Goodbye Mr. Fish

"Goodbye Mr. Fish or sometimes "Good-bye Mr. Fish", "Goodbye, Mr. Fish" or just "Mr. Fish" is the second episode of Season 1 of The Cosby Show. The episode was directed by Jay Sandrich and written by Earl Pomerantz.  "Goodbye Mr. Fish" originally aired in the United States on NBC on Thursday September 27, 1984, at 8:00 PM Eastern time.

The episode focuses on the death of Rudy's pet goldfish, which was difficult to explain to her and difficult for her to deal with. The episode was a critical and commercial success, achieving both high ratings and positive critical feedback. Its viewer ratings placed it third for the opening week of the 1984–85 United States network television season and it earned Primetime Emmy Award and Writers Guild Award nominations for its writing.

Several critics either describe this as the most memorable episode of the series or mention it first when describing the series' memorable episodes. Other critics as well as Bill Cosby include it on short lists of episode highlights. Highlights of this episode are included in the season 4 two-part "Looking Back" episode.

Plot
Cliff (Bill Cosby) comes home from a long day at work and tries to take a nap. Vanessa (Tempestt Bledsoe) disturbs him to say that Rudy's (Keshia Knight Pulliam) goldfish, Lamont, has died, but she does not realize it yet. They have a hard time explaining to Rudy what has happened. Once they do, Rudy becomes depressed. Later that day, the older kids start making fun of Lamont's death, Theo saying they should hold a memorial service for the fish around the family toilet. When Cliff feels that the rest of the family is insensitive to Rudy's loss, he requires the entire family to participate in a memorial service for Lamont in the bathroom in proper funeral attire. Rudy loses interest in the funeral and leaves to watch television, ending the ceremony abruptly. She later returns to the bathroom - not because she wants to say goodbye to Lamont as Cliff thinks, but because she needs to use the toilet.

Cast

 * Bill Cosby as Cliff Huxtable
 * Phylicia Ayers-Allen as Clair Huxtable
 * Malcolm-Jamal Warner as Theo Huxtable
 * Keshia Knight Pulliam as Rudy Huxtable
 * Tempestt Bledsoe as Vanessa Huxtable
 * Lisa Bonet as Denise Huxtable