Guest stars: Shawn Elliott as Mr. Wilson, Alan North as Judge and David Smyrl as the man in court - his first of three different characters he portrayed on the show.
Guest star: Stacey Dash as Michelle, Denise's friend Clair bids on a painting by her great-uncle that her grandmother had once owned, hoping to bring it back into the Huxtable family after 30 years.
Guest star: Danny Kaye, making his final appearance in a television series Russell has a crisis of confidence when the jazz band he played in before retirement reunites to honor a deceased friend.
Guest star: Geoffrey Owens as Elvin Tibideaux Cliff establishes the Huxtable Men's Club when the women are away to help Theo get over his sadness of a lost date.
Guest stars: Joe Seneca and Gloria Foster This season's opening sequence features the cast dancing to a vocal jazz rendition of the theme performed by Bobby McFerrin.
Cosby wears a top hat and tails, Tempestt Bledsoe an outfit styled after a WAVES uniform, and Malcolm-Jamal Warner a business suit.
Guest stars: Lisa Bonet as Denise Huxtable, Christopher Plummer, Roscoe Lee Browne Rudy goes to an older widowed lady's house each afternoon to have tea and play cards, but notices that she refuses to take her daily medication for diabetes.
The opening sequence in this season featured the cast in Caribbean-style clothing dancing on a veranda to an orchestral version of "Kiss Me" arranged by James DePreist, and performed by the Oregon Symphony Orchestra.
Cliff and Clair visit Elvin and Sondra for dinner, but find life in the couple's cramped apartment sorely lacking: inedible food, unclean tap water, malfunctioning appliances, and noise and distractions from the neighbors.
It seems he is so upset that she has not told him about her plan to lose five pounds in a week that he will pull every underhanded trick in his book to "test" her willpower – including the ultimate temptation: guacamole and corn chips.
Cliff and Clair take a well-earned break from kids and chores, depositing Rudy at Grandma's, dropping Vanessa at a friend's house and heading for the Poconos.
When they cannot find one, Justine decides to work to pick up extra money and Theo agrees to help a beautiful drama student rehearse a play.
Plácido Domingo provides one bright spot as he sings Bésame Mucho to her, but later, she must sit through an irreverent serenade from Cliff and a family "tribute" called When Mom Was My Age.
They devise an alphabet game of their own that includes Rudy, four shot glasses, a bottle of booze (really tea) and a confused and extremely reluctant Vanessa.
His nightmare is filled with such Muppet characters as overstuffed talking sandwiches, back-talking refrigerator denizens and a bloodthirsty mob of creatures in the operating theater of Cliff's hospital.
Guest stars: The Muppets, performed by Steve Whitmire, Dave Goelz, Richard Hunt, Kevin Clash, Fran Brill, voice-over by Cliff's friend Jeffery Engels (Wallace Shawn) Phylicia Rashād, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Lisa Bonet, Tempestt Bledsoe, Keshia Knight Pulliam and Raven-Symoné host this special episode featuring bloopers from the past five seasons.
Vanessa and her girlfriends display extremely bad judgement when they sneak off to a rock concert in Baltimore behind their parents' backs, but the trip ends in disaster as their car, tickets, and spending money are all stolen.
Seeing that Olivia's preschool teacher (Max Roach) uses music and rap as part of his lessons, she insists that she is ready to take on the job but gets a reality check from a friend (Suzzanne Douglas) who teaches elementary school.
The church service concludes with Mavis Staples leading the choir in a spirit-filled rendition of Marvin Gaye's "Wholy Holy" as a tribute to Gramtee.
This season's opening credits sequence originally was to use a mural entitled "Street of Dreams," painted by inner-city youth from the Creative Arts Workshop in Harlem.
Carsey-Werner tried to negotiate a settlement with Creative Arts Workshop, but Bill Cosby decided to replace the opening credits with the version from the previous season.
Theo's plan to hire a stripper for brother-in-law Martin's belated bachelor party sets off sparks in the Huxtable house and ignites a fight between the men and women in the family.
Afraid he will miss the entire game, Elvin enlists the aid of his brothers Theo and Martin to hurry things along, which they do while bickering with Sondra and Nancy.
Fortified with devil's-food donuts and chocolate milk, he is determined to cram for tomorrow's economics final, until he lifts his head from the book in the college cafe and locks eyes with the girl of his dreams.
At home, Olivia announces her intention to become President, certain that will give her the power to create her own flag, eat turkey stuffed with french fries and stay up late.
Basketball coach Ray Evans (John Ritter) and his wife Alicia (Amy Yasbeck) have devised the perfect plan for the birth of their first child.
Despite the exotic home remedies suggested by the steady stream of would-be-doctors in the house, it is Cliff who actually saves the day by finding a way for Olivia to voice her feelings at the party.
Meanwhile, Lance and Charmaine reminisce about the high points of their romance, but their fuzzy memories are no match for Aaron's total recall of even the most obscure events in his and Pam's recent relationship.
Guest star: Lynne Thigpen The mural inspired by "Street of Dreams", originally painted by inner-city youth from the Creative Arts Workshop in Harlem, was finally used full-time in season eight.
The cast now danced to a hip-hop arrangement of "Kiss Me" that featured Lester Bowie on trumpet, while dressed in brightly colored clothing with a theme similar to the music.