The Cosby Show: Season 4

1987 · 23 episodes

What Season 4 of The Cosby Show

The season opens with Sondra and Elvin back from their honeymoon, bringing news that leaves Cliff and Clair stunned. Then the Huxtable family faces the everyday ups and downs at their home on Stigwood Avenue. Theo ends up held by the police after getting into the car of an unlicensed driver, which sparks a heated argument between his parents. Rudy spends his afternoons with an elderly widow who refuses to take her diabetes medication. Vanessa runs for drum majorette at school, and Cliff insists on fixing a pipe that Clair would rather leave to professionals.

23episodes

Sep 24, 1987premiered

Apr 28, 1988Latest episode

8.8 hrtotal runtime

Season 4 Episodes

4x01 Call of the Wild
Sep 24, 1987 · 22 min
The newlywed Sondra and Elvin return from their honeymoon with shocking news for Cliff and Clair.
Directed by: Jay Sandrich · Starring: Geoffrey Owens
4x02 Theogate
Oct 1, 1987 · 22 min
Theo and Cockroach come home unusually late from a track meet. They both deny anything out of the ordinary happened, but Clair knows better. A mock trial is held to get to the bottom of the situation.
Directing: Jay Sandrich · Starring: Peter Costa, Deon Richmond, Carl Anthony Payne II
4x03 It's Not Easy Being Green
Oct 8, 1987 · 22 min
Rudy wants to wear summer clothes in winter to a party, while Cliff tries to get rid of an old water heater.
Writer: Carmen Finestra · Starring: Dondré Whitfield
4x04 Cliff's Mistake
Oct 15, 1987 · 22 min
While setting up the house as a "haunted house" for Halloween, Cliff discovers he's lost a power drill that his neighbor loaned to him.
Written by: Janet Leahy · Starring: Peter Costa, Deon Richmond, Wallace Shawn, Penni Penniman
4x05 Shakespeare
Oct 22, 1987 · 22 min
Theo must read ‘Julius Caesar’ for school, but complains that it is boring. Russell and his friends read scenes from the play aloud, and Theo is enthralled.
Directed by: Jay Sandrich · Starring: Lisa Bonet, Carl Anthony Payne II, Earle Hyman, Roscoe Lee Browne
4x06 That's Not What I Said
Oct 29, 1987 · 22 min
Cliff and Clair have an argument after Theo gets detained by police for riding in a car with an unlicensed driver.
Directed by: Jay Sandrich · Written by: Carmen Finestra · Starring: Freda Foh Shen, Ron Foster
4x07 Autumn Gifts
Nov 5, 1987 · 22 min
Rudy goes to an older widowed lady's house each afternoon to have tea and play cards, but notices that she refuses to take her daily medication for diabetes.
Written by: Matt Williams · Starring: Earle Hyman, Eileen Heckart
4x08 Looking Back
Nov 12, 1987 · 43 min
Sondra and Elvin have their first marital fight, and Elvin comes to the Huxtable house for comfort and support. Clair shares about the difficulties in their house as flashbacks are shown.
Directed by: Jay Sandrich · Written by: Carmen Finestra · Starring: Lisa Bonet, Earle Hyman, Clarice Taylor
4x09 Where's Rudy?
Nov 19, 1987 · 22 min
Theo and Vanessa lose track of Rudy in a mall while Clair enters a squash exhibition.
Directed by: Tony Singletary · Starring: Louis Nye, Conrad McLaren, Naoka Nakagawa, Ronald Yamamoto
4x10 Dance Mania
Dec 3, 1987 · 22 min
Theo and Cockroach have tickets to appear on television on the dance show "Dance Mania", but are told that only one of them can enter the studio during the filming because of fire laws.
Written by: Matt Williams · Starring: Carl Anthony Payne II, Adam Sandler, Troy Winbush, Robert Gossett
4x11 The Locker Room
Dec 10, 1987 · 22 min
