Magnum Mania!

My wife is a big Cosby show fan so she was watching it when I came in from work the other night. In the episode Theo's Holiday ared April 3, 1986, Cliff is teaching his son Theo a lesson about being out in the real world . To my suprise Cosby walks into the room wearing a Magnum pi crew ball cap. I found this very interesting considering the shows were on different networks. Does anyone know how or why this came to be?[/b]

Tom Selleck presented the cap to Cosby as a gift when his show beat MPI in the ratings the first time.

You beat me to it. I can't remember, but someone brought that story up a few weeks ago.

Thanks for the info guys

Wow, news to me.... bet he wanted to take the hat back after Cosby stayed on top....

Miss Q wrote:Wow, news to me.... bet he wanted to take the hat back after Cosby stayed on top....

I seem to recall that "Cosby" really whumped MPI in the ratings, causing CBS to move it to another day than Thursday. I believe it was moved to Wednesdays.

I was curious to see this for myself, so I dug it up and had a look. I remember watching this episode back in the day, but didn't notice at the time. Funny one.

Here's a screen grab:

Miss Q wrote:... bet he wanted to take the hat back after Cosby stayed on top....

While I am a life-long Bill Cosby fan, The Cosby Show symbolized the end of my childhood! MPI and S&S dropped like stones in the ratings and the action-adventure shows I loved growing up were muscled out of the way by that 1980s sitcom renaissance. The fact that seasons five and six of MPI weren't so hot didn't help its cause any, either. The Cosby Show was an insanely popular series. IIRC NBC even delayed a game in the 1986 World Series just so they could air an episode of The Cosby Show beforehand.

Nice that Cosby wore the hat. He often did things like that for friends and friendly rivals.

That is great, just great! The Cos wearing a Magnum hat! Thanks for the cap Styles!

That was a nice move by Bill!

I used to watch the Cosby show every sunday night at eight o´clock in Sweden back in the day. That time was for many years the prime time for sitcoms in Sweden just before the sportsnews.

But i have to say that i recently watched reruns, and it hasn´t aged that well, and i always prefered Married with children when it came to American sitcoms. First four seasons of that one was very funny.

Little Garwood wrote:The Cosby Show was an insanely popular series.

I never understood the publics obsession with this show. I never found Bill Cosby to be funny but for some reason the show attracted viewers. It was like watching an episode of MASH, never did it make me laugh.

Sisophous wrote: I never understood the publics obsession with this show. I never found Bill Cosby to be funny but for some reason the show attracted viewers. It was like watching an episode of MASH, never did it make me laugh.

I don't think M*A*S*H was supposed to be a "ha ha" funny, despite the madcap shenanigans that were peppered throughout the series' run. It was more of a wry, knowing, and cynical gallows humor--even when the comedy was physical or broadly played.

Sisophous wrote:I never understood the publics obsession with this show. I never found Bill Cosby to be funny but for some reason the show attracted viewers. It was like watching an episode of MASH, never did it make me laugh.

[cosby voice]
Well, you see..... You have to talk like this.... slow....with long pauses....... and then..... offer up some insightful..... parental advice.... all while making funny faces...... and awkward (humorous).... body language..... It's funny.... Can you dig?
[/cosby voice]

I was never a huge fan either, but it certainly was an iconic 80's show! But I'll watch Fat Albert and I Spy anytime! Cozi TV shows I Spy. Love that show and love the Cos!

J.J. Walters wrote:

Sisophous wrote:I never understood the publics obsession with this show. I never found Bill Cosby to be funny but for some reason the show attracted viewers. It was like watching an episode of MASH, never did it make me laugh.

[cosby voice]
Well, you see..... You have to talk like this.... slow....with long pauses....... and then..... offer up some insightful..... parental advice.... all while making funny faces...... and awkward (humorous).... body language..... It's funny.... Can you dig?
[/cosby voice]

I was never a huge fan either, but it certainly was an iconic 80's show! But I'll watch Fat Albert and I Spy anytime! Cozi TV shows I Spy. Love that show and love the Cos!

You put the jell-o with the pudding pops and the pudding pops with the jell-o. New Coke!

My wife, son and I caught his standup act at The Chicago Theater this past October and he put on 90 non-stop hilarious minutes of story telling. Of course I grew up listening to his comedy records like many of us baby boomers and have always loved his stand up. Sadly he related to the audience towards the end of the act that he is losing his eyesite and I wish him the best..............