Bill Cosby is returning to NBC with a new sitcom , a network representative told CNN on Wednesday night . The comedian will play the patriarch of a multigenerational family . The show brings the 76-year-old comedian back to the same network where his groundbreaking 1980s sitcom `` The Cosby Show '' had an eight-year run . `` The Cosby Show '' portrayed an upper-middle-class African-American family , and it 's credited with helping revive NBC 's fortunes and blazing a path for other shows featuring African-Americans . Cosby played Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable , the patriarch of that TV family . Phylicia Rashad played his wife , Clair . She would play his wife for a second time on the 1990s CBS sitcom , simply called `` Cosby . '' Cosby 's career is in its fifth decade . He started out performing stand-up comedy in small clubs in Greenwich Village in New York . He eventually landed a pivotal co-starring role in the 1960s television series `` I Spy , '' where he was the first-ever African-American lead in a weekly dramatic series . He won three best actor Emmy Awards for the role of undercover CIA Agent Alexander Scott . Cosby received Kennedy Center Honors in 1998 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002 . He most recently received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor , which is awarded to performers who use comedy to influence American society . The best Cosby sweater of all ?
Bill Cosby starred in the ground-breaking 1980s sitcom `` The Cosby Show '' He broke the color barrier with a starring role in the 1960s TV series `` I Spy '' Cosby won three best actor Emmy Awards for the role . He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002 .