Pilot (The Cosby Show)

Pilot (The Cosby Show)

List of The Cosby Show episodes

"Pilot" (also known as "Theo's Economic Lesson") is the pilot and the first episode of the first season of the American sitcom The Cosby Show. "Pilot" originally aired in the United States on NBC on Thursday September 20, 1984, at 8:00 PM Eastern time. This episode debuted the week before the official start of the 1984–85 United States network television season. The confrontation with Theo in this episode is seen again in a flashback in the series finale "And So We Commence". The episode was directed by Jay Sandrich and written by Ed. Weinberger and Michael J. Leeson. The episode was a critical and commercial success, achieving both high ratings and positive critical feedback.

Theo's (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) report card contained four Ds, which upset his mother, Clair (Phylicia Ayers-Allen). Theo attempts to pacify his father, Cliff (Bill Cosby), by letting him know that since he did not intend to go to college, his low grades did not matter to him. His reasoning was that it is his destiny to be a "regular person." In an attempt to guide his son by analogy, Cliff gives fatherly advice using Monopoly money as a teaching tool about the blue-collar economic facts of life for the everyday American. Although the lessons seem harsh, Cliff makes it clear that his instruction is an attempt to convince him that it is important to try his best. Cliff is troubled upon meeting Denise's (Lisa Bonet) latest admirer (Todd Hollowell) who is a former merchant marine and Turkish prisoner.