''Welcome Back, Kotter'' is an American
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...
starring
Gabe Kaplan
Gabriel Weston Kaplan (born March 31, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, and professional poker player. He played the eponymous teacher in the 1970s sitcom ''Welcome Back, Kotter''. He later became a professional poker player and a commenta ...
as a high-school teacher in charge of a racially and ethnically diverse
remedial education class called the "Sweathogs." Recorded in front of a
live studio audience
A studio audience is an audience present for the recording of all or part of a television program or radio program. The primary purpose of the studio audience is to provide applause and/or laughter to the program's soundtrack (as opposed to canned ...
, the series aired on
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
from September 9, 1975, through May 17, 1979. It provided
John Travolta with his breakthrough role.
Premise
The show stars
stand-up comedian and actor Gabriel "Gabe" Kaplan as the main character, Gabe Kotter. A wisecracking teacher who returns to his alma mater,
James Buchanan High School in
Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22nd ...
, New York, to teach a remedial class of loafers, the Sweathogs. The rigid vice principal, Michael Woodman (
John Sylvester White), dismisses the Sweathogs as witless hoodlums and only expects Kotter to contain them until they drop out or are otherwise banished. As a former remedial student and a founding member of the original class of Sweathogs, Kotter befriends the current Sweathogs and stimulates their potential. A pupil-teacher rapport is formed, and the students often visit Kotter's Bensonhurst apartment, sometimes via the fire escape window, much to the chagrin of his wife, Julie (
Marcia Strassman
Marcia Ann Strassman (April 28, 1948 – October 24, 2014) was an American actress and singer. She played Nurse Margie Cutler on ''M*A*S*H'', Julie Kotter on '' Welcome Back, Kotter'', and Diane Szalinski in the film ''Honey, I Shrunk the Ki ...
).
![Welcome back kotter 1977](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Welcome_back_kotter_1977.JPG)
The fictional James Buchanan High is based on the Brooklyn high school that Kaplan attended in real life,
New Utrecht High School
New Utrecht High School is a public high school located in Bensonhurst, a neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. The school is operated by the New York City Department of Education under District 20, and serves students of grades 9 to 12. It is one of ...
, which is also shown in the opening credits. Many of the show's characters were also based on people Kaplan knew during his teen years as a remedial student, several of whom were described in one of Kaplan's stand-up comic routines entitled "Holes and Mellow Rolls". "Vinnie Barbarino" was inspired by Eddie Lecarri and Ray Barbarino; "Freddie 'Boom Boom' Washington" was inspired by Freddie "Furdy" Peyton; "Juan Epstein" was partially inspired by Epstein "The Animal"; and "Arnold Horshack" was inspired by someone of the same name.
Characters
Gabe Kotter
*Played by
Gabe Kaplan
Gabriel Weston Kaplan (born March 31, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, and professional poker player. He played the eponymous teacher in the 1970s sitcom ''Welcome Back, Kotter''. He later became a professional poker player and a commenta ...
The character, Gabe Kotter is a flippant but well-meaning teacher who returns to his
Alma mater, James Buchanan High, to teach a group of remedial students known as the Sweathogs. Because he was a "founding member" of the original Sweathogs, Kotter has a special understanding of the possibility of these supposedly "unteachable" students, and the challenges and scrutiny they face in daily life (educational, social, and emotional). On his first day on the job, he launches into a
Groucho Marx impersonation. Kotter is married to Julie throughout the series, and they eventually have twin girls, Robin and Rachel. It is confirmed by Julie in the episode "Follow the Leader (part 1)" that Gabe is Jewish. During season four, Kaplan had contract issues with the executive producer, which resulted in Kotter's character appearing in only a handful of episodes. In season four, the
invisible
Invisibility is the state of an object that cannot be seen. An object in this state is said to be ''invisible'' (literally, "not visible"). The phenomenon is studied by physics and perceptual psychology.
Since objects can be seen by light in ...
principal, John Lazarus retires, and Kotter becomes the vice-principal. Though he is said to maintain some social studies training duties, most of that season's shows are filmed outside his classroom (#11), or if in Room 11, Mr. Woodman is teaching. To minimize Kotter's absence, scenes were shot in either the school's hallway, the schoolyard, or the principal's waiting area. Season four ended the series.
