First Day of School

First Day of School is the season opening episode of Season 2 of The Cosby Show, also the 25th overall in the series. The episode was directed by Jay Sandrich and written by Elliot Shoenman and John Markus. The episodes originally aired in the United States on NBC on September 26, 1985.

Synopsis
Cliff and Clair are overjoyed with the arrival of the new school year, as their children are finally out of the house. The school season starts again and each one of the children faces it with different emotions. Cliff and Clair, in contrast, are enthusiastic at getting the house back to themselves during the daytime.

Plot summary
Cliff and Clair are seriously happy that the school year is starting because they've had enough of their kids all summer. Cliff gets the difficult task of waking up Theo and Denise, and telling Rudy to change into something different, while Vanessa can't make a simple clothing choice. Things don't get much better when the kids get home from school because they have their own issues. They also annoy their parents by yelling at each other through the house.

Scene quotes
[the phone rings] [Answers]
 * Cliff: Oh, not another Vanessa caller.
 * Cliff: Vanessa's Residence? No, she cannot come to the phone right now. Because it is now 10:01, and she cannot take any calls past 10 o'clock. No, I cannot take a message. I am her father. I am a doctor. I graduated from medical school, alright? Thank you for calling, this is a live voice.


 * Clair: [discussing who should wake the children up on this first day of school] Cliff it's you're turn. I got them up on the last day of school
 * Cliff: The last day of school? All you did was go out into the hallway and yell "LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!" and children next door were jumping out of bed.

Theodore 'Theo' Huxtable: Yeah, dad?
 * Cliff: [noticing the short sleeve sweatshirt that Theo's wearing] Son?
 * Cliff: Is that the shirt that I bought for you?
 * Theo: Yep.
 * Cliff: Well, didn't it have sleeves on it when we bought it?
 * Theo: Oh yeah, they're upstairs.
 * Cliff: Oh, the sleeves didn't want to come down this morning?
 * Theo: No, you see dad, I cut 'em off. This is how everybody's wearing it this year.
 * Cliff: Son, when we went to the store, you picked up that shirt and said "Dad. I gotta have this shirt for the first day of school." And I looked at the price of it, and I said "This is very expensive for a sweatshirt". Then I looked in those brown eyes of yours and I said "Well, my son wants it, and I'll buy it for him." Now if fashion dictates that you cut those sleeves off, make some alterations, that's fine with me. But somehow, some way, in this lifetime, you're going to wear those sleeves.

[nothing happens]
 * 'Cliff: [trying to trick the kids into waking up] Last day of school!

'Note: Sabrina Le Beauf becomes a regular member of the series main csst in Season 2, but does not appear in this episode.