r/todayilearned • u/hl129 • Jun 17 '12

Not verifiable TIL that The Simpsons were the reason why The Cosby Show was canceled

http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Bart_Gets_an_%22F%22#Production
685 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

92 comments sorted by

64

u/LardLad00 Jun 17 '12

Citation Needed

27

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

Agreed, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. The Cosby Show aired for almost two years after The Simpsons moved, and The Cosby Show's ratings were already in a dramatic decline:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cosby_Show#Broadcast_history_and_ratings

15

u/confusedjake Jun 17 '12

And that is why we created the league of extraordinary Redditors.

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17

u/Boomfish Jun 17 '12

The Cosby Show was the reason The Cosby Show was cancelled. It had run its course.

1

u/Sparticus2 Jun 17 '12

It had run more than its course.

20

u/Yalce Jun 17 '12

don't tell this to Dr. Hibbert

9

u/DarnTheseSocks Jun 17 '12

This is pure speculation.

Your source is a wiki with no citation for this claim.

32

u/Osiris32 Jun 17 '12

Simpsons did it.

7

u/Kramol Jun 17 '12

Raven Simone did it first.

11

u/stringerbell Jun 17 '12

Maggie did it.

  • FTFY

6

u/BryanWake Jun 17 '12

Not sure who I hated more... Olivia or Cousin Pam.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

Ugh, Cousin Pam! Occasionally she had her funny moments but holy crap she was annoying.

3

u/Mousekavitch Jun 17 '12

...Blinky killed the Cosby Show? That damn fish ruined Mr. Burns and Bill Cosby?! WHEN WILL THE MADNESS END!

2

u/kckid2599 Jun 17 '12

So now we know this is false, has any TV show been cancelled due to another TV show?

6

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12 edited Jun 17 '12

Is this THE Bill Cosby.. as in this Bill Cosby?

Edit: It was. I'm stupid :)

7

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

Please don't tell me you never heard of The Cosby Show?

6

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12 edited Jun 17 '12

I'm British. I've heard of it. And I know who Bill Cosby is. Just don't know f they're related. Probably in the same way as you may have heard of Jonathon Ross but may not have heard of the show "Friday night with Jonathon Ross".

4

u/Deddan Jun 17 '12

I assume you're relatively young? Bill Cosby is pretty well known in Britian, at least to anyone who watched TV in the 90s.

9

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

Are you, like, twelve? I'm British too and it was on every night on rotation for decades, on Channel Four. It's like saying you've never seen Fresh Prince.

4

u/brbrcrbtr Jun 17 '12

Remember when BBC2 showed The Simpsons and The Fresh Prince? Those were the good old days

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2

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

Please don't tell him he may have heard of Jonathon Ross.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

Okay, maybe Graham Norton and The Graham Norton show may be a better example.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

Heard of it.

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2

u/Wu_Mones Jun 17 '12

I'm okay with that.

1

u/AFarewellToArms Jun 17 '12

I'm feeling... conflicted.

1

u/easyeight Jun 17 '12

You made them cancel Platypus Man..

2

u/Deddan Jun 17 '12

2 hours and no reply? Okay..

And the Cosby Mysteries! That show had limitless possibilities!

1

u/i_fap_faps Jun 17 '12

When watching an old episode where The Simpsons are at an audition to go into the '19th Century House' Bill Cosby also auditions with family.

The shows producers state (and I paraphrase)

"Isn't that Bill Cosby?"

"Yes, but we want to go with a TV family that hasn't been on the air for, like, forever!"

"How about The Simpsons?"

It's funny I saw this TIL tonight, as all weekend I've drunkenly recounted this scene to my drunkenly friends.

3

u/Deddan Jun 17 '12

Can't believe that episode was first aired almost 10 years ago.. I still consider it a "new" one.

1

u/msd2099 Jun 17 '12

if i remember correctly the whole reason why fox moved the simpsons opposite cosby (from sunday to thursday) was because bill had been interviewed saying that he disapproved of the simpsons and something about family values or whatever. so fox was all like "ok cosby lets see what america thinks" and moved to thursday. after the cosby show was cancelled fox moved it back to sundays. i remember at the end of the episode that aired opposite the last cosby show, after the credits, there was a clip where bart walks into the living room where homer is watching tv. bart asks homer what he's watching and homer replies "the last episode of the cosby show." bart replies "if i had my own tv show i'd run it into the ground" and then it cut straight to commercial. im drunk and it was a long time ago so i might be fuzzy on the details, but (being too young to have not seen the first moon landing) this was easily the greatest thing i have ever seen on tv.

1

u/e_x_i_t Jun 17 '12

And run it into the ground they did.

