, 1980, the Public Broadcasting
System (PBS) aired “The Shores of the Cosmic
Ocean,” the first episode of a thirteen-part television
series about the universe designed and hosted by
noted astronomer and science educator Carl Sagan.
EntitledCosmos, the series was notable for the sheer
range of topics it addressed, an innovative use of
high-quality graphics—drawn both from historical
sources and from contemporary illustrators—music
carefully chosen to enhance the viewing experience,
and the respectful approach taken to both the intel-
ligence of the viewing audience and the value of sen-
tient life, whether on Earth or elsewhere. It was also
the most expensive project undertaken by public
television networks up to that time. The basic subject
of the series was the evolution of life on Earth and
the place of humans within the larger structures of
the universe. These topics were presented alongside
the history of scientific discovery and the biogra-
phies of significant scientists from classical times to
the twentieth century. Sagan thus interweaved the
larger history of scientific inquiry with the personal
histories of the men and women responsible for ad-
vancing that inquiry.
Cosmoswas the most widely viewed documentary
limited series, and it received awards from the Amer-
ican Council for Better Broadcasts and the Academy
of American Films and Family Television, as well as
three Emmy Awards. The contents of the series were
assembled and issued as a book, which quickly be-
came a nonfiction best seller and was reprinted in
1983 and 1985. Popular periodicals such asTime
magazine recognized Sagan’s work by placing him
on the cover of its October 20, 1980, issue and dub-
bing him “the cosmic explainer,” while others repro-
duced selections from the series’ artwork, notably
the view of the Milky Way galaxy seen from above.
The reactions of Sagan’s colleagues in astronomy
and allied sciences were more mixed. The showThe Eighties in America Cosmos 253