"Pilot" (also known as "Theo's Economic Lesson") is the pilot and the first episode of the first season of the American sitcom The Cosby Show. "Pilot" originally aired in the United States on NBC on Thursday, September 20, 1984, at 8:00 PM ET. This episode debuted the week before the official start of the 1984–85 United States network television season. They only have 4 children in this episode. Denise, Theo, Vanessa & Rudy. Sondra, the first born, is introduced later in that season, Episode 4; she however, is not in the featured/mentioned in the intro. The confrontation with Theo in this episode is seen again in a flashback in the series finale "And So We Commence". The episode was directed by Jay Sandrich and written by Ed. Weinberger and Michael J. Leeson. The episode was a critical and commercial success, achieving both high ratings and positive critical feedback. Plot Clair Huxtable, an attorney, and her children are having dinner at home. Clair is upset with Theo due to the poor grades on his recent report cards. His younger sister Vanessa was trying to get Theo in trouble for throwing food at her as well. Dr. Cliff Huxtable comes home from a long day at his job as a doctor of obstetrics and gynaecology just after the meal. Cliff confronts Theo about his poor grades and asks how he plans to get into college with such grades. When Theo replies that he's not planning to go to college, Cliff replies "Damn right." Theo explains that he just plans to get a job after high school graduation as a regular person. Cliff uses play money from a Monopoly game to show just how far a "regular person"'s income would actually go in the adult world (especially in an expensive to live area like New York City; though Theo tries to get around this by living in New Jersey). Cliff gives him an amount of money representing a generous monthly salary for a "regular person". He then takes money out of Theo's hand in amounts representing various costs such as taxes, housing, food, clothes, transportation and finally a girlfriend, until there is nothing left. Cliff also meets Denise's earring-wearing beau, who recently was in a Turkish prison. When Cliff tells his daughter what time he expects her to arrive home and what attire she should wear, she scoffs at the notion that it's