ABSTRACT
If there were an award for “Father Laureate” of the United States, the award would indisputably be given to Bill Cosby. His portrayal of a loving father on The Cosby Show captivated the nation’s imagination to such an extent that he has become an enduring icon of the ideal American father. Cosby and fatherhood are virtually synonymous, with his book Fatherhood breaking records as the fastest selling hardcover book (Fuller, 1992) and USA Today hailing him as “Father of our nation, every Thursday night . . . the USA’s ideal dad” (Britt-Gibson, 1986, p. 1). The Cosby Show has become part of mainstream American cultural symbolism and vernacular, with the word “Cosby” often used to denote a happy, healthy family or a good father. This image of the perfect “Cosby” family has even been celebrated in literature in John Updike’s (1990) novel, Rabbit at Rest : “On The Cosby Show rerun, the Huxtables are having one of those child-rearing crises bound to dissolve like a lump of sugar in their warm good humor, their mutual lovingness” (p. 336).
