Former Cosby Show star Tempestt Bledsoe gave a sneak peek at her upcoming show with Anthony Anderson that will debut on NBC in the fall, saying it will be Cosby-esque in its depiction of a positive black family.
Called Guys With Kids and produced by Jimmy Fallon, the show will feature Anderson and Bledsoe and one of three families where the focus is on the challenge of the guys raising their kids. Anderson is a stay-at-home dad who cares for his four kids—including twin under age 2—while Bledsoe is his working wife.
In an interview with the Associated Press after their appearance at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans, Bledsoe and Anderson said they were excited to be on a show that features a “positive black family on network television.”
“We just don’t have that right now, not on network television,” said Anderson, who has two children of his own. “Like the Cosby Show, this will be an opportunity to see the love, support, humor and beauty of a black family on TV.”
Bledsoe clearly knows of what she speaks, since she became a star playing middle child Vanessa on The Cosby Show.
“That show was my childhood,” said Bledsoe. “It did so many things. It greatly influenced the kinds of projects I did. It helped form my core values, like my work ethic.”
Other stars on Guys with Kidsinclude Jamie Lynn-Sigler of The Sopranos and actors Zach Cregger and Jesse Bradford. One of the characters is a single dad, another is a working father and Anderson’s character is a stay-at-home dad raising four young sons.
Bledsoe laughed describing the hilarity of Anderson trying to wrangle the four children, including the twins under the age of two.
“There’s nothing funnier,” Bledsoe said. “This role was tailor-made for Anthony.”
