In W. Kamau Bell's We Need to Talk About Cosby, rarely does a title give such clear instruction and still earn its declarative urging

Indiewire

"The four-part Showtime documentary isn’t called 'I Want to Talk About Cosby,' since director, executive producer, and host W. Kamau Bell makes it clear he doesn’t like dwelling on Bill Cosby," says Ben Travers of Bell's four-part Showtime docuseries. "Few do. Even if the project had been named 'Let’s Talk About Cosby,' it would bypass the clear hesitancy people have, especially in 2022, to discuss a once-beloved comedian, actor, and philanthropist who’s been accused by more than 60 women of rape, sexual assault, and further misconduct. The experts brought in to unpack the life and legacy of 'America’s dad' are often flummoxed, uncomfortable, and upset when asked for opinions about the now-freed man. But they, like the documentary, understand why we still need to talk about Bill Cosby. As Bell states in his opening narration, plenty of people make passing comments on the matter — whether it’s celebrities on talk shows or posts on social media — without getting to the root of what his actions exemplify in American culture. Over four hours, We Need to Talk About Cosby details the indisputable contributions he made to the world without ever drifting too far from the toxic behavior inflicted on the many, many individuals he hurt. It’s an exercise in extremes, handled gracefully. One section may focus on his significance, the next on his scandal, but Bell balances the seemingly disparate parts and even blends them with purpose. Foremost, he maintains a clear focus on the future. This discussion is pressing not because we have to decide, once and for all, how to define Bill Cosby; it’s necessary because it may be the only way to avoid history repeating itself."

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• We Need to Talk About Cosby is, for the most part, exactly the right documentary for the moment and W. Kamau Bell is clearly the right filmmaker to have crafted it: "We Need to Talk About Cosby isn’t the Bill Cosby documentary that Amy Berg (Deliver Us From Evil) would have made, and it isn’t the Bill Cosby documentary that Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering (Allen v. Farrow) would have made, and it isn’t the Bill Cosby documentary that Dan Reed (Leaving Neverland) would have made, and we can surely all take a second to be truly saddened that 'celebrity sexual abuse scandal' has needed to become a genre of documentary," says Daniel Fienberg. "W. Kamau Bell isn’t exactly an investigative journalist and he isn’t exactly a dirt-digging muckraker, and the case of Bill Cosby doesn’t really require such a specialist. Cosby has been accused of sexual assault by more than 60 women, he was convicted in one of the cases and the fact that he is a free man today is a product of a legal technicality and not, in any way, an exoneration. If you require 'proof' of Bill Cosby’s crimes, We Need to Talk About Cosby won’t be a documentary for you, though it features extended and reasonably graphic accounts of Cosby violations from several of his accusers. Those other imaginary Bill Cosby documentaries would have served their purpose, but We Need to Talk About Cosby is, for the most part, exactly the right documentary for the moment and Bell is clearly the right filmmaker to have crafted it. It’s a complicated and pragmatic project, and here’s the important caveat or warning: For some people, the conversation about Bill Cosby isn’t a difficult one at all. He’s been accused of sexual assault by 60+ women and that’s the conversation right there. That’s the legacy. Full stop. This is not that documentary either."
• We Need to Talk About Cosby eviscerates "America's Dad": "The series is a comprehensive, harrowing, and exhaustive look at Cosby’s rise in the entertainment industry, his strategic self-branding throughout the decades of his career, and the unimpeachable impact he had in changing Black culture and how Black Americans are viewed in this country," says Kevin Fallon. "It also examines how he so strongly built his reputation as 'America’s dad' and a global powerhouse that, even when accusations and rumors against him became well-known, he was still booked, celebrated, and protected. The series also painstakingly builds the other pillar of Cosby’s legacy, brick by haunting brick: the graphic detail of the dozens of assaults alleged by his survivors, the crumbs that he laid in plain sight over his entire career suggesting he enjoyed drugging women in order to have sex with them, the fortress around him to enable his predatory behavior, and his flippant lack of remorse when it all came to a pass. Because of the thoroughness of this four-hour documentary series, each of those two pillars is allowed to compete for the sun, casting a shadow on the other as they duel for its position as the answer to what Cosby’s legacy should be. But We Need to Talk About Cosby–through that meticulous history, careful consideration of both sides, and explicit recounting of the details of his assaults–makes the point that neither pillar topples the other. They stand together, inextricable from each other in a way that has been too complex and maybe too disturbing to understand or acknowledge."
