The Cosby Show: Hillman

Even at an important ceremony,
Rashad has Resting Condescending Face.

The Cosby Show: Hillman
NBC
May 7, 1987
Sitcom
DVD
C

Season Three could've closed with Sondra marrying Elvin and/or graduating from Princeton, but instead we go to Hillman so the Huxtables, including Cliff's parents (Earle Hyman and Clarice Taylor as always), can interact with a bunch of people we'll mostly never see again and wouldn't care about if we did.  I thought from the title of this Matt Robinson story that it would be a back-door pilot for A Different World, but it isn't really.

The Cosby Show in its third season widens its range, from C all the way to B.  It still averages out to a C+ but closer to the B- border.  Clair's, I mean Phylicia's, pregnancy has a mostly positive effect on the show, although the writers seem to be floundering after her return.  And Elvin (technically introduced in Season Two) bumps up my interest level.  Yeah, he's cute but he also makes everyone else including Sondra more interesting.  Anyway, it wasn't creepy or heavily ironic to revisit this show.  It's like a lot of other '80s shows, except African-American and nearly plotless.  If my library had another season, I'd watch it, but I certainly wouldn't request it from another branch.