Bill Cosby is currently in the middle of a slew of cases related to rape accusations, not to mention lawsuits related to defamation of character. He's lost the projects he had in the works, including a Netflix special. People aren't even looking as fondly back at the comedian's earlier works, anymore, which includes the seminal comedy The Cosby Show, a show that enjoyed a long shelf life on TV for years. Recently, The Cosby Show even was dropped by Hulu, which left the door open for some other network to snap it up. Apparently, there was enough interest in the series that Bounce TV opted to pick up reruns of the series. The announcement was made with this epic gif.
If you can't tell from the tweet, new episodes of The Cosby Show are going to hit the schedule starting December 19, which is actually very soon. The news is coming a little over a year after The Cosby Show reruns were dropped by TV Land. Bounce TV and Centric later pulled all reruns, although clearly the former network has now decided enough time has passed.
While some people may correlate The Cosby Show with Bill Cosby's current legal troubles, it looks as if Bounce TV, at least, doesn't feel that its audience has the same qualms. At this point, there's plenty of irony in the fact that The Cosby Show featured Bill Cosby as Dr. Cliff Huxtable, family man and well-respected pillar in the community. However, one argument for the comedy notes that plenty of actors have gotten into trouble but still have portrayed popular characters and movies in the past. One Cosby kid, Keshia Knight Pulliam, has also come out in defense of the series in the time since the allegations surfaced. For Bounce TV, if the people want to watch The Cosby Show, the people can continue to watch The Cosby Show.
The news comes just a few weeks after various outlets learned that The Cosby Show would be leaving Hulu, where it still had a contract following the controversy with Bill Cosby himself. The show left the streaming service on November 7 after the license between Carsey Werner Television and Hulu expired. The streaming service ultimately opted not to renew the deal to keep the sitcom any longer.
The Cosby Show initially ran for a whopping eight seasons and 202 episodes in the 1980s and into the early 90s. The startling number of episodes means there are plenty of stories that networks can air in reruns, and The Cosby Show has enjoyed a long shelf life in syndication. It's too soon to tell if other networks will decide The Cosby Show is worth another shot in reruns, but we'll let you know if that happens. In the meantime, you can check out what originals TV has coming up, here.