• It's important that Bell lays the timeline of Cosby's success with the allegations against him: "The most vital service Bell performs in We Need to Talk About Cosby is to lay out a timeline of Cosby’s rising stature in pop culture over the years, from I Spy star to Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable on The Cosby Show, right alongside the dates when he preyed upon unsuspecting women," says Jen Chaney. "Presenting the information in such a straightforward way puts it plain: While a multitude of kids were loving Fat Albert every Saturday morning and comedy nerds were memorizing the dentist bit in Bill Cosby: Himself, Bill Cosby was routinely assaulting women without facing consequences of any kind....Bell also highlights the ways in which Cosby’s image stood at odds with who he actually was in other contexts. Episode two focuses in large part on the way Cosby built an image as a teacher and education advocate by creating Fat Albert, frequently appearing on shows like Sesame Street and The Electric Company, and earning a Ph.D. in education from the University of Massachusetts. The doc points out that, technically, Cosby never finished his undergraduate studies at Temple University (he eventually earned an honorary degree) and that questions were raised about whether he actually wrote his Ph.D. thesis himself, a detail that adds a shadow of hypocrisy to Cosby’s history of lecturing people, Black ones in particular, about the importance of a proper education. We Need to Talk About Cosby excels at this sort of context, illustrating how Cosby worked to make his comedy palatable to the broadest possible audience (read: white people), while also acting as a force for change."
• We Need to Talk About Cosby functions, at its base, as a bio-doc, albeit not the kind of worshipful one we’ve grown accustomed to: "Cosby is given his due in the history of comedy and placed in the context of the civil rights struggle of the 1960s – a time and place he didn’t really participate in, at least not publically, beyond representation," says Jason Bailey. "But that wasn’t nothing; Bell helps convey what a revelation he was on I Spy (the first leading role on a network drama for a Black actor), particularly in the context of popular culture in the 1960s, even if he was framed by the press of the day as 'raceless,' 'non-threatening,' and so on. But one of the series’ most rewarding running threads is its nuanced exploration of his racial politics and philosophies, an 'incrementalism”' that occasionally, fleetingly veered into borderline militancy... while landing on a distressing, and arguably destructive, conservatism. Bell is fascinated by Cosby’s contradictions – he refuses to flatten his subject into an outright villain, noting his acts of quiet activism, public philanthropy, and most of all, the importance and appeal of the ‘80s sitcom that bore his name, with a particular focus the political and social spot that it filled for the country. his is not to imply that Bell has made an apologia, in any way, shape, or form. We have to understand his cultural significance, and the personal extent of his celebrity, to truly reckon with the monstrousness of his acts."
• We Need to Talk About Cosby navigates a challenging story with exceptional grace and thoughtfulness: "Though none of these stories are easy to digest, in many ways We Need To Talk About Cosby would be an easier thing to experience if it were just that," says Alan Sepinwall. "With all we have heard about what Cosby was doing behind closed doors all those years, only the most loathsome rape apologists would attempt to defend him. A documentary that focused on recounting that side of Cosby’s life, and that had the wide range of voices Bell has access to here — not just accusers, but lawyers, psychologists, academics, journalists, and even several former Cosby co-workers — would likely be potent in its straightforwardness. Instead, all the talk about Cosby is as much about contrasting his public and private lives, and about seeing if there is a path towards reclaiming Cosby’s art without absolving his other deeds. That’s far more challenging territory, but Bell and company navigate it with exceptional grace and thoughtfulness. Context is everything with this story. Bill Cosby got away with his alleged rapes for decades not just because he was famous, but because he was famous in a very particular way."
