I wonder if the Huxtables are not overtly 'black' due to the storm that would rage over perpetuating cultural stereotypes. (The same can be said of many racial and minority characters throughout the mass media.) The same can be said for not portraying any of the issues plaguing black families. An upper middle class family in New York of the type represented by the characters on the Cosby Show faces very different issues than the same family would in Birmingham, Alabama. Both of these hypothetical families are different from the issues that a poor black family in Birmingham or East LA would face. There is not a homogenous black culture or experience in America.