Season 2 - Episode Guide

The school season starts again and each one of the children faces it with different emotions. Cliff and Clair, however, are enthusiastic at getting the house back to themselves during the daytime.

Kitchen wizard Cliff is like a child with a new toy when he buys a state-of-the-art juicer.

It's Russell and Anna Huxtable's 49th anniversary, and the Huxtables observe the occasion with a classic impression of Ray Charles' "Night Time is the Right Time."

Sondra and Elvin break up, again, and Cliff and Clair tell Sondra to consider calling a boy that her friends say would be a good boyfriend to her. When the boy comes to the house, Cliff interviews him and falls in love with the guy.

Denise's friend Susanne comes over to write a report on what a large family deals with, but Theo uses the occasion to try and impress her but ends up making a fool of himself.

Vanessa has a boy/girl Halloween party at home. Cliff takes Rudy and her friends trick or treating.

Denise is determined to spend her savings on the first car she sees, and balks when her father forbids her to buy an expensive lemon. But the bargain-conscious Cliff becomes a wheeler-dealer when the family handyman, Mr. Lucas, offers to sell Denise his aunt's old car. Also, Cliff informs a middle-aged couple that they are going to have a baby, which comes as a shock to them, as they already have a five-year-old grandson! David Langston Smyrl as Mr. Lucas.

Clair goes from overprotective mom to football fanatic when Rudy Sweet Feet Huxtable becomes the star of her pee-wee football team. Cliff is delighted that his daughter will follow in his footsteps on the football field, and cons a wary Clair into going to see her play. Clair is swept off her feet by Rudy's play.

Clair's sister becomes engaged; Cliff struggles to beat his father-in-law (Joe Williams) at chess.

Denise's friend, Michelle, thinks she has a medical problem and wants to keep it from her parents, so she asks Cliff for advice. This leads Cliff and Clair to question whether their children would come to them with their problems or seek outside help. They hold a family forum to make sure their children know the lines of communication are always open. But the children pose some hypothetical questions which give their parents pause.

Clair buys a pair of beautiful new shoes and challenges Cliff to a smooth contest – to decide who has the most style. Unfortunately, when Clair breaks her toe, she cannot fit her bandaged foot into her stylish new shoes. What is more, she refuses any help from Cliff – determined to prove she can function as a lawyer, wife and mother of five, in spite of her broken toe.

Theo's math teacher, Mrs. Westlake, comes to the Huxtable house after Theo takes a math test, so naturally, he thinks he "blew it."

Vanessa, a straight A student, finds that her grades suffer when she studies with Robert, a classmate that she has a crush on. With a big school dance coming up, she is afraid to show her parents a bad test grade fearing they will keep her home. The night of the dance, Vanessa wears Denise's new sweater without her sister's permission, causing an all-out brawl between the two.

While leafing through a catalog, Clair sees that a painting by her great uncle is for sale at an auction. She remembers her childhood when the painting hung in her grandmother's house, but was later sold to pay medical bills. Although the estimated price for the painting is very high, Clair is determined to bring it back into the family.

Theo and his friend Walter decide to listen to a recording of "Macbeth" instead of reading the actual play. Cliff picks a snowball fight with some neighborhood children.

Peter has a toothache but is afraid to go to the dentist so Rudy goes with him. Meanwhile, Cliff tries to hide the newspaper from Clair because she won't let him sleep when she reads it in bed.

After an example of not so great trombone playing at a Jazz club gig, Russell needs to get it together quick because the next time is his career finale.

While driving in her car with Theo, Denise has a fender bender with Motown legend Stevie Wonder's chauffeured limousine.

Cliff finds it almost impossible to have a quiet day off at home with the kids and their friends in almost every room of the house.

Cliff's associate Dr. Morgan stops by to help plan a fundraiser but, behind his smile, he is harboring the pain of a serious family issue.

A cocky Theo is sure that in a few years he will easily land a job as a fashion model and have a great car, apartment and plenty of spending money. So the Huxtables stage an elaborate scheme to prove to him that living on your own is not what it is cracked up to be. Theo's lesson in reality starts when the Huxtable home is converted into the Real World Apartments with Cliff as the strictly business landlord, Harley Weewax; Clair as the restaurant owner, Millie Farquar; Denise as the shrewd head of a modeling agency; Vanessa as her gum-cracking receptionist, and Rudy as the hard-nosed bank loan officer, Mrs. Griswald.

Mrs. Westlake's plan to give a tough math test to Theo's class is interrupted when the pregnant teacher goes into labor unexpectedly and seeks the services of Dr. Huxtable to deliver the baby. Also, Cliff tries in vain to teach Rudy to ride a bicycle while Vanessa seeks advice from Denise on every teenager's nightmare: pimples.

Cliff and his father are among the Huxtables who cannot keep their opinions to themselves when Denise is faced with the difficult decision of which college to attend. Although Denise cannot decide if she wants to go away to school, Cliff and Russell try to persuade her to attend their alma mater in North Carolina. Theo is worried about losing out on Denise's car if she goes away, and Vanessa already has plans for her sister's room.

Cliff's pinochle partner becomes ill and cannot play in their monthly match against Russell and his partner, Homer (Bill Gunn). So Cliff teams up with his former English teacher, Professor Bennington Foster (Roscoe Lee Browne), who proves to be a formidable player. Russell tries to stretch the rules to beat his son, unaware that Professor Foster has a few tricks of his own. Meanwhile, love is in the air when Theo sends away for a $19.95 'diamondoid' ring for his new girlfriend, Tanya.

Cliff 'Combustible' Huxtable is thrilled when his former college track rival, Colonel Sanford B. 'Tailwind' Turner, invites him to run the prestigious anchor leg of a charity relay race in the Penn Relays track meet. He is even more excited to discover that his formerly fleet-footed opponent, Charlie Stevenson, is now fat. But Cliff does not realize he is in for the surprise of a lifetime.