Friday and not a "school night." Cliff responds by asking her if she went to school that day and states it was a "school night." Theo responds that Cliff should accept his son's weaknesses and love him unconditionally because they are father-and-son (a typical sentimental idiom in family sitcoms of that time, and one which generated the typical applause from the studio audience). Cliff, however—to the audience's surprise and amused approval—immediately and angrily calls this sentiment "the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life!” He completely rejects the notion, insisting that loving his son is all the more reason he expects him to do his best and try his hardest in school, and in life in general. He then says the often quoted line, "I brought you in this world, and I'll take you out." At the end of the day, Clair and Cliff settle into bed. As he becomes amorous, she reminds him that was how they had "those troublesome kids". This puts Cliff off for a few seconds. Vanessa and Rudy then knock on the bedroom door because Rudy was scared of "the Wolf Man" in their closet. Clair invites the kids to sleep in the bed with her and Cliff. Cast Bill Cosby as Dr. Clifford "Cliff" Huxtable, OB-GYN (the only episode for which he was Clifford rather than Heathcliff) Phylicia Ayers-Allen as Clair Olivia Huxtable, Esq. Malcolm-Jamal Warner as Theodore Aloysius "Theo" Huxtable Keshia Knight Pulliam as Rudith Lillian "Rudy" Huxtable Tempestt Bledsoe as Vanessa Huxtable Lisa Bonet as Denise Huxtable Production Taping of the pilot took place in May 1984, prior to being green-lighted as a full series for the NBC fall schedule. Although this episode was written by Weinberger and Leeson, the headwriter for the series was Earl Pomerantz. The episode, which was filmed in two live performances, was based on Cosby's real life conversation with his son Ennis about "regular people", but included elements of Cosby's stand-up comedy routine. Rather than producing the show in Hollywood, the show was produced in New York City. During the 1983–84 United States television season, no sitcoms had finished in the top 10 in the rankings and only one sitcom (AfterMASH) was renewed. As the networks battled to preempt each other's thunder for the 1984–85 United States television season, the Cosby Show became one of seven NBC shows (along with Punky Brewster, Miami Vice, Hunter, Highway