The Cosby Show
Denise Gets a D
TV Flash files “Denise Gets a D” as hour 58 of 201 in the TV Flash guide — The Cosby Show (1984–1992) on NBC, season 3, episode 9, aired 1986-11-20, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S03E09: listed hour 58 of 201 in the The Cosby Show guide, hour 9 of 25 in season 3. It aired 1986-11-20 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Vanessa's Rich” (S03E08). Next is “A Girl and Her Dog” (S03E10).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Clair has a pinched nerve and has to stay in bed. Cliff and the children try to make her day easier by doing chores around the house. At college, Denise gets a D in one of her classes and is afraid to tell her parents.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Denise Gets a D sit in the The Cosby Show guide?
S03E09 is listed hour 58 of 201 — hour 9 of 25 in season 3, season 3 episode 9.
When did The Cosby Show S03E09 air?
Denise Gets a D aired 1986-11-20 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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