Winner 1986

The Cosby Show

NBC Television

Just three short years ago television comedy was being mourned as a lost art. The tradition of family entertainment set in a loving, nurturing environment had disappeared. Many in the business felt the audience was too jaded; that the family unit itself was outmoded; that the concept of a television family with love, respect and mutual concern was an anachronism. Happily for NBC and the American public, Dr. William H. Cosby, Jr. (Ed.D., University of Massachusetts) challenged the skeptics and virtually single-handedly restored television as a source of positive social and personal values. For stimulating a renaissance in family television, for presenting a positive view of family life irrespective of gender and race, for simply being one of the funniest programs on television, a Peabody Award to The Cosby Show.