Julie Kotter
*Played by
Marcia Strassman
Marcia Ann Strassman (April 28, 1948 – October 24, 2014) was an American actress and singer. She played Nurse Margie Cutler on ''M*A*S*H'', Julie Kotter on '' Welcome Back, Kotter'', and Diane Szalinski in the film ''Honey, I Shrunk the Ki ...
The character, Julie Kotter, is Gabe's wife and closest friend. Though she has a sense of humor, she often wishes Gabe would take matters more seriously. She is occasionally upset with the amount of time her husband spends with his students, and she is troubled that he allows them to visit their apartment regularly; in the two-part story arc "Follow the Leader", the Sweathogs' constant intrusions lead Julie to separate briefly from Gabe and even seriously consider divorce. Originally from
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
, with a college degree in anthropology, Julie eventually becomes a secretary at Buchanan, and later a substitute teacher after Gabe's promotion to vice-principal. She makes several references to her "world famous
tuna casserole
Tuna casserole is a casserole primarily made with pasta (or rice) and canned tuna, with peas and corn sometimes added. The dish is often topped with potato chips, corn flakes, bread crumbs or canned fried onions. Tuna casserole is a common dish ...
", a common meal at the Kotter dinner table, which Gabe and the Sweathogs deem inedible.
Michael Woodman
*Played by
John Sylvester White
The character, Michael Woodman is the curmudgeonly vice-principal (and later principal) of Buchanan High. He makes no secret of his dislike for the Sweathogs, whom he considers the bottom of the
social stratum
Social stratification refers to a society's categorization of its people into groups based on socioeconomic factors like wealth, income, race, education, ethnicity, gender, occupation, social status, or derived power (social and political). As ...
at his school. He refers to non-Sweathogs as "real" students. When Kotter was a student at Buchanan, Woodman taught social studies, the same class Kotter returns to teach at Buchanan. His old age, and sometimes his diminutive height, are common jokes with the Sweathogs. Woodman opposes Kotter's unorthodox teaching methods, and at one point even puts Kotter in front of the school's review board in an unsuccessful attempt to have him fired. As the series progresses, Woodman begins to tolerate them marginally. In the season one episode "No More Mr. Nice Guy", Woodman is shown to be a gifted teacher, willing to wear historic costumes and role-play in front of the class during his lessons.
Vincent "Vinnie" Barbarino
*Played by
John Travolta
The character, Vinnie Barbarino is a cocky Italian-American, the "unofficial official" leader and resident heartthrob of the Sweathogs. He has a need to be the center of attention, as seen when he admits to making it rain in the school gymnasium. In the two-episode "Follow the Leader", Barbarino quits the Sweathogs and drops out of school in anger when Freddy Washington is chosen as the "leader" of the group, though he returns as leader at the finish of the story. Barbarino's prowess with women is sometimes a source of envy and more often, amusement among his classmates. On occasion, he breaks out in a song about his last name sung to the tune of "
Barbara Ann
"Barbara Ann" is a song written by Fred Fassert that was first recorded by the Regents as "Barbara-Ann". Their version was released in 1961 and reached number 13 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. The more famous version was recorded by the ...
". He was the first of the Sweathogs to move out on his own, when he got a job as a hospital orderly. In the first episode of the series' fourth season, he has a girlfriend, Sally. Vinnie is Catholic (often describing his mother as a saint), and, as shown in "I'm Having Their Baby", is a
''Star Trek'' fan. Little is known about Vinnie's home life, other than that his parents argue a lot ("Follow the Leader (Part 2)") and take turns beating him when in a mutual rage. His mother's name is Margie ("The Great Debate"), whom he describes in the pilot episode as “holy” and he shares a bed with his brother. The episode "Don't Come Up And See Me Sometime" implies that Vinnie is the older of the two. The character is seen less frequently in season 4, appearing in only 10 of the first 15 episodes of the season, before leaving the series entirely.
Arnold Dingfelder Horshack
*Played by
Ron Palillo
Ronald Gabriel Palillo (April 2, 1949 – August 14, 2012) was an American actor and teacher. He was best known for his role as the endearingly dim-witted character Arnold Horshack on the ABC sitcom ''Welcome Back, Kotter'' (1975–1979).
