Customer Reviews

The Cosby Show: Season 4

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Of course I already own seasons 1 and 2 and it has been fun re-watching my favorite show growing up. My son has also fallen in love with the show. He especially loves Rudy while I like the older kids because I was a young teen when this show started. For later seasons, we rely on the old VHS recordings my dad has kept over the years, but they may not last much longer. I'm glad that more seasons of this great show are being released. Like an earlier viewer stated, this show is so much better than current T.V. and I'm thrilled that my son can grow up watching them too. He is growing up watching the shows my husband and I enjoyed as kids. Okay, so he's out of touch with current pop culture, but is that such a bad thing when he can see a great role model like Bill Cosby? I highly recommend this show.

In retrospect, this is one of the more interesting seasons. When the show begins, we notice one person missing from the original cast, Lisa Bonet. (She only appears in picture form during the title sequence.) Where has she gone? Off to the west coast set of A Different World for the popular spin-off's first season. Dear Lisa would only appear as a guest star on two new episodes, "Shakespere" and "Home for the Weekend." (That doesn't include the fantastic slection of previous footage illuded to in the 2-part "Looking Back" collage.)

Instead of seeing Lisa, we witness the introduction of Geoffrey Owens to the regular cast, portraying Elvin Tibbadeaux, who is now married to the oldest Huxtable child, Sondra. They've decided not to pursue their previous career interests and devote themselves to running their own wilderness supply store. This venture presents a recurring topic throughout this season, as well as the first season of A Different World.

Meanwhile, the Huxtable ship keeps sailing with Theo completing his turbulent high school career, Vanessa's boyfriend list expanding, Rudy wanting to wear the wrong clothes and Cliff losing his memory. Among the celebrity guest stars are Christopher Plummer, Adam Sandler (as a recurring character) and Wallice Shaun (also recurring). [Of course, we also have Adam saying, "When Roxanne finds out there's no helicoptor, she is gonna - " what's the word " - plotz!"

Because I'd seen so many of these episodes so many times, I started to skip through them and just watch the ones I really enjoyed. On this DVD, I was pleasantly surprised to see what I believe is the ONLY episode of the Cosby Show that I'd never seen, and how fitting of it to be about a book club. "Bookworm" was my favorite episode on the entire DVD, and I rewatched it so I could laugh at Cosby's secret at the book club meeting, especially when he rolled his eyes after giving a page number. Classic! However, I was dead tired and bored to tears with the "Shakespeare" episode. I don't know why the writers thought enacting scenes from "Shakespeare" would make a good episode. I couldn't stand reading the stuff in high school and college (and I did understand it), so I definitely didn't want to see it on a show that I did enjoy. I thought "The Locker Room" was an interesting episode because it didn't end the way I expected it to, but it was extremely true to reality. This was a pretty good season. I liked the ones when Rudy was older much better, and this season makes me wish "A Different World: Season 2" would resurface, so I can buy it. This was around the time when I would be rushing for the "Cosby Show" to be over with, so "A Different World" could come on. Man, I miss my childhood!

Season four's box set is identical to season three's, with the same unfortunate disappointments. Each disc is place in its separate slim case, and yet again no bonus material. But of course the main reason to buy this set is for the episodes and it is nice to have season four out on DVD. You can definitely tell the Huxtable kids are growing up, so the episode plots started to change gradually. There were a few big changes to the show in season four. Elvin and Sondra are married, but unfortunately Lisa Bonet (Denise) is not in season four because she was working on another show called "A Different World" which follows her experiences at Hillman College. But other than that, this season is fantastic and it was a great excitement when I first received it. I really enjoyed the episode "Once Upon a Time", it was a unique episode to the series because it pretty much takes place in Rudy's fantasy. But there are many great episodes from season four since there are no episode descriptions available for season four, I'll list them below.

Call of the Wild - Airdate: 9/24/1987 - The newlywed Sondra and Elvin return from their honeymoon with shocking news for Cliff and Clair; they want to abandon their dreams of being a lawyer and doctor and open a wilderness store.

Theogate - Airdate: 10/1/1987 - Theo and Cockroach come home unusually late from a track meet.

It Ain't Easy Being Green - Airdate: 10/8/1987 - Rudy wants to wear summer clothes in fall to a party but Clair won't let her.

Cliff's Mistake - Airdate: 10/15/1987 - While setting up the house as a haunted house for Halloween, Cliff discovers he's lost a power drill that his neighbor loaned to him.

Shakespeare - Airdate: 10/22/1987 - Theo must read Julius Caesar for school, but complains that it is boring.

That's Not What I Said - Airdate: 10/29/1987 - Cliff and Clair have an argument after Theo gets detained by police for riding in a car with an unlicensed driver.

Autumn Gifts - Airdate: 11/5/1987 - Rudy goes to an older widowed lady's house each afternoon to have tea and play cards, but notices that she refuses to take her daily medication for diabetes. She tells Cliff, who devises a plan to try to convince her that she needs to take her medication.

Looking Back (Part One) - Airdate: 11/12/1987 - Sondra and Elvin have their first marital fight, and Elvin comes to the Huxtable house for comfort and support. Clair shares about the difficulties in their house as flashbacks are shown.

Looking Back (Part Two) - Airdate: 11/12/1987 - Flashbacks are shown while history is shared with Elvin.

Where's Rudy - Airdate: 11/19/1987 - Theo and Vanessa lose track of Rudy in a mall while Clair enters a squash exhibition.