• Cosby's release from prison actually strengthens Bell's judicious and humane docuseries, because it underscores the inescapable truth of Bill Cosby himself: "He is a man who did tremendous good and tremendous bad," says Kristen Baldwin. "We may hate it when two opposing concepts exist at once, but there it is. We Need to Talk About Cosby allows us to explore that discomfort while also giving us permission to make peace with a harsh reality: We will never be able to reconcile the man Bill Cosby told us he was with the man he really is." Baldwin adds: "Narcissism, misogyny, deviance, all three and more — whatever drove Cosby to do what he did isn't as important as what came after his actions were exposed. We Need To Talk concludes with an emotionally powerful look at how the survivors coped with coming forward, and the tangible progress their stories helped create, including changes in several states to statute of limitations for sexual assault. Good emerging from bad and bad emerging from good — that's the contradiction of Bill Cosby. We don't have to like it, but Bell proves we don't have to be afraid of it, either."
• We Need To Talk About Cosby is an insightful yet sobering examination of how a monster fully infiltrated our cultural DNA: "Bell admits up front that he’s hardly an objective commentator," says Stephen Robinson. "Like myself, he’s a Black man born in the 1970s who was raised on Fat Albert, Picture Pages, and The Cosby Show. Bell’s documentary seeks to 'wrestle with who we all thought Cosby was and who we now understand him to be.' This is a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde story where Jekyll existed only to serve Hyde’s desires. Separating the art from the man is difficult when Bell makes a compelling case that Cosby’s fame and wealth provided him with the power and opportunity to prey on dozens of women throughout his career. The documentary and this review believe those women’s accounts. We Need to Talk About Cosby charts the comedian’s groundbreaking career from early stand-up appearances to TV stardom, while also detailing a sinister act conducted behind the curtain. The documentary depicts a malice spiked with tremendous arrogance, as if Cosby seemed almost compelled to commit his alleged crimes despite his growing fame. Bell observes how the number of Cosby’s alleged victims skyrocketed during 1980s when he was a household name. He acted as if his fame and wealth insulated him fully. Cosby had become the master on the Hollywood plantation."
• Bell’s approach is smart in that he avoids much of the traditional chronological approach to true-crime series or bio-docs: "One of his best decisions, and what really elevates the series, is how cleverly he eschews the 'fall from grace' structure," says Brian Tallerico. "Many stories like this chart the rise and fame of their subject before revealing the truth behind their public façade. Bell doesn’t do that. He knows there’s a shared international knowledge about why we’re here—what we need to talk about is more than just I Spy and hit comedy albums. And he also makes clear how evil Bill Cosby was from the very beginning. He wasn’t a superstar and then a criminal—he was always both at the same time and that’s what we’re here to discuss. Bell assembles a fascinating collection of interview subjects, avoiding many of the familiar faces that one might expect to see in a documentary about a celebrity. I’d love to know exactly how Bell chose the voices that would participate in this conversation, but he is clearly a phenomenal interviewer. You can sense the comfort his subjects have with him, often using his first name like they’re talking to a friend. And he draws fascinating insight from brilliant people like Marc Lamont Hill, Jemele Hill, Jelani Cobb, and more, while also including a few thoughts from people who worked with Cosby like co-stars Doug E. Doug and the comedian Godfrey or a producer from The Cosby Show. How Cosby was enabled becomes a backdrop for the show, but Bell avoids pointing fingers in that department, in a manner that could be frustrating for some. The idea that 'someone had to know' comes up, but it usually stops there without much resolution as to who and why they didn’t do anything about it, but Bell clearly wants to keep the focus on Cosby himself more than the entire broken system."
