Bill Cosby To Make TV Return on NBC; Comic Legend Will Play Patriarch of Multi-Generational Family; Netflix to Air Cosby Standup Special

Bill Cosby is coming back to TV. According to reports NBC is developing a new TV series with Cosby that is slated to start in 2015 after a long period of talks.

The comedy legend, "Cosby Show" and "What Kids Say" host will star on an NBC show that is due to premiere next year. Bill Cosby will star in a multi-generational multi-camera family comedy. Cosby will play the patriarch. The new Bill Cosby Show will be written by Mike O'Malley and produced by Sony Pictures TV. Cosby is scheduled to meet with the head writer this month.

Bill Cosby and The Cosby Show executive producer Tom Werner signed the contract with NBC in January.

Cosby recently said "NBC has given me an opportunity to work in a series, it's a generational situation, I will be meeting with the writer, Mike O'Malley, and that's all I can tell you. What bothers me is that I'm coming in when there are so many different choices, hundreds of choices (on television). If you had 10 million people, that might be a test pattern in the early '80s. Today, 10 million will keep you alive on a network show for a long time, man."

Bill Cosby will do an hour of stand-up for Netflix this fall. Cosby's show will join performances by comics Jim Jefferies, Bill Burr, Chelsea Peretti and Chelsea Handler. Cosby's special was directed by Robert Townsend. Cosby loves that there will be no commercial breaks.

Netflix announced four exclusive stand-up comedy specials from Bill Cosby, Jim Jefferies, Bill Burr, Chelsea Peretti and the Chelsea Handler special Uganda Be Kidding Me Live. Last year Cosby taped his first standup show in 30 years, "Bill Cosby: Far From Finished."

Bill Cosby does about 140 shows a year, but the 77-year-old comedian says that's not as much as it sounds "Let's average it out to about 140 shows a year. No, no, no, no, no. There are those of us who are the troubadours. Think about it, if I do 140, it comes out to maybe an average of two-point-something, maybe 2.3 or 2.4 shows a week. Now, two-point-something a week means that five days, I'm off. Or 4.7 days a week, I'm off. I could be any place my wife would let me," the comedian said.

"Bill Cosby 77" will premiere on Nov. 28. The live Bill Cosby show was taped the legendary comedian's 77th birthday, on July 12, at the San Francisco Jazz Center. In the hour-plus Cosby show, he talks about relationships, marriage and kids.