Ear ...
The class clown of the Sweathogs, the character Arnold Horshack, is completely comfortable with his oddball, if naïve, personality. Horshack was known for his unique observations and his wheezing laugh, similar to that of a
hyena. (Palillo revealed on a 1995 episode of ''
The Jenny Jones Show
''The Jenny Jones Show'' is an American syndicated daytime tabloid talk show that was hosted by comedian/actress/singer Jenny Jones. It was produced by Quincy Jones-David Salzman Entertainment and Telepictures Productions and was distributed b ...
'' that it originated from the way his father breathed during the last two weeks of his life as he lay dying from lung cancer.) It is possible that academically he is the smartest Sweathog. He is the only central Sweathog character to be promoted out of a remedial academics class, but he soon returns after feeling out of place. He has an affection for acting and enjoys old movies, particularly 1930s musicals. He eventually marries Mary Johnson, a co-worker and fellow Sweathog. Although his surname sounds like a term for a
brothel, he claims it is a "very old and respected name" meaning "the cattle are dying." His middle name (and his mother's maiden name) is "Dingfelder".
Freddie Percy "Boom Boom" Washington
*Played by
Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs
Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs (born September 4, 1953) is an American actor and singer. Best known for playing Freddie "Boom Boom" Washington in ''Welcome Back Kotter'' (1975–79), he has also appeared in a number of films and television shows, in ...
The character, Freddie Washington is the hip black student known as the athletic Sweathog for his skills on the basketball court (although in the episode "Basket Case", Mr. Kotter almost beats Freddie in a one-on-one game). Washington claimed his nickname came from his habit of
"pretending to play the bass" and singing "Boom-boom-boom-boom!". His trademark phrase is, "Hi, there" (spoken with a deep voice and a broad smile). Though often the voice of reason among his classmates, Washington nonetheless is a willing participant in the Sweathogs' various antics and pranks. Freddie also finds success as a radio disc jockey along with another former Sweathog, Wally "The Wow" (played by
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American comedian, actor, author, and social critic. Regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of countercu ...
). At one point, Washington challenges Barbarino for leadership of the Sweathogs and even replaces him for a time until the group grows tired of his dictatorial style.
Washington has an older sister, who got divorced twice while living in Vermont ("The Longest Weekend"), and a brother, Leroy. In "The Great Debate", it is revealed that he has another brother, Douglas, and that his father's name is Lincoln. Kotter uses his own past to bond with Freddie, because, in addition to being a former Sweathog he was also a former star of Buchanan's basketball team.
Juan Luis Pedro Felipo de Huevos Epstein
*Played by
Robert Hegyes
Robert Bruce Hegyes (pronounced ''Hedyesh''; May 7, 1951 – January 26, 2012) was an American actor best known for his portrayal of high school student Juan Epstein on the 1970s American sitcom ''Welcome Back, Kotter'' and as detective Mann ...
Epstein is a fiercely proud
Puerto Rican Jew. When asked if his mother was Puerto Rican, Juan replies that his mother's maiden name was Bibbermann and that his grandfather "saw Puerto Rico from the ship as he was making his way to America and decided to settle there instead of
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
", making him one of the earliest Puerto Rican Jews. Juan is thus Puerto Rican on his father's side and Jewish on both parents' sides.
He is one of the toughest students at Buchanan High, despite his short stature. He normally walks with a tough-man strut and was voted "Most Likely to Take a Life" by his peers. In the season one episode "One of Our Sweathogs Is Missing", Epstein was said to be the sixth of ten children (when speaking on the phone to his mother, who had failed to notice that he had been missing for three days, she apparently failed to recognize his name and he had to further identify himself as "Number Six"), although he later mentions, in "I'm Having Their Baby", that his mother only gave birth eight times, implying two of them were twin births. Only four of his siblings are mentioned by name: his brothers Pedro, Irving, and Sanchez ("One of Our Sweathogs Is Missing"), establishing that some of his siblings had Jewish names and others Puerto Rican names, and a younger sister, Carmen ("A Love Story"). Epstein's toughness was downplayed later on, and he became more of a wiseguy. He was also known to have a "buddy" relationship with Principal Lazarus, as he often referred to him by his first name, Jack. On a few occasions, when Kotter did his Groucho Marx impersonation, Epstein would jump in and impersonate
Chico Marx or
Harpo Marx
Arthur "Harpo" Marx (born Adolph Marx; November 23, 1888 – September 28, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, mime artist, and harpist, and the second-oldest of the Marx Brothers. In contrast to the mainly verbal comedy of his brothers Grou ...
