The Cosby Show
The Auction
TV Flash files “The Auction” as hour 38 of 201 in the TV Flash guide — The Cosby Show (1984–1992) on NBC, season 2, episode 14, aired 1986-01-16, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S02E14: listed hour 38 of 201 in the The Cosby Show guide, hour 14 of 25 in season 2. It aired 1986-01-16 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Vanessa's Bad Grade” (S02E13). Next is “Theo and Cockroach” (S02E15).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
While leafing through a catalog, Clair sees that a painting by her great uncle is for sale at an auction. She remembers her childhood when the painting hung in her grandmother's house, but was later sold to pay medical bills. Although the estimated price for the painting is very high, Clair is determined to bring it back into the family.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Auction sit in the The Cosby Show guide?
S02E14 is listed hour 38 of 201 — hour 14 of 25 in season 2, season 2 episode 14.
When did The Cosby Show S02E14 air?
The Auction aired 1986-01-16 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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