Producer hopes 'Cosby Show' can be enjoyed again

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – An executive producer of The Cosby Show, a huge TV hit in the 1980s and early 1990s, hopes viewers can enjoy the show again in the future.

Reruns of the iconic sitcom, which portrayed a loving,middle-class African-American family, have been pulled in recent months by cable networks, including TV Land, in the wake of dozens of sexual-abuse allegations against Cosby, who has been accused by a growing number of women of drugging and sexually assaulting them.

Tom Werner, a Cosby Show executive producer attending the Television Critics Association summer press tour Friday to discuss the second season of Starz' Survivor's Remorse (Aug. 22), would not talk about Cosby or the allegations against him. However, he alluded to the scandal's effect on appreciation of the once-celebrated family comedy.

"I think the show was a groundbreaking show. Obviously, it was enjoyed every week by tens of millions of people," Werner said. "I'm hoping as time passes that people still will be able to enjoy the show, because it's more than just about Bill Cosby. It was about a family."