Bill Cosby appears on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in November, 2013.
Pull out your stash of Pudding Pops, because Bill Cosby is coming back to television.
Two months ago, Cosby told Yahoo TV that he was interested in returning to the small screen. “I want to be able to deliver a wonderful show to [a] network,” Cosby said.
Now, it appears that the comedy legend has gotten his wish. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cosby has teamed up with The Cosby Show producer Tom Werner for a new family comedy slated to air on NBC — more than 20 years after The Cosby Show ended its run on the network.
(MORE: Why Reality TV Is the New Family TV)
While details about the new show are sparse, Cosby will once again play the patriarch of a multi-generational family doling out sage advice on marriage and parenting, much like he did as Cliff Huxtable on The Cosby Show and on the less-fondly remembered CBS sitcom Cosby, which aired from 1996-2000. But Cosby stressed that he’s not looking to remake the beloved The Cosby Show. Instead it appears he is looking to make a show that fills a void in the current TV line up.
“There is a viewership out there that wants to see comedy, and warmth, and love, and surprise, and cleverness, without going into the party attitude. They would like to see a married couple that acts like they love each other, warts and all, children who respect the parenting, and the comedy of people who make mistakes. Warmth and forgiveness,” Cosby told Yahoo! TV. “I will deliver the best of Cosby, and that will be a series, I assume, that we could get enough people week after week after week to tune in to, to come along with us.”
The 76-year old actor has been busy lately promoting DVDs of his comedy special, Bill Cosby: Far From Finished, which aired on Comedy Central in the fall. He is also reportedly working on a reboot of the classic ’70s and ’80s cartoon Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, presumably with a more politically correct name.