The Cosby Show | Season Six - Seven Opening Credits
In the opening sequence for seasons 6 and 7, the cast danced on a stage whose backdrop displayed the marquee of the Apollo Theater in Harlem. A classical jazz arrangement, featuring Craig Handy on saxophone, was used for the theme, which sounds very similar to “Shotgun” by Junior Walker and the All-Stars.

Season 7’s credit sequence originally was to use a mural entitled “Street of Dreams,” painted by inner-city youth from the Creative Arts Workshop in Harlem, for the opening credits. The producers wound up discarding the idea when their lawyers said that in order to use the mural they would have to get permission from all 63 young artists first. Instead, the show developed its own mural which combined some of the elements and used many of the colors of the actual one. The owners of the mural threatened to sue and denounced the show for ripping off the children. Carsey-Werner tried to negotiate a settlement with Creative Arts Workshop, but Bill Cosby decided to replace the theme with the season six’s opening credits. Only four episodes featured the original opening credits, and only a few cities saw this version. In all other areas in first-run and repeats as well as in syndication, only the replaced sequence was used. Lisa Bonet and Joseph C. Phillips were in the credits still but they only appeared in less than a handful of episodes during the season. New cast member Erika Alexander was featured in the original Season 7 sequence, but only her name and role is listed in the replacement sequence.