Weirdest Episode Ever: The Cosby Show Explores Male Pregnancy
Added 2022-12-04 00:21:47 +0000 UTCHello and welcome to the first installment of Weirdest Episode Ever, our new Patreon bonus series exploring the times classic sitcoms veered into horror, sci-fi, fantasy or otherwise weird genres you would not expect in the half-hour format. And we have dropped a majorly weird one to kick stuff off. It *is* about The Cosby Show. And Bill Cosby. And the assault allegations. So a major content warning, but we promise this is a very, very weird bit of TV history.
“The Day the Spores Landed” (November 9, 1989)
It was weird enough that The Cosby Show decided to do a whole episode based around the vaguely sci-fi premise of men suddenly becoming pregnant. What’s more is the passage of time and the claims about Bill Cosby’s treatment of women have rendered an already weird episode even stranger, because it plays out like a confession? an indictment? a Freudian tell-all? We’re not sure but but there is a lot going on here.
The logo for Weirdest Episode Ever was designed by Ian O’Phelan. The theme music was composed by Nick Loiacano.
Comments
This is a good read!
Drew Mackie
2022-12-08 17:50:33 +0000 UTCMy reach around for why the men give birth to cars and boats and the things they desire; from the perspective of Cosby and the male writers, men give birth to the things they love because they believe that the one thing every woman must love and must need in order to be complete is a baby. Indeed, this episode of television really sounds like anti-humor and anti-entertainment, like a void of human empathy. But this episode of a podcast was entertaining and fascinating and I loved it. Thank you for watching so I don't have to! Looking forward to more!
Matt LS
2022-12-08 01:26:59 +0000 UTCIt really does sound more like Shotgun than the theme song.
Drew Mackie
2022-12-06 02:28:26 +0000 UTCRe: the theme song, the best iteration (i.e., the Broadway version) was basically a mashup with Junior Walker and the All-Stars' "Shotgun" https://youtu.be/cq6jquFrb08
Erin Hardy
2022-12-06 00:09:01 +0000 UTC
