The Cosby Show
Vanessa's Bad Grade
TV Flash files “Vanessa's Bad Grade” as hour 37 of 201 in the TV Flash guide — The Cosby Show (1984–1992) on NBC, season 2, episode 13, aired 1986-01-09, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S02E13: listed hour 37 of 201 in the The Cosby Show guide, hour 13 of 25 in season 2. It aired 1986-01-09 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Mrs. Westlake” (S02E12). Next is “The Auction” (S02E14).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
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 will 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.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Vanessa's Bad Grade sit in the The Cosby Show guide?
S02E13 is listed hour 37 of 201 — hour 13 of 25 in season 2, season 2 episode 13.
When did The Cosby Show S02E13 air?
Vanessa's Bad Grade aired 1986-01-09 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Should I watch The Cosby Show as comfort TV?
Watch it as craft and as history, not as a clean hug. The Huxtable household is peak 1980s multi-cam — and the star's later disgrace is public record that reframes every rerun.
In the series
Why this series still plays
For the craft of 1980s multi-cam family comedy at absolute peak dominance — ensemble timing, kid arcs, and a household that felt like a national hearth. Watch as television history, knowing the star's later disgrace is part of the public record.
Thursday was not a mood. It was a **timeslot that owned the chart**. NBC's The Cosby Show (1984–1992) made obstetrician Cliff and lawyer Clair Huxtable the appointment that yanked the sitcom out of a post-rural-purge slump and stacked Must See TV like inventory with a laugh track. Carsey-Werner multi-cam at commercial peak: 201 episodes, eight seasons, Nielsen topping through multiple mid-to-late-1980s seasons. Rex will toast the living room as civic hearth. The business was a Brooklyn brownstone treated as civic…
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