Goodbye Mr. Fish

"Goodbye Mr. Fish" is the 2nd episode of "The Cosby Show". It was first broadcast on NBC on September 27, 1984. It was written by Earl Pomerantz. Jay Sandrich is the director of the episode. In the episode, Rudy Huxtable's pet goldfish dies. Her parents try to tell her why it is dead.
Story.
The father Cliff tries to nap after working for a long time. Vanessa (his third daughter) tells him that Rudy's (the youngest daughter) goldfish has died, and Rudy does not know. Cliff and Vanessa try to help Rudy understand why her goldfish died. Rudy learns and starts feeling depressed. Later in the day, Cliff's older children Denise and Theo make jokes about the dead goldfish. Theo says that they should have a funeral for it. Cliff makes everyone in the family wear black clothing for the fish's funeral in their bathroom. Rudy is not interested in the funeral and goes away to watch television. 
Production.
This was the first episode made for "The Cosby Show". It was finished being made on August 1, 1984. The episode before it ("Pilot") was made three months earlier. The show was recorded on an NBC studio in Brooklyn. It had six sets: a living room, a master bedroom, a kitchen, a child's bedroom, a hallway, and a bathroom.
Reception.
The episode got a Nielsen rating of 22.5. This means that about 19.1 million people watched the episode when it was first broadcast. "TV Guide" put the episode as number 15 in their list of 100 Greatest Episodes of All-Time. Earl Pomerantz got a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for writing the episode.
David Hinckley from the "Daily News" said that Rudy is "impossibly cute" in the episode. Marcy Carsey uses this episode to show how "The Cosby Show" makes stories of how people act to small events. Lisa Schwarzbaum from "The Entertainmeny Weekly" said that many people think that it is the most memorable episode of "The Cosby Show". Allison Samuels from "Newsweek" remembers Bill Cosby (who was the role of Cliff Huxtable) for the fish's funeral. William Raspberry from "The Washington Post" and Graham Jefferson from "USA Today" talked about the episode when they talked about good moments of "The Cosby Show". Cosby talked about it in "Ebony" when making a list of good episodes. The season 4 episode "Looking Back" makes a flashback to this episode.