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Cousin Oliver is jargon used by TV critics when the creators of a TV show decide that the addition of a cute child actor to the cast will improve the ratings of the show, or as a replacement for child cast members that have grown up since the show started.
Origin
Cousin Oliver (played by Robbie Rist) was a character who was introduced in 1974 on The Brady Bunch during what turned out to be the show's final season. Cousin Oliver, who took up residence in the Brady household and appears in the last six episodes of the series, remains unpopular with fans of the show, and is considered by many to be the moment when The Brady Bunch jumped the sharkJumptheshark.com survey *, although that term was yet to be coined at the time the character was introduced.
Examples of the Cousin Oliver Syndrome
TV shows that introduces a "Cousin Oliver"-type character:
| Show | Character introduced |
|---|---|
| Alf | Eric William Tanner |
| All in the Family | Stephanie |
| Ally McBeal | Maddie |
| Amen | Chris |
| Bewitched | Adam |
| Blue Heelers | Rory |
| Blossom | Kennedy |
| Bobby's World | Generic twin boys |
| Buffy the Vampire Slayer | Dawn Summers |
| The Cosby Show | Olivia Kendall, Winnie and Nelson Tibideaux |
| Charmed | Chris Perry and Billie Jenkins |
| Danger Bay | Jess |
| Diff'rent Strokes | Sam McKinney |
| The Donna Reed Show | Trisha Stone |
| The Drew Carey Show | King Gus Carey |
| Even Stevens | Beans |
| The Facts of Life | Andy, Pippa |
| Family Matters | 3J |
| Family Ties | Andy Keaton |
| The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air | Nicky Banks |
| Full House | Nicky and Alex Katsopolis |
| Gilmore Girls | April Nardini |
| Gimme a Break! | Joey Donovan, Matthew Donovan |
| Good Times | Penny Woods, Gary James |
| Growing Pains | Chrissy Seaver, Luke Brower |
| Hangin' With Mr. Cooper | Nicole Lee |
| Happy Days | Heather Pfister |
| Home Improvement | Claire and Gracie Taylor |
| In the House | Rodney |
| Life Goes On | Nick Thatcher |
| Little House on the Prairie | Albert Ingalls, James & Cassandra Cooper, Nancy Oleson, Jenny Wilder |
| Malcolm in the Middle | Jamie |
| Married... with Children | Seven Wanker |
| Muppet Babies | Robin |
| My Three Sons | Dodie Harper Douglas |
| My Wife and Kids | Franklin |
| The Partridge Family | Ricky |
| Roseanne | Jerry Garcia Conner |
| Rugrats | Dil Pickles and Kimi Finster |
| Scooby-Doo | Scrappy-Doo |
| Voyager | The 'Borg children' |
| 7th Heaven | Sam and David Camden |
| The Smurfs | The Smurflings (Natural, Slouchy, Snappy, Sassette), Scruple |
| Step by Step | Lilly Foster Lambert |
| 227 | Alexandria |
| 2Point4 Children | Declan |
| That's So Raven | Sierra, Stanley and Syndey |
| Too Close For Comfort | Andrew |
| What's Happening!! | Earl "Little Earl" Barnett, Jr. |
| What's Happening Now!! | Carolyn |
| Who's the Boss | Billy |
| Wonder Woman | T. Burton Phipps III |
Trivia
- The Animated Series parodied this phenomenon in the season 3 episode " The Animated Series)", in which the villain had once starred in a TV show which was cancelled after the addition of a "cousin" character, leading her to kidnap her old co-stars and take her revenge. Interestingly enough, although Robbie Rist appears in this episode, he is not the "Cousin Oliver" character (here named "Cousin Spunky"), but rather the older brother character from the original cast. Spunky was voiced by Jason Marsden.
See also
- Jumping the shark
- Chuck Cunningham syndrome
- Fonzie syndrome
- Darrin Syndrome
- X-Files — In the episode "Sunshine Days", a character who recreates the Brady Bunch house from his thoughts renames himself Cousin Oliver.
References
Television terminology | Television programming | Stock characters
"Cousin Oliver"