The Cosby Show

With Denise returning to college for her sophomore year and Theo moving into on-campus accommodations, Cliff and Clair's goal of zero children living at home by the year 2000 begins to look attainable. But they receive a severe setback when Denise decides to drop out of Hillman and Theo forgets to mail in his check to reserve a dormitory room at NYU.

Cliff follows up his "lost weekend" food binge with a day of emergency fasting for his annual blood test and physical. Despite his yeoman performance on the treadmill, the results indicate that his overindulgence in hoagies, chocolate soda and strawberry cheesecake must cease.

Theo gets a "D" on his first freshman English composition and worries that he is not "college material." When he rewrites it, using simple words to communicate his feelings rather than fancy ones to impress his professor, things improve dramatically. Rudy's friend Carolyn sleeps over, but their late-night fighting disrupts Cliff's sleep - and jeopardizes his sanity.

The meal: burnt veal a la shoe leather, charred yet raw potatoes and brown tap water. The ambiance: rickety furniture, a tuba serenade from above, an exploding microwave oven and a trick window. With their first grandchild about to be born into this environment, Cliff and Clair find dinner at Elvin and Sondra's a most harrowing experience.

Vanessa falls victim to a rumor circulating around school that her boyfriend Roy has broken off their romance and Rudy offers Vanessa some sisterly advice. As her anxiety builds and her confidence deteriorates, Vanessa becomes increasingly clumsy, much to the chagrin of everyone in her path. Denise's prospective employer persuades Cliff and Clair to allow Denise to accompany her to Africa.

Bedlam erupts in the Huxtable kitchen when Sondra goes into labor. In his confusion, Elvin drives off to the hospital without her and Sondra is forced to drive the car. Everyone gathers in the hospital waiting room to hear the surprise news - Sondra has delivered twins! Meanwhile at the Huxtable residence, Theo has second thoughts about his girlfriend, Justine.

Bedlam erupts in the Huxtable kitchen when Sondra goes into labor. In his confusion, Elvin drives off to the hospital without her and Sondra is forced to drive the car. Everyone gathers in the hospital waiting room to hear the surprise news - Sondra has delivered twins! Meanwhile at the Huxtable residence, Theo has second thoughts about his girlfriend, Justine.

Theo's friend Howard breaks up with the beautiful Julia. Theo sees this as an opportunity to date her himself, even though he is already dating Justine. To make sure Julia likes him, he asks his friend Denny to put in a good word for him. Although Julia falls for Denny, Theo is not discouraged and decides to try his luck anyway.

When Vanessa and her two friends make a demo video of "The Loco-Motion" at a local department store, visions of MTV stardom dance in their heads. Cliff and Clair tactfully suggest some singing lessons might be in order, so the girls seek out a teacher. When they find that learning to sing is a time-consuming step, they decide to get hip, new outfits instead.

Clair hopes an exercise instructor, known as "The Bonecrusher," will help her fit into her new evening gown. She throws herself into the workouts but her efforts are undermined by a mischievous Cliff who will pull every underhanded trick in his book to test her willpower, including the ultimate temptation: guacamole and corn chips.

Cliff bends his iron rule against pets in the house when he lets Rudy babysit her friend's hamster. When the little fellow develops a bad cold, Cliff and Rudy take him to the veterinary hospital's emergency room. There they witness a wee hours parade of strange animals with even stranger maladies.

Vanessa's new boyfriend, Jeremy, wants to see more of her, so she sneaks out to meet him, lying to Cliff and Clair in the process. When they find out, Vanessa's grounded for a month and Jeremy is invited into the kitchen for a man-to-man talk with Cliff.

Babymania grips the Huxtable household with Elvin videotaping every waking moment of his children's lives. When Russell shows up with eight tickets to a Michael Jackson concert, Sondra convinces the paranoid papa that it is okay to leave the twins with "strangers" like Clair and Cliff for a few hours. Clair gets called away suddenly on a case, leaving Cliff to act as sole baby-sitter

Clair's television career is off to a rousing start when she is invited to be a guest panelist on a Sunday morning current events talk show. While she is a hit with the producers, she cannot stand the insufferable chauvinists on the panel with her. Meanwhile, poor Cliff suffers withdrawal pains after Clair purchases a new sofa and his favorite old sofa and chair are banished from the house

Cliff and Clair take a well-earned break from kids and chores and head for the Poconos, leaving Rudy at Grandma's and dropping Vanessa at a friend's house, leaving Theo home alone for the weekend. Theo and his friends decide to throw a party but somehow the "intimate gathering" of close friends turns into an open house for hundreds.

Cliff tracks down the only living relative of an unmarried patient, who is about to deliver her first child. Her grandfather, a 67-year-old former boxer named Ray Palomino is reluctant to get involved because he is afraid that his secret of being illiterate will be discovered.

Time marches on, but some things never change. Cliff rents his favorite children's movies for Rudy's party but Rudy prefers more contemporary titles. Sick of following rules, Rudy asks for permission to go to bed when she feels like it, instead of at 9:30. Crafty Cliff agrees, knowing full well that Rudy's enthusiasm for staying awake all night will wane in a week.

Theo wants the freedom to date other women until his girlfriend, Justine, shows up at the college hangout with another guy. He turns to voodoo expert Dr. Lotus for help removing Scott from the picture. When he can't afford the fee, Theo asks Dad for the money, but Dad has a much better idea, an old Huxtable family concoction that is guaranteed to get Justine back

When Cliff introduces Elvin and Theo to his former basketball coach, the boys ask the coach why Cliff is so sour on basketball. Clair pulls out a videotape of his last game, which shows Cliff at his winded, flat-footed worst on the court and at his most underhanded and devious between whistles.

Elvin comes home from med school to find an exhausted Sondra complaining about her life and his insensitivity. They bundle up the babies and head for the Huxtables for dinner and an evening of adult conversation. When they arrive, baby talk, Elvin's medical school tribulations, leaving a morose Sondra to wonder when it will be "her turn" again.

When Rudy interferes with Theo and Justine's chocolate mousse-making in the kitchen, Theo complains to Cliff that they are constantly being interrupted and are never alone. Cliff suggests that Theo take Justine to a subtitled foreign film. 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.

The kids launch Clair's 46th birthday with a candle in her morning grapefruit and a litany of references to how good she "still" looks.

Cliff's enjoyment of the warm spring air and the music of birds chirping is interrupted by the sounds of Vanessa and Rudy's non-stop bickering. The slamming of bedroom doors upstairs causes a partial ceiling collapse on top of Cliff's head. Disgusted with the behavior of his two youngest children, Cliff banishes Vanessa and Rudy from their cozy bedrooms and relocates them to the basement.

Denny finds an expensive watch on the street and Theo and the gang suggest he give it to Jade, his new high-class girlfriend, to impress her. It works like a charm until the police show up and reveal that the watch was stolen days earlier. When Jade refuses to give up the symbol of Denny's love, the police haul her into the station for questioning.

When Sondra gets strep throat, Clair and Elvin's mother remove the babies from the apartment, under the pretense of protecting them from Sondra's germs. Realistically, the babies are protected because both Sondra and Elvin are wearing surgical masks, but Clair and Francine cannot resist an opportunity to have their grandchildren all to themselves.