. Epstein's diminutive height,
large hair, and fake excuse notes (always signed "Epstein's Mother") were running gags.
Recurring characters
Rosalie "Hotsie" Totsie
*Played by
Debralee Scott
Debralee Scott (April 2, 1953 – April 5, 2005) was an American comedic actress best known for her roles on the sitcoms '' Welcome Back, Kotter''; '' Angie''; '' Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman''; and ''Forever Fernwood''. Scott was born and raised ...
Rosie Totsie is the femme fatale purported to have put the "sweat" in Sweathog, though her reputation is largely exaggerated by the Sweathogs' word of mouth. Her promiscuity is at least in part a reaction to the strict discipline enforced by her father, the Reverend Totsie. To restore her good name, and to prove a point, she fabricates a story about one of the Sweathogs getting her pregnant. The character was a favorite among male viewers but was phased out of the series at the end of the first season when Scott was picked to co-star in the syndicated Norman Lear comedy ''
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
''Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman'' is an American satirical soap opera that aired in daily weeknight syndication from January 1976 to July 1977. The series follows the titular Mary Hartman, an Ohio housewife attempting to cope with various bizarre ...
''. She reprised the role in a 1978 episode, "The Return of Hotsie Totsie", in which it was revealed that she dropped out of school because she became pregnant and had to become a stripper to support her infant child.
Judy Borden
*Played by
Helaine Lembeck
A recurring non-Sweathog character in the earlier seasons, Borden is a straight-A student and editor of the ''Buchanan Bugle'', the school newspaper. She was Barbarino's tutor, and even dated him at one time. Despite her academic superiority, she can easily hold her own in a
Dozens contest against any Sweathog.
Beauregarde "Beau" De LaBarre
*Played by
Stephen Shortridge
Stephen Shortridge (born October 23, 1951 in Red Oak, Iowa) is an American actor.
Shortridge appeared in more than 20 film and television projects throughout the 1970s and 1980s, most recognizably from his role as a Southern high school student ...
Introduced as a regular character in the fourth and final season, Beau is a handsome, friendly, blond, silver-tongued southerner who transfers from
after being kicked out of several other schools. He ends up in Kotter's class. The producers sought a heartthrob who was not a direct knock-off of the "Italian Stallion" trend that was permeating Hollywood in the mid-1970s, and who would improve ratings in the South, where the show's New York setting was seen as unrelatable. They wanted to retain female viewers but avoid a Travolta clone. Beau's first reaction to the term "Sweathog" was "That sounds gross." He seems to have a way with women, as shown in later episodes. One of his running jokes involves imparting esoteric and nonsensical sayings, such as "a real man never steps on a pregnant alligator".
Other recurring characters
*
Vernee Watson
Vernee Christell Watson-Johnson (née Watson; born September 28, 1949) is an American actress, author, and acting coach. Watson-Johnson is best known for her recurring roles as Vernajean Williams on ''Welcome Back, Kotter'' (1975–1979) and as ...
as Verna Jean Williams, Freddie's girlfriend.
*
Susan Lanier as Bambi, a female addition to the Sweathogs.
*
Charles Fleischer
Charles Fleischer (born August 27, 1950) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, musician, and writer, best known for appearing in films such as ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'', ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'', '' The Polar Express'', '' Rango'', '' ...
as Carvelli, introduced as a student foil to the Sweathogs in Season 2.
*Bob Harcum as Murray, Carvelli's loyal, and extremely dim, sidekick.
*
Dennis Bowen as Todd Ludlow, a nerdy academic high achiever.
*Irene Arranga as Mary Johnson, later became Arnold Horshack's wife.
*
Melonie Haller as Angie Grabowski, introduced in Season 3 as the only official female Sweathog, but was gone by the end of the season.
