The Cosby Show
Cliff's Mistake
TV Flash files “Cliff's Mistake” as hour 78 of 201 in the TV Flash guide — The Cosby Show (1984–1992) on NBC, season 4, episode 4, aired 1987-10-15, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S04E04: listed hour 78 of 201 in the The Cosby Show guide, hour 4 of 24 in season 4. It aired 1987-10-15 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “It's Not Easy Being Green” (S04E03). Next is “Shakespeare” (S04E05).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Cliff loses a very important power drill that he borrowed from his neighbor, Jeffery. The Huxtable kids, along with Kenny and Jeff's daughter, Kelly, make a haunted house in the basement.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Cliff's Mistake sit in the The Cosby Show guide?
S04E04 is listed hour 78 of 201 — hour 4 of 24 in season 4, season 4 episode 4.
When did The Cosby Show S04E04 air?
Cliff's Mistake aired 1987-10-15 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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