Theo and his classmates brag about their dates with girls in the locker room, but Theo's mood changes when one of the guys goes out with Vanessa and brags about it the next day.
Directed by: Jay Sandrich · Written by: Janet Leahy · Starring: Adam Sandler, Troy Winbush, Pam Potillo, Dennis Singletary
4x12 The Show Must Go On
Dec 17, 1987 · 22 min
Vaudeville is shown to Rudy and her friends, who are unimpressed.
Directed by: Jay Sandrich · Written by: Carmen Finestra · Starring: Peter Costa, Deon Richmond, Carmen Finestra, Carl Ballantine
4x13 Bookworm
Jan 7, 1988 · 22 min
Clair drags Cliff to her book club meeting, and he's the lone male there. Much to Clair's surprise, Cliff knows quite a bit about the book in question! Meanwhile, the kids attempt a sleepover at Sondra and Elvin's run-down studio apartment.
Directed by: Jay Sandrich · Written by: Janet Leahy · Starring: Kathleen Doyle, Angela Bassett, S. Epatha Merkerson, Susan Bigelow
4x14 Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
Jan 14, 1988 · 22 min
Rudy has to play the violin in music class at school, but gets jealous because she thinks her classmates' instruments are more fun.
Directing: Chuck Vinson · Writer: Carmen Finestra · Starring: Deon Richmond, Melba Moore, Naoka Nakagawa
4x15 The Visit
Jan 21, 1988 · 22 min
Theo visits a friend in the hospital who has cancer.
Written by: Carmen Finestra · Starring: Deon Richmond, Adam Sandler, Troy Winbush, Khalif Bobatoon
4x16 The Drum Major
Feb 4, 1988 · 22 min
Vanessa tries out for the drum major at school. Meanwhile, Cliff cooks up a batch of extremely spicy chili, and Russell tries to pay off a loan from an old friend.
Starring: Deon Richmond, Earle Hyman, Troy Winbush, Dub Taylor
4x17 Waterworks
Feb 11, 1988 · 22 min
Clair tries to stop Cliff from fixing a leaky pipe by hiring a team of professionals: friends of Sondra and Elvin from Princeton.
Written by: Janet Leahy · Starring: Erica Gimpel, Josh Pais, Kevin Rock, Laura Hill
4x18 Once Upon a Time
Feb 18, 1988 · 22 min
Rudy writes a fairy tale, and the colorful story is acted out in her fantasy.
Writer: Carmen Finestra · Starring: Peter Costa, Deon Richmond, Earle Hyman, Alex Germain
4x19 Petanque
Feb 25, 1988 · 22 min
Cliff and a friend play pétanque.
Written by: Matt Williams · Starring: Sullivan Walker, Michele Shay, Laurie Morrison
4x20 Trust Me
Mar 3, 1988 · 22 min
A friend of Clair's has marital problems; Cliff takes a "mini-vacation" in the house as Theo, Rudy, and Vanessa try to stump each other with riddles.
Directing: Jay Sandrich · Writing: Carmen Finestra · Starring: Meg Foster, Joel Fabiani, Jodi Long
4x21 Home for the Weekend
Mar 17, 1988 · 22 min
Denise comes home from college, but seems to have more time for her friends than for the family.
Written by: Carmen Finestra · Starring: Lisa Bonet, Susan Diol, Nina Zoie Lam, Colin Quinn
4x22 The Prom
Mar 24, 1988 · 22 min
Theo, Denny and Smitty go to great lengths to impress their dates for the senior prom, but fail disastrously; Cliff and Clair relive their own prom.
Writing: Janet Leahy · Starring: Adam Sandler, LaChanze, Troy Winbush, Michelle Thomas
4x23 Gone Fishin' Season Finale
Apr 28, 1988 · 22 min
When the Huxtable men go fishing, Theo catches a dead body, and soon attracts attention from the media. This success goes to his head, while Rudy and Kenny find a nest of baby birds, but the mother bird is missing. The two stories eventually cross in a surprising-and rather humiliating-lesson for Theo.
Written by: Carmen Finestra · Starring: Deon Richmond, Alanna Davis, Darrell Echols