The third episode of WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT COSBY aired on Sunday, and I am still mulling over “creepy BBQ sauce.” I am in awe that 65 million people tuned in to watch THE COSBY SHOW, which took NBC to first place.
This installment was all about THE COSBY SHOW years. (1984-1992) W. Kamau Bell skillfully narrates it. It was a “monument to Black excellence.” The “Black image was elevated” through the family dynamics, the scripts, the icons who guest-appeared on the show, the choice of music, dance, and even the artwork on the walls of the Huxtable home.
The problem is, again, how do we reconcile what we saw week after week against what was rumored to be happening in Cosby’s dressing room with the door shut? When we look at old clips, we really don’t want “the truth about Bill to be true.” How can a man who pitched Coca-Cola, Jello Pudding Pops, and gave millions to Black colleges be such a vile rapist?
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT COSBY is not relaxing nor enjoyable. Instead, it is compelling, necessary, and riveting. To coin a phrase from one of Cosby’s many speeches and tirades: ”We have to do better.”
It is available to stream on SHOWTIME.