Show history
''Welcome Back, Kotter''s first season was controversial. In Boston, the local ABC affiliate (
WCVB-TV
WCVB-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Hearst Television. The station's studios are located on TV Place (off Gould Street near the I-95/ MA 128/Highland Avenue ...
) initially refused to air the show. The city was going through a
tumultuous school busing program that involved widespread protests and riots, and the local affiliate felt Kotter's fictional integrated classroom would exacerbate the situation. The show became an early ratings success, however, and the affiliate relented, picking it up from its fifth episode.
Teachers in other cities had concerns about how Kotter would be portrayed, so producers allowed a union representative on the set to ensure the show protected the image of those in the profession. Kaplan opposed the idea, at one point asking a reporter if there was a junkman on the set of ''
Sanford and Son'' to protect the reputation of junkmen.
Censor concerns about depiction of
juvenile delinquency faded after the Sweathogs' antics proved to be silly rather than criminal. Like Kaplan, Hegyes was a fan of the
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers' thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AFI) ...
. Hegyes claimed that he suggested that the Sweathogs be modeled after the Marx Brothers in order to reduce tension.
Ratings slipped greatly in the third season. Kaplan later attributed the decline to the age of the actors playing the Sweathogs, all then in their mid- to late-twenties, claiming that they were no longer believable as high school students. As the series entered its fourth and final season, Travolta, the youngest Sweathog, was 25 -- while Palillo, the oldest, would turn 30 before season's end.
Kaplan's idea to bring the show in line with the age of its cast was to have Kotter join the faculty of a
community college
A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior se ...
attended by the Sweathogs; however, this storyline never materialized. In order to increase viewership, the Kotters had twin girls, but this did not prove to be enough to regain the show's earlier momentum. The show introduced a female Sweathog, Angie Grabowski, played by
Melonie Haller.
Major changes took place in the fourth and final season. Shortly before the season began, the series was moved from its successful Thursday 8:00p.m. time slot to Monday 8:00p.m. to make way for the impending hit series ''
Mork & Mindy
''Mork & Mindy'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 14, 1978, to May 27, 1982. A spin-off after a highly successful episode of ''Happy Days'', "My Favorite Orkan", it starred Robin Williams as Mork, an extraterrest ...
''. Much of the writing staff turned over after season 3, and Travolta, who had already starred in box office hits such as ''
Grease'', ''
Saturday Night Fever'', and ''
Carrie'', began to focus more time on his film career. He appeared in ten episodes, earning $2,000 for each one, and he was billed as a "special guest star". Mr. Woodman was promoted to Principal of the school (Principal Lazarus quit to take a "less stressful" job at a high-security prison), and Kotter was promoted to Vice-Principal, purposely moving the show's focus away from Kotter's class. Major off-screen disputes led Kaplan to break his contract and reduce his appearances. To help fill the voids,
Stephen Shortridge
Stephen Shortridge (born October 23, 1951 in Red Oak, Iowa) is an American actor.
Shortridge appeared in more than 20 film and television projects throughout the 1970s and 1980s, most recognizably from his role as a Southern high school student ...
joined the cast as smooth-talking
Southerner Beau De LaBarre, and Kotter's wife, Julie, became a school secretary and occasional fill-in teacher, despite having one-year-old twin daughters. Also in season 4,
Della Reese
Delloreese Patricia Early (July 6, 1931 – November 19, 2017), known professionally as Della Reese, was an American jazz and gospel singer, actress, and ordained minister whose career spanned seven decades. She began her long career as a s ...
was introduced as English teacher and Buchanan High talent show coordinator Mrs. Jean Tremaine.
Knowing the series was in a nosedive, producer James Komack attempted to spin-off a newly married Arnold Horshack into a new sitcom (see section below).
Popularity
![Welcome Back Kotter cast 1975](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Welcome_Back_Kotter_cast_1975.JPG)
The show enjoyed ratings success during its first two seasons, spawning a host of merchandising
tie-in
A tie-in work is a work of fiction or other product based on a media property such as a film, video game, television series, board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property. Tie-ins are authorized by the owners of the original prop ...
s, including
lunchbox
A lunch box (alt. spelling lunchbox) refers to a hand-held container used to transport food, usually to work or to school. It is commonly made of metal or plastic, is reasonably airtight and often has a handle for carrying.
