The premiere episode of
The Cosby Show finds obstretrician Cliff Huxtable (
Bill Cosby) and his attorney wife Clair (
Phylicia Rashad, billed throughout Season One as Phylicia Ayers-Allen) facing domestic dilemmas from all corners. When Cliff confronts son Theo (Malcolm Jamal-Warner) about his bad report card, the boy flippantly responds that he doesn't care because he hasn't the slightest intention of going to college--whereupon Cliff uses a carefully manipulated pile of monopoly money to show Theo the folly of his ways. Meanwhile, daughter Denise (
Lisa Bonet) shocks one and all by bringing home her latest boyfriend (Todd Hollowell), who sports a tattoo and has a police record! Small wonder that, when finally settling into bed at the end of the day, Cliff sighs "I just hope they get out of the house before we die." Longtime
Cosby Show fans will notice several significant difference between the pilot episode and the series proper: The Huxtable living room looks different, Clair lapses into Spanish when she gets angry, Theo is referred to throughout as "Teddy", and at one juncture Cliff makes a pointed comment about the fact that he and Clair have only four children (Sabrina Le Beauf as oldest daughter Sondra had not yet been added to the cast). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide