Showtime Sets Bill Cosby Documentary

The new four-part docuseries We Need to Talk About Cosby is slated to air on Showtime on January 30.

From Emmy-winning director W. Kamau Bell (United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell), the docuseries offers an in-depth look at the revolutionary career and personal descent of Bill Cosby. It unpacks how his desire for power, which fueled his professional success, could also be the force that motivated his alleged crimes against women.

We Need to Talk About Cosby is produced by Boardwalk Pictures in association with WKB Industries. The series is executive produced by Bell, Andrew Fried, Katie A. King, Dane Lillegard, Jordan Wynn and Sarina Roma. King also serves as showrunner.

“As a child of Bill Cosby, I was a huge fan of all his shows and wanted to be a comedian because of him,” said Bell. “I never thought I’d ever wrestle with who we all thought Cosby was and who we now understand him to be. I’m not sure he would want me to do this work, but Cliff Huxtable definitely would.”

“Kamau has bravely ventured into a very complicated and nuanced area of the Bill Cosby story, which has yet to be explored in this depth,” said Vinnie Malhotra, executive VP of nonfiction programming at Showtime Networks. “It’s an important and under-reported perspective on the legacy of one of history’s most iconic African American entrepreneurs.”