In the United ...
es,
doll
A doll is a model typically of a human or humanoid character, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have also been used in traditional religious rituals throughout the world. Traditional dolls made of materials such as clay and wood are foun ...
s,
trading cards, comic books, novels, and even a
board game
Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well.
Many board games feature a co ...
, advertised as "The 'Up Your Nose With A Rubber Hose' Game" in a commercial with a class full of Sweathog look-alikes featuring
Steve Guttenberg
Steven Robert Guttenberg (born August 24, 1958) is an American actor, author, businessman, producer, and director. He is known for his lead roles in Hollywood films of the 1980s and 1990s, including ''Cocoon'', ''Police Academy'', ''Three Men and ...
as Barbarino and
Thomas Carter as Boom Boom Washington. The Sweathogs — or at least an impressionist's version of them — even made a crossover appearance with characters from the ''
Happy Days
''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marshall, it was one of the most su ...
'' universe on one track (the
disco-themed "Fonzarelli Slide") of a 1976 TV-promoted
oldies
Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as ...
compilation album.
In 2010, the cast, including Gabe Kaplan, Marcia Strassman, John Travolta, Robert Hegyes, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, and Ellen Travolta were honored at the
TV Land Award
The TV Land Icon Awards was an American television awards ceremony that generally commemorates shows now off the air, rather than in current production as with the Emmys. Created by Executive Producer Michael Levitt, the awards were hosted and bro ...
ceremonies. Co-star Ron Palillo was not in attendance, nor were fellow co-stars John Sylvester White (who died in 1988) and
Debralee Scott
Debralee Scott (April 2, 1953 – April 5, 2005) was an American comedic actress best known for her roles on the sitcoms '' Welcome Back, Kotter''; '' Angie''; '' Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman''; and ''Forever Fernwood''. Scott was born and raised ...
(who died in 2005).
Theme song
The popular theme song, "Welcome Back", written and recorded by
John Sebastian
John Benson Sebastian (born March 17, 1944) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and harmonicist who founded the rock band The Lovin' Spoonful. He made an impromptu appearance at the Woodstock festival in 1969[the Lovin' Spoonful
The Lovin' Spoonful is an American rock band popular during the mid- to late-1960s. Founded in New York City in 1965 by lead singer/songwriter John Sebastian and guitarist Zal Yanovsky, the band is widely known for a number of hits, including ...]
, became a No. 1 hit in the spring of 1976. The show was originally going to be called ''Kotter'', but that was changed because of the theme song lyrics. Sebastian has said he tried to find a more general theme for the song after being unable to find any reasonable rhymes for Kotter.
Merchandising
Comic books
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
published ten issues of a ''Welcome Back, Kotter'' comic book starting in 1976. Following its cancellation in 1979, a ''
Limited Collectors' Edition
''Limited Collectors' Edition'' is an American comic book series published by DC Comics from 1972 to 1978. It usually featured reprints of previously published stories but a few issues contained new material. The series was published in an overs ...
'' was issued, incorporating a four-page "On the Set" section and photographs from the show.
Novels
A series of novels based on characters and dialog of the series was written by
William Johnston and published by Tempo Books in the 1970s.
Action figures
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...
produced a series of 9-inch ''Welcome Back, Kotter'' action figures in 1977. Figures produced included Barbarino, Horshack, Epstein, Washington, and Mr. Kotter.
Episodes
Home media
Warner Home Video
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros.
It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Vide ...
released a 6-episode Television Favorites collection on February 28, 2006. Due to the success of this release, Warner released the Complete first Season on DVD in Region 1 on June 12, 2007.
On May 7, 2014, it was announced that
Shout! Factory had acquired the rights to the series. Ultimately, they released ''Welcome Back, Kotter: The Complete Series'' on DVD in Region 1 on August 26, 2014, and have since released the second, third, and fourth seasons as individual sets.
Nominations
''Kotter'' failed to receive any major awards, though it was nominated for an
Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1976
after its first season; it lost to ''
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (also known simply as ''Mary Tyler Moore'') is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns and starring actress Mary Tyler Moore. The show originally aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977. Mo ...
