Last November, NBC pulled the plug on a deal to produce a new sitcom with Bill Cosby. The resurgence of rape and sexual misconduct allegations was growing rapidly, and the network seemingly didn’t want to have anything to do with it. NBC’s Bob Greenblatt all but confirmed this at today’s Television Critics Association press gathering when he was asked to comment.
When they first pursued the deal with Cosby, [Greenblatt] said, “While over the years we’d heard some of those accusations and we heard there were a couple of settlements, it didn’t seem to be the kind of thing that was critical mass,” he said.
“When we realized that there seemed to be so much more of it,” he said the network had no choice but to pull out of the project.
“He hasn’t been proven guilty of anything. I don’t want to be the one who says guilty until proven innocent, [but] when that many people come out and have similar complaints and it became such a tainted situation, there was no way we could move forward.” (Via Variety)
With no new Cosby shows coming to NBC and Netflix in the near future, your best bet is to hold onto those old tapes and DVDs of The Cosby Show and Cosby. At this rate, all copies found will probably be burned in a sacrificial pile.
(Via Variety)