• In presenting both sides of Cosby, Bell takes a risk that pays off: "We Need to Talk About Cosby could have been a very different documentary," says Gabrielle Bruney. "It might have been called something like We Need to Talk About What Cosby Did, and framed its focus tightly on the crimes he’s accused of and their impact on his alleged victims’ lives. While the four-part series does feature lengthy and harrowing accounts from women who’ve come forward again and again to share their stories of being drugged and assaulted by Cosby, it is also very much about the man himself—his career triumphs, his image-making efforts, his relationship with the Black community. It’s a potentially dicey approach, as an extended exploration of Cosby’s professional life risks suggesting that his value as an entertainer is more important than the lives of the women he’s allegedly harmed. In this case, the risk pays off: The film convincingly argues that a full picture of his alleged crimes and the systems that enabled them would be incomplete without an examination of Cosby as a human being."
• We Need to Talk about Cosby is so engrossing because nothing is tied up in a neat bow: "In the compelling new series, which premieres Saturday at the Sundance Film Festival and Jan. 30 on Showtime, comedian and host Bell wrestles with our dueling images of Cosby the Black pioneer and cultural icon and Cosby the alleged serial sexual predator," says Lorraine Ali. "Can and should we separate the man from his art? What is his effect on generations of Black Americans? And can we honor pieces of his shattered legacy while still recognizing the damage he wrought? Nothing is tied up in a neat bow, and that’s largely what’s so engrossing about this series. It struggles, like the rest of us, with where to put Cosby."
• We Need to Talk About Cosby raises questions about potential Cosby misconduct on The Cosby Show set: "One account in particular from that time is sure to leave viewers wondering if others on the set knew about Cosby's behavior," says Marcus Jones. "Steve Watkins, the director's assistant on the pivotal NBC series, says in the docuseries that show tapings would have a general audience, often including families, "but then you'd get to this one pocket where there's about 20, 25 women dressed to the nines. They're all models, and they look it. It's like, 'Wow, what in the world's going on up there?' What we learned later (was) a modeling agency would bring these girls over, and they would talk to Mr. (Cosby).' Two actors who appeared on the show, Joseph C. Phillips and Lili Bernard, the latter of whom has accused Cosby of sexual assault, remember those women being brought to the TV dad's dressing room after the show."
• W. Kamau Bell jokes he wanted We Need to Talk About Cosby to be dropped like a Beyoncé album after working on it for years: "We’ve been holding onto it for a while," he says. "I joked that I wanted Showtime to drop it like a Beyoncé album, to sort of put it out there to the world. So the hardest part is knowing it’s done and wanting people to see it." Why is that the hardest part? "Because I really do feel like the thing we attempted to do here is not something I’ve seen done with this kind of story before," he says, adding: "It was like, once myself and the producers started to look into it, all of us had this thing of like I thought I understood this. But we didn’t. I really did not understand this, and I think it was important to me to do that same thing to the viewer. You know, I think a lot of times in docs like this, which I love, you can kind of lose track of where you are in time because you’re just taking in so much information. For me, this comes from what I like to do in United Shades. I wanted people to be locked into here’s the information you need to know to understand this and really understand what we’re talking about visually in terms of the timelines we show and the changing culture surrounding Cosby as he changed from a comic to more of a teacher. So, for me, I can’t let you lose track of the timeline that we’re in because the information means more if you really are focused on the timeline. I really give Showtime a shout-out for really sort of embracing that, because like I think that stuff can be seen as like gimmicky or extra, but they really understood that no, this actually locks you in to the timeline of events. So practically, I understand people who maybe don’t want to believe these women. I think they may have some idea that this all happened during The Cosby Show or it all happened later in his life. No, so once you realize that these accusations go all the way back to the early days of his career, I think it will change a lot of people’s perspective on what they believe or don’t believe."
• Bell says there's "no point" to meeting with Cosby: “No, I don’t know if there’s any point to that,” he says. “I hope that the next step is not really about Bill Cosby but about all of us who want to have this nuanced, productive conversation understand that the film wants to highlight the fact that we currently live in a world where specifically a woman is sexually assaulted…(and) that they don’t know where to go for support and justice.”
