Decades after its debut, &ldquo;The Cosby Show&rdquo; remains unparalleled. There has yet to be another show with its wit, diversity and family values. </p><p>During its eight-year run, it was one of the most-watched shows on television, breaking stereotypes as it introduced America to the black middle class and inspired a generation to live the Huxtable way. This week marks the 25th anniversary of its premiere.</p><p>Ironically, the show is still revolutionary. People aren&rsquo;t just celebrating a classic. They are clinging to it. There&rsquo;s a reason the feeling runs deeper with &ldquo;Cosby&rdquo; than for reruns of &ldquo;The Jeffersons&rdquo; or &ldquo;Good Times.&rdquo;</p><p>People hang on to the Huxtables because the show pushed viewers to think beyond the welfare, crack-pushing images of African-Americans that ran the &rsquo;80s. It wasn&rsquo;t just a smart comedy, it exploded with culture &mdash; art, music, food, dance. It wasn&rsquo;t just a show for black people. It was a multicultural show with universal appeal that featured a black family. A mixed girl like me sat in front of the television on Thursdays, seeing other mixed people on &ldquo;The Cosby Show.&rdquo; It meant a lot. </p><p>Today, there are fewer network shows that capture minority lifestyles than there were 20 years ago. This is why, during the presidential campaign, the Obamas were often compared to the Huxtables &mdash; that show was America&rsquo;s only real mass portrait of an educated black family.</p><p>Our country is an explosion of diversity. People should be able to tune in to television and see some resemblance. </p><p>Sure, there are multicultural casts, and that&rsquo;s golden. But prime time shouldn&rsquo;t shy away from shows that feature black, Hispanic and Asian families. And they should be depicted with some normalcy instead of typecast characters. It is not rare to see people living like Cliff and Clair. Our televisions just don&rsquo;t show it. How many people of color did you see on the Emmys last Sunday?</p><p>And if cable&rsquo;s reality TV slots are supposed to imitate the lives of the people I know, they are failing. Because Bravo&rsquo;s &ldquo;Real Housewives of Atlanta&rdquo; doesn&rsquo;t resemble women I know. Nor does BET&rsquo;s &ldquo;Tiny & Toya.&rdquo; And the diverse casts of VH1&rsquo;s reality shows fall short of representing any decent image of anyone. Sure, Tyler Perry&rsquo;s TBS shows are all right, they try to have some heart, but what&rsquo;s up with network TV? &ldquo;Brothers&rdquo; premiered Friday night on Fox, but what&rsquo;s normal about an NFL player?</p><p>Technology may be moving forward, but television is going backward. </p><p>So here we are, not only celebrating the 25th anniversary of &ldquo;The Cosby Show&rdquo; but missing it for all that it was. Wondering when we will get another glimpse of something as groundbreaking. </p><p> Sunday brings a small step.</p><p>A new show joins Fox: &ldquo;The Cleveland Show,&rdquo; an animated comedy about an African-American family. (See the story on <strong>C3</strong>.) That in itself is a big deal. A spin-off of &ldquo;Family Guy,&rdquo; it has been described as more family-oriented than the Griffins. For now, it has my support.</p><p>Still, I&rsquo;ll be watching and wondering why one of the networks&rsquo; only black shows is a cartoon.