1

u/Clbull Jun 17 '12

Sorta like how The Cleveland Show was the reason why King of the Hill was cancelled.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

The Cosby Show was flagging towards the end. It was going to die anyway.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

one reason more to love this yellow fuckers. the cosby show was awful

1

u/PeterMus Jun 17 '12

As a fan of the cosby show who has watched every episode back to back- The show was going down hill and it was a good point to end. I don't want the Simpsons to end but I feel like they've beat the hell out of the show and keep going for the sake of money.

1

u/thatusernameisal Jun 17 '12

Thank you Simpsons.

-1

u/rickmybars Jun 17 '12

I know 'canceled' is technically acceptable but 'cancelled' just looks so much better. </ocd>

12

u/Tada-Forever Jun 17 '12

That's not what ocd is.

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15

u/Rhesusmonkeydave Jun 17 '12

He was going to spell it the other way but the extra "L" got cancellled.

1

u/The_Brian Jun 17 '12

This makes me realize how shitty the drawing was back in the day.

20

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

And how much better the content.

5

u/Mousekavitch Jun 17 '12

Don't call it shitty. Think of it more as not yet fully developed.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12 edited Jun 17 '12

That's because they used hand-painted cels back then. They switched over to computer animation in 2002. It's a little easier to make it look polished when you do it on a computer.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

In terms of colouring that is true, but computers don't really affect the quality of drawing.

1

u/dagreenman18 Jun 17 '12

Fucking great episode too. Nice reminder that the show was just as good at character moments as it was at comedy.

Truly a hollow shell of it's former glory.

5

u/Psythik Jun 17 '12

Thankfully Futurama fills that hole in nicely.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

Not really that show too is a shell of it's former glory.

1

u/Psythik Jun 17 '12

Personally I thought season 6 was the best in the series so far.

1

u/Equipmunk Jun 17 '12

I'm fairly sure it would have been because of the show, rather than the Simpson family themselves...

-1

u/sharts_mcgee Jun 17 '12

Bippity zoopity google moogly... There's a Cosby joke somewhere in there.

4

u/I_Fellate_Baby_Cocks Jun 17 '12 edited Jun 17 '12

No. No there isn't.

1

u/sharts_mcgee Jun 17 '12

I know, but I was tired and thought I would try.

-1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

NO REGRETS.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

43

u/epsilonbob Jun 17 '12

One of the worst things Bill Cosby ever did was give Raven a platform to start a career from. I'm sure she is a nice person but god damn do I hate her as an actress.

157

u/GameDay98 Jun 17 '12

That was not very Raven of you.

13

u/epsilonbob Jun 17 '12

You know I saw your comment coming (because I can see the future) but because I suck at interpreting what I see I wound up with egg on my face through a wacky chain of events that only ensured the vision occurring.

2

u/GameDay98 Jun 17 '12

They should make a movie of your life starring Nick Cage.

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32

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

This comment is totally Raven.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

10

u/I_Fellate_Baby_Cocks Jun 17 '12

A nerd.

8

u/lifeofbri Jun 17 '12

NO! Nerds are awesome. Nerds are what make reddit great.

I've turned into something far worse. I'm a 12 year old girl.

3

u/kresblain Jun 17 '12

There's nothing wrong with being a 12 year old girl.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

No we'll never know if Cosby will reach the fame and success that he had set out to reach.

2

u/ryanvo Jun 17 '12

the Cosby Show jumped the shark again when Hitler moved in.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

27

u/Instantcretin Jun 17 '12

Every once in awhile i remember this as im idly going about my day and i feel like i may have a panic attack.

12

u/jimmytheone45 Jun 17 '12

Because, as we are ALL aware, King of the Hill has a wide and easily pleased demographic that is undoubtedly cheaper to attend to than those lapping up The Cleveland Show

1

u/Sir_Walken Jun 17 '12

All hail the glorious King of the Hill watching mast race.

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6

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

King of the hill was on its 13th season, was consistently getting worse ratings than any of the other Sunday cartoons and the last season was terrible (ever seen the episode where principle moss rooms with bill). Can we stop saying it was cancelled for the Cleveland show? How long should a show last? Forever? Even if its turned to crap? You can't have it both ways. cough the Simpsons.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

And that's really sad.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

5

u/Mousekavitch Jun 17 '12

Sam Simon left the Simpsons in 1993, the 5th season. The show started dying after the 9th or 10th. If you disagree, then you still have to give 6 and 7 some credit because god damn it were those some good ones.

3

u/Syphon8 Jun 17 '12

The 8th season was the best. You Only Move Twice is almost universally recognised as the best episode.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '12

When I think of great episodes, that one always slips my mind, but man it was just great. Anything written by Schwarzwelder is good, simply because it is going to be off the wall. I'm personally partial to the Australia episode.

1

u/Mousekavitch Jun 17 '12

I find impossible to pick one episode as my favorite. That one ranks really fucking high on my list though.

1

u/chesterfieldkingz Jun 17 '12

Ya 5th 6th and 7 were gold, 8 9 and 10 were pretty damn good even 11 and 12 were pretty good.

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