• Bell believes Cosby is the key to understanding America: "There are two runaway forces of oppression in America: One, how we treat nonwhite people," he says. "The other is how we have treated women through the history of this country. And if you look at Bill Cosby’s career, you can see things he did that makes this better and makes this worse. I believe there’s a lot to learn there." Bell also explains why he used a timeline device in his docuseries: "I don’t like when documentaries tell some personal story but they don’t connect to history," he says. "Because you want to know what was happening when that happened — that helps give us the sense of why this is even more interesting. It doesn’t make sense to talk about Bill Cosby as if he was a solo man in the world. You have to really see how the boys-will-be-boys culture of Hollywood, specifically in the ’60s, invites a kind of behavior that allows predators to hide. It also lays this timeline of his career, the timeline of America and the timeline of the accusations on top of each other, which helps you see them in a new way."
• Bell jokes that "at least I won’t be just known for talking to the Klan anymore": Bell said in his docuseries that a lot of people declined to participate. "Some people feel like we have to let Bill Cosby go completely, so why was I bringing him up?" he says. "Some people feel we can’t afford to lose a Black role model because we don’t have enough of them. It’s true — we don’t have enough representation. And some people feel like, How can you for a second talk about any of the good things he did when there are more than 60 women who claimed he sexually assaulted or raped them? That’s a difficult line to walk. Discussing Bill Cosby is a hard conversation for everybody, but for Black people, it’s the third-rail conversation, and electrified rails keep getting added to it." Bell also talks about quitting the project several times: Whenever I thought about quitting, I would think about these interviews I had with these survivors," he says. "I was so pleased to be able to show that they could be funny, they could all be angry, they could cry about things that had nothing to do with Bill Cosby, they could clearly explain themselves. If I quit this, those things go away. There are lots of Bill Cosby documentaries I’ve heard about that have gone away. It felt like a betrayal to those women if I didn’t put this out there."
• Bell worries We Need to Talk About Cosby could end his career: Bell says he always knew that the “fiercest critics” of the docuseries would be people who are “never” going to watch it. “I see a lot of people who love it and a lot of people who hate it, who I’m very clear haven’t seen it,” he says on The Last Laugh podcast. “And to be clear, you can watch it and hate it. I accept that.” The implication that why a Black man would spend so much time bringing down another Black man. “To be honest, I was doing it before I even asked myself why,” he says. “It just felt like what I was supposed to do.” But Bell knew the risks going in. “So I was prepared for it,” Bell says, “but it doesn’t make it fun.”
• O.J. Made in America and Surviving R. Kelly were Bell's biggest influences in making We Need to Talk About Cosby: "I think I was one who said you’d have to do it O.J. Simpson: Made in America-style," says Bell, adding that his docuseries "was never a true crime doc. Surviving R. Kelly really takes that on more like, 'There’s an active crime scene and we need your help catching the criminal.' This is not that. He was in prison when we started, and at the time it wouldn’t have made sense to reach out to him anyway. It was always about the conversation about Bill Cosby, not about what he said, because he’s been quite clear about what he says. I don’t know what you get from that. Once you make space for the survivors, I don’t know how you do them right by then putting him in here."
• Bell says he was most surprised by his reaction to meeting Cosby's survivors: "I believed the survivors before I started this work, but to really sit down and talk with them, and these conversations, many of them were more than two hours… and to hear their whole stories outside of even their relationship, outside to whatever happened in their relationship or that night with Bill Cosby for some of them, or that event with Bill Cosby… to sit down and talk, I was nervous the first time I sat down and talked with them," he says. "Victoria Valentino was the first survivor I talked to. And she was so full of light and love and joy and so happy to be there. I found out so many of the survivors knew my work, which is why they came, because they were like, 'I trust you to handle this.' I think we have an image of this as being, and I don’t use this word regularly, but I’m saying I think there are people who have an image of this, even people who maybe believe them, as 60 groupies who were waiting backstage after the show to meet Bill Cosby. So in some sense, (these people are saying) even if it’s bad that he assaulted or raped them, that that’s what they were there for. When you sit down with these women and hear their life stories, which I did for most of them, you realize that so many of these women were living their lives, going about their business and he stepped in front of them and said, 'Come with me.'"