Theodore Huxtable

Theo Huxtable was based on Bill Cosby's only son Ennis Cosby.{{cite web|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19970117/2519209/how-america-knew-ennis-cosby----in-sitcom-he-was-theo-huxtable|title=Business - How America 'Knew' Ennis Cosby -- In Sitcom, He Was Theo Huxtable - Seattle Times Newspaper|website=community.seattletimes.nwsource.com|access-date=27 July 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-01-17-mn-19457-story.html|title=Ennis Cosby's True Story Was of Triumph|first1=GREG|last1=BRAXTON|first2=SHAWN|last2=HUBLER|date=17 January 1997|publisher=|access-date=27 July 2017|via=LA Times}} He also gave the character dyslexia as his son also had the condition.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-11-12-tv-1885-story.html|title=Bill Cosby did a disservice to dyslexic people with the...|date=12 November 1989|publisher=|access-date=27 July 2017|via=LA Times}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CmDYFu2cb-MC&pg=PA193 |title=De-Comprehensive Politics: Getting America Back to the Basics|first=Eric|last=Kussman|date=12 August 2011|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=9781463434809|accessdate=27 July 2017|via=Google Books}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qoWUxIf0OpAC&pg=PA150 |title=Children With Dyslexia: A Handbook for Parents & Teachers|first=Dushyant|last=Kushwah|date=1 July 2009|publisher=Readworthy|isbn=9789350180204|accessdate=27 July 2017|via=Google Books}} Theo's disability is revealed in episode "Theo's Gift".{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/cosbyhislifetime0000whit_p0e6 |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/cosbyhislifetime0000whit_p0e6/page/367 367] |title=Cosby: His Life and Times|first=Mark|last=Whitaker|date=16 September 2014|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=9781451697971 |accessdate=28 July 2017|via=Internet Archive}}

Theo is the only son of Cliff and Clair Huxtable, and the middle one of their five children.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8nCDLzUYjccC&q=theo+huxtable+dyslexia&pg=PA16|title=Raising Doctors on a Patient's Salary|first=Sr Dr Jesse R.|last=McGuire|date=27 July 2017|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=9781449076993|accessdate=27 July 2017|via=Google Books}} At the beginning of the series, he is a freshman in high school who consistently gets poor grades, to his parents' consternation. Following graduation, he enrolls at New York University to study psychology at the start of the fifth season. After struggling with his coursework through much of his freshman year, he is diagnosed with dyslexia and adopts new study habits that lead to a marked improvement in his grades. Near the end of his junior year, Theo is assigned to work as a student teacher at a local community center and takes particular interest in helping a boy with a learning disability similar to his own. During the eighth and final season, he is offered a job in San Francisco but turns it down, deciding to continue working at the community center and to enter graduate school. The series finale focuses on Theo's college graduation, with Cliff reminiscing on the trouble his son had in high school.

Theo Huxtable has had a mostly positive reception from viewers.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GJA7CgAAQBAJ&q=Theo+Huxtable&pg=PT116|title=Men, Masculinity and the Media|first=Steve|last=Craig|date=26 February 1992|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=9781506320472|accessdate=27 July 2017|via=Google Books}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=17SRAgAAQBAJ&q=Theo+Huxtable&pg=PA343|title=Television and the American Family|first=J. Alison|last=Bryant|date=27 July 2017|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781135663902|accessdate=27 July 2017|via=Google Books}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vOVpCwAAQBAJ&q=Theo+Huxtable&pg=PT58|title=Our Stories of Overcoming "Homosexual Behavior"|first=Dr Levi M.|last=Matthews|date=13 January 2016|publisher=WestBow Press|isbn=9781512725766|accessdate=27 July 2017|via=Google Books}} The character also won praise about discussing dyslexia.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/cosbyhislifetime0000whit_p0e6|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/cosbyhislifetime0000whit_p0e6/page/367 367]|quote=theo huxtable dyslexia.|title=Cosby: His Life and Times|first=Mark|last=Whitaker|date=16 September 2014|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=9781451697971 |accessdate=27 July 2017|via=Internet Archive}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oe4fDAAAQBAJ&q=theo+huxtable+dyslexia&pg=PT81|title=TV Finales FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the Endings of Your Favorite TV Shows|first1=Stephen|last1=Tropiano|first2=Holly Van|last2=Buren|date=1 November 2015|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|isbn=9781495046063|accessdate=27 July 2017|via=Google Books}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-PR2UjkGc8IC&q=theo+huxtable+dyslexia&pg=PA54|title=Soul Babies: Black Popular Culture and the Post-Soul Aesthetic|first=Mark Anthony|last=Neal|date=1 February 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781135290559|accessdate=27 July 2017|via=Google Books}} Warner was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 1986, making him the youngest nominee in history in that category.

{{Reflist}}

{{The Cosby Show}}

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Category:Television characters introduced in 1984

Category:African-American characters in television

Category:The Cosby Show characters

Category:Fictional characters from Brooklyn

Category:Child characters in television

Category:Fictional characters with dyslexia

Category:Fictional college students

Category:Teenage characters in television

Category:American male characters in sitcoms

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