The Cosby Mysteries

The Cosby Mysteries
Intertitle
Format	Comedy-drama, Mystery
Created by	David Black William Link
Starring	Bill Cosby Robert Stanton James Naughton Rita Moreno
Composer(s)	Craig Handy, David Weiss
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	20 (18 + pilot)
Production
Running time	60 minutes per episode
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	January 31, 1994 – April 12, 1995

The Cosby Mysteries is an American television mystery series that starred Bill Cosby. It is the first television series to star Cosby since The Cosby Show (which ended in the spring of 1992) and lasted only one season (1994–1995). Actor/Rapper Mos Def appeared in several episodes (credited as Dante Bezé).

Premise

Cosby played Guy Hanks, a New York City Police Department criminalist who retired from the force after winning $44 million in the lottery. However, his peaceful retirement was frequently interrupted since he was called in as a consultant on tough cases by his old partner, Adam Sully (James Naughton). As Hanks used his wits and his forensics knowledge to solve crimes, he dealt with his holistic housekeeper Angie (Rita Moreno) and his girlfriend Barbara Lorenz (Lynn Whitfield).

The show was created by David Black and William Link. Link's previous series included Columbo and Murder, She Wrote. Link developed the series at Cosby's request, as Cosby wanted to do an intelligent, character-driven mystery series that did not rely on graphic violence.

The show began in January 1994 as a two-hour movie, and regular episodes began airing on NBC in September. Critics expressed hope that The Cosby Mysteries would fare better than the two shows he produced after The Cosby Show, Here and Now and the game-show remake, You Bet Your Life. However, it only lasted 18 episodes, and was never successful.

The Cosby Mysteries has been re-run in the UK, on digital channel ITV1, and in the US, on A&E and TVOne.

In popular culture

• In The Simpsons episode "Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner?", Homer laments the cancellation of The Cosby Mysteries, saying "That show had limitless possibilities!"

• Saturday Night Live did a parody sketch of the Cosby series on the February 5, 1994 episode. Adam Sandler played Cosby as a buffoonish character who rambles on incoherently with dialog full of made-up nonsense words.

• In February 2010, as a promotion for the show Glee, character Rachel Berry used Twitter to show her lament and surprise at the show's cancellation, exclaiming "Wait, "The Cosby Mysteries" was cancelled?!?!".

External links

• Official Bill Cosby Site
• The Cosby Mysteries at the Internet Movie Database
• The Cosby Mysteries at TV.com
• Cosby Mysteries, an external wiki