The Cosby Show was the pinnacle of American television. Based on a wealthy African-American family from Brooklyn, New York, The Cosby Show showed how to effectively raise a family. The sitcom starred Phylicia Rashad as Clair Huxtable, a confident, assertive and articulate lawyer. Starring alongside Rashad was Bill Cosby as Cliff Huxtable, an eccentric and whimsical obstetrician. Together, Clair and Cliff raised five children amid many complex obstacles. Faced with Sondra's decision not to go to law school, Denise's decision to discontinue her studies, Theo's satisfaction with mediocre grades, and Vanessa's rebellious behavior, the Huxtables never stopped using humor and discipline to convey strong moral principles. The Huxtables taught their children as well as their viewers to work hard in school, question socially constructed gender roles, maintain strong family relationships and, above all, not take themselves too seriously . Despite The Cosby Show's brevity of only eight years, it managed to leave a permanent brand as the embodiment of positive social change. Unfortunately, shows of the caliber of The Cosby Show are simply non-existent in today's television programming. Today's television has more than a thousand channels, but little content. Although May 9, 2011, will mark the 50th anniversary of Newton N. Minow's historic speech on "a vast wasteland," his words perfectly sum up the state of television today. Television was and still is a “vast wasteland” because it poorly shapes moral values, reinforces negative stereotypes, misinforms viewers, contains violence, and leads viewers to make poor health and financial decisions. One of the main factors contributing to viewers' poor moral values ​​is reality. telev... middle of article......April 2011. Huston, Aletha C., et al. Big world, small screen. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska, 1992. Print. Kirkorian, Heather L., et al. “Media and young children’s learning.” » The Future of Children 18.1 (2008): 39-61. ERIC. Internet. April 5, 2011. Lowry, Brian. “Stereotypes: Reality TV’s Dirty Little Secret.” » Variety 4.16 (2010): n. pag.Resource center for businesses and businesses. Internet. April 16, 2011. Lutz, William. Doublespeak. New York: New York Times, 1981. Print. Postman, Neil. Amusing ourselves to death: public discourse in the age of show business. New York: Viking Penguin Inc., 1985. Molen, Van Der, and Juliette H. Walma. “Violence and suffering in television news: towards a broader conception of television content harmful to children. » Pediatrics 113.6 (2004): 1771-1775. MEDLINE. Internet. April 6 2011.