Five Mysteries of the Cosby Show

Whitney Houston auditioned in the early eighties and after getting the job she turned it down to pursue her music career.

Sandrich, who directed the first three seasons of the hugely successful sitcom, recalls a young Houston reluctant to sign her contract because she thought it would jeopardize her not yet developed music career.

'So we gather in this room and there are kids from New York and Los Angeles and they are all signing their contracts, and this girl who we brought from New York said "I can't sign this contract."

'And I said "Why?" She said, "Well, I want to be a singer...I can't be in every show... I have to be in every tour."

Sandrich says that he then asked Houston if she had a recording contract or whether she had ever toured to which she replied "no" to both.

He suggested that if she appeared on the show that it might help her singing career, but Houston wasn't convinced.

'I said "Well who told you can sing?" and she said "My mother, my aunt."

Sandrich believes that the then teenager knew right there and then that she was going to be a huge singing star.

'Whitney Houston, she knew,' he said.

During the 1986-1987 season of The Cosby Show, Theo’s close friend and co-conspirator was Walter “Cockroach” Bradley. Carl Anthony Payne played the role in 12 episodes of the series, and might have featured in more had he not had a falling-out with Bill Cosby. Payne had decided to grow his hair out, despite Dr. Cosby’s preference for a clean-cut style among the male actors on his show. When Payne failed to comply, the Cockroach character was summarily squashed."

Wow Dr. Cosby did not play that! Cockroach left to do Martin.