When I was a kid my parents had The Best of Bill Cosby on record. I wore that vinyl out playing it over and over. I memorized the bits. I bought all the cassettes I could find. I have vague memories of Fat Albert on Saturday morning. And some movie where he played the devil. And The Cosby Show. I wanted to be Bill Cosby when I grew up.
Has any other beloved celebrity fallen as far as Cosby? I mean he was universally considered to be a genuinely nice guy. He was America's Dad.
Oh yeah, I feel the same way. I grew up on the Himself special. I can recite a lot of the "chocolate cake for breakfast" part from memory I saw it so many times. And I will never, ever watch it again. I hate it because we've basically had to abandon a great talent, but it's necessary. The same with Woody Allen and Roman Polanski. Put all of their work in a vault, seal it up and let future generations decide how they are to be remembered.