Malcolm-Jamal Warner says going from playing America’s favorite TV son Theodore Huxtable for nearly a decade on the culturally groundbreaking TV series The Cosby Show, to portraying his new role as stay-at-home dad and father Dr. Alex Reed on BET's new sitcom, Reed Between The Lines has been very peculiar for him in real life.

“It’s all been very surreal. Because I was 14 when Cosby first aired and Nadji Jeter who plays my step son is fourteen. So somedays it’s like, "Wow. Where did the time go?” Warner told BET.com.  “Other times Nadji will hit me on text or Twitter and say like, “Yo Pops, what’s up?” And I’d hit him back, “Boy, you do not call me Pops unless we are on camera and we are rolling.”

But the 41-year old former child actor says he takes his new off camera job as positive role model to his onscreen children very seriously and hopes to influence how they handle the spotlight.

“Working with Mr. [Bill] Cosby for so many years had a big impact on how I see the life or the job of celebrity and because I was exposed to him I think I handled my fame in a certain way,” says Warner.  “Tracee [Ellis Ross] and I hope that we can have the same positive influence on them [our TV children] when it comes to celebrity.”

Reed Between The Lines airs tonight at 10pm/9c on BET

(Photo: Fernando Leon)