ABSTRACT
This chapter considers what lies behind the power and influence of The Cosby Show. The Cosby Show appears to have cultivated a space where fantasy and reality are allowed to merge—without our suffering any philosophical qualms. The level of identification of black viewers with the Huxtables is very high, and although identification occurs similarly in the white responses, its intensity for black viewers puts it on a different plane. The Cosby Show is involved quite explicitly with issues of representation. In a society that is largely divided along racial lines, the series is concerned with presenting images of a black family that are both positive and popular. The pleasure of black respondents and their level of emotional bonding with the Huxtables reveal not just the creative ability of the show's writers but also the frustration that black Americans had felt with past portrayals of blacks.