Dance Mania - Airdate: 12/3/1987 - Theo and Cockroach have tickets to appear on television on the dance show "Dance Mania", but are told that only one of them can enter the studio during the filming because of fire laws. Theo miscalculates by offering to let Cockroach go in (thinking he'll refuse) and gets angry when Cockroach takes him up on the offer.

The Locker Room - Airdate: 12/10/1987 - Theo and his classmates brag about their dates with girls in the locker room, but Theo's mood changes when one of the guys goes out with Vanessa and brags about it the next day.

The Show Must Go On - Airdate: 12/17/1987 - Vaudeville is shown to Rudy and her friends, who are unimpressed.

Bookworm - Airdate: 1/7/1988 - Clair drags Cliff to her book club meeting, but he's the lone male there. Much to Clair's surprise, Cliff knows quite a bit about the book in question! Meanwhile, the kids attempt a sleepover at Sondra and Elvin's run-down studio apartment, but are overwhelmed by the noise and lack of utilities.

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star - Airdate: 1/14/1988 - Rudy has to play the violin in music class at school, but gets jealous because she thinks her classmates' instruments are more fun.

The Visit - Airdate: 1/21/1988 - Theo visits a friend in the hospital who has cancer.

The Drum Major - Airdate: 2/4/1988 - Vanessa tries out for the drum major at school.

Waterworks - Airdate: 2/11/1988 - Clair tries to stop Cliff from fixing a leaky pipe by hiring a team of professionals.

Once Upon a Time - Airdate: 2/18/1988 - Rudy writes a fairy tale, and the colorful story is acted out in her fantasy.

Petanque - Airdate: 2/25/1988 - Cliff and a friend play Petanque.

Trust Me - Airdate: 3/3/1988 - A friend of Clair's is having marital problems.

Home for the Weekend - Airdate: 3/17/1988 - Denise comes home from college, but seems to have more time for her friends than for her family.

The Prom - Airdate: 3/24/1988 - Theo and his friends go to great lengths to impress their dates for the senior prom but fail disastrously.

Gone Fishin' - Airdate: 4/29/1988 - When the Huxtable men go fishing, Theo catches the dead body of a gangster that the police have been chasing, and soon attracts attention from the news media. This success goes to his head, while Rudy and Kenny find a nest of baby birds, but the mother bird is missing. The two stories eventually cross in a surprising-and rather humiliating-lesson for Theo.

Season four's DVD release is similar to season three's and has the same disappointments but it's still highly recommended.

"Still Number#1" as Bill Cosby was so proud of noting during this time period this was the first season where their were serious changes in the works for the Huxtables. One of the most important things to note that's easy to notice actually is that during this time,all of the kids in this family were growing up. Lisa Bonet is out of the cast and maybe no one noticed but that rather smug picture frame "gag" during this seasons theme song kind of gives the impression that she won't be entirely missed by at least one cast member. Either way Denise not being present to a huge extent during this season changed some of the dynamics. First off we start off with the fact that the the newly married Sondra and Elvin (Geoffrey Owens officially joined the cast this season) surprise the Huxtable parents when they decide to blow off graduate school to open up a wilderness store. This seperates Sondra from her usual characterization of being the "most like her parents" on the education front and builds on some of her earlier advocasy of Denise "taking some time to live life" after high school. An ongoing plot point this season finds the couple involved in living in a slummy apartment and that provides some mildly funny moments. But overall this sets the tone for season. There are a lot of episodes in this season that look to take on serious issues. The relationship between Theo and Cockroach in downplayed as Theo himself is now in a basically adult body but as another reviewer pointed out "not quite funny as a man" yet.That is until Cockroach appruptly disappears,all over a haircut disagreement with Cosby so the story goes and Theo is left with a new group of friends one of whom is played by a young Adam Sandler as Smitty. This is all after the great episode "Dance Mania" as Theo and Cockroach become temporary rivals over an appearance on a Soul Train-like TV show. The character of Theo also faces an issue of one of cancer with another of his friends later on in the season. Rudy's growing pains are even more obvious.In one episode she weeps to "It's Not Easy Being Green",lamenting her awkward transitional stage to cute kid to preteen and there were signs the transition wasn't easy for her. She's lost in a mall too and then is reciting a story about her perceptions of war in the funny and also touching episode "Once Upon A Time". This makes for a season that doesn't always have the warm heartedness and laughs of earlier reasons but is more about a group of young people confronting the joys and pains of time and aging.

This DVD would be more user friendly if it would play show to show continuously instead of having to pick each show before it begins. The first season DVD was much user friendly.

Don't get me wrong... I love the Cosby Show but I was expecting to find extras in this release. There are no bloopers, deleted scenes, themes, etc. I was disappointed to not find those items.

My husband and I have always loved the Cosby Show. It's good clean humor, which is hard to find these days. When seasons 1 and 2 came out on DVD I purchased them immediately. My 5 year old son watches them EVERY DAY!! He will watch the Cosby Show instead of watching cartoons or anything else. We have watched this so much he can recite entire episodes. I can't complain because at least he not repeating the junk that has infiltrated our TVs or radios today. It is a beautiful thing to be able to share this with my child. I encourage everyone to do the same. I can't wait until seasons 3 and 4 come out.

My wife and I love the Cosby show. we are collecting the whole run of shows. when we got this season and season 3 in the mail. we were excited. we watched almost the entire season 3 in one weekend. the subtitles are retarded and I think its a flaw in the DVD mastering. Everytime you start an episode, the subtitles are on and I have to go through and shut them off. not a big deal, but Its an annoyance I have never encountered. other than that, Highly recommended.

I LOVE the Cosby show but these DVDs aren't the best. There is no "play all" feature so once one show is over you have to go back to the main menu to play the next episode.