The goings-on in the life of a successful African American family.

The goings-on in the life of a successful African American family.

Vanessa, a straight A student, finds that her grades suffer when she studies with Robert, a classmate that she has a crush on. With a big school dance coming up, she is afraid to show her parents a bad test grade fearing they ll keep her home. The night of the dance, Vanessa wears Denise's new sweater without her sister's permission, causing an all-out brawl between the two.

To warm up for his night out with Clair and their friends, Cliff shows off a few of his dance moves in the living room. Denise claims her father's footwork is old-fashioned and boring, and that break-dancing is the superior art form. To show Denise and her friends what dancing is really about, Cliff invites his friends Ralph and Marie over to teach the teenagers how to jitterbug.

While Cliff snoops around trying to discover his special birthday surprise, a clever Clair has arranged for the Huxtable family to see legendary performer Lena Horne. Cliff is beside himself when Lena Home dedicates a song to him and invites the family to her dressing room after the show.

In the first episode of the long-running sitcom The Cosby Show, Brooklyn obstetrician Cliff Huxtable (Bill Cosby) is asked by his attorney wife, Clair (Phylicia Ayers-Allen), Why do we have four children? Though no answer is forthcoming, the fact seems to remain that there are indeed four kids living in the Huxtable's fashionable brownstone: daughters Denise (Lisa Bonet), Vanessa (Tempestt Bledsoe), and Rudy (Keshia Knight Pulliam), and son Theo (Malcolm-Jamal Warner). And yet, sprinkled throughout the early episodes of season one are several references to a fifth child -- who finally shows up in the person of Princeton University student Sondra (Sabrina Le Beauf), who makes her first appearance in the tenth telecast episode, appropriately titled Bon Jour Sondra. (Reportedly, Bill Cosby expanded the original four children alotted to the Huxtables to five so that his TV household would mirror his own: four daughters, one son.) Also making their initial Cosby Show appearances during its first season are Earle H

Dr. Huxtable has a few tricks up his sleeve...

Headband or clever pimple concealer?

Dr. Huxtable gets a personal reggae solo.

Dr. Huxtable gives some valuable fashion tips.