''. The series was also nominated for three technical Emmy Awards: Outstanding Achievement in Videotape Editing for a Series (to Editors Susan Jenkins and Manuel Martinez) in 1976, Outstanding Art Direction for a Comedy Series (to Art Directors
Roy Christopher and James Shanahan) in 1978, and Outstanding Individual Achievement — Creative Technical Crafts (to Dick Wilson for sound effects) in 1979.
Guest stars
Several noteworthy performers enjoyed guest stints on Kotter either during or prior to their widespread fame.
James Woods
James Howard Woods (born April 18, 1947) is an American actor. He is known for his work in various film, stage, and television productions. He started his career in minor roles on and off- Broadway. In 1972, he appeared in ''The Trial of the ...
guest starred in the first episode of Season 1 ("The Great Debate") as Alex Welles, a drama teacher who leads the school debate team ("the Turkeys") in a competition against the Sweathogs.
Pat Morita
Noriyuki "Pat" Morita (June 28, 1932 – November 24, 2005) was an American actor and comedian. He was known for his roles as Matsuo "Arnold" Takahashi on '' Happy Days'', Mr. Miyagi in ''The Karate Kid'' film series, Captain Sam Pak on the sitc ...
appears in the 1976 episode "Career Day" as Mr. Takahashi. Comedian
George Carlin
George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American comedian, actor, author, and social critic. Regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of countercu ...
was featured, as was
John Astin
John Allen Astin (born March 30, 1930) is an American actor and director who has appeared in numerous stage, television and film roles. He is best known for starring in '' The Addams Family'' (1964–1966), as patriarch Gomez Addams, reprising ...
. Other guest stars included
Scott Brady
Scott Brady (born Gerard Kenneth Tierney; September 13, 1924 – April 16, 1985) was an American film and television actor best known for his roles in Western films and as a ubiquitous television presence. He played the title role in the televi ...
,
Ellen Travolta,
Richard Moll
Charles Richard Moll (born January 13, 1943) is an American actor. He played the role of Aristotle Nostradamus "Bull" Shannon, a bailiff on the NBC sitcom '' Night Court'' from 1984 to 1992. He has also done extensive work as a voice actor, typica ...
,
Della Reese
Delloreese Patricia Early (July 6, 1931 – November 19, 2017), known professionally as Della Reese, was an American jazz and gospel singer, actress, and ordained minister whose career spanned seven decades. She began her long career as a s ...
, and
Dinah Manoff
Dinah Beth Manoff (born January 25, 1956) is an American stage, film, and television actress and television director. She is best known for her roles as Elaine Lefkowitz on ''Soap'', Marty Maraschino in the film '' Grease'', Libby Tucker in both ...
who would work with
John Travolta again in ''
Grease''.
Groucho Marx was set to have a brief walk-on role in one episode. He arrived on-set, but was deemed to be too sick to appear. Pictures of Marx with the cast were taken, but not released. However, the photographs did appear on the Internet decades later.
Spin-offs
At least three spin-offs of ''Kotter'' were seriously considered, but only one ever became a series. The short-lived ''
Mr. T and Tina'' starred
Pat Morita
Noriyuki "Pat" Morita (June 28, 1932 – November 24, 2005) was an American actor and comedian. He was known for his roles as Matsuo "Arnold" Takahashi on '' Happy Days'', Mr. Miyagi in ''The Karate Kid'' film series, Captain Sam Pak on the sitc ...
as Taro Takahashi (Mr. T for short), a brilliant Japanese inventor whom he portrayed in one episode of ''Kotter''. The show was not received well by critics and lasted for five episodes on ABC. There was also talk of developing a spin-off built around the Horshack character and his family, ''Rich Man, Poor Man; Horshack!'', but it never went beyond the
backdoor pilot
A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...
stage, shown as an episode of ''Kotter''. In the mid-1990s, Hegyes announced on ''
The Jenny Jones Show
''The Jenny Jones Show'' is an American syndicated daytime tabloid talk show that was hosted by comedian/actress/singer Jenny Jones. It was produced by Quincy Jones-David Salzman Entertainment and Telepictures Productions and was distributed b ...
'' that plans were in the works to create a spin-off featuring the Sweathogs, all grown up, minus Travolta's Barbarino, but the project never got off the ground and little information about it was ever made public.
Broadcast history and Nielsen ratings
International airing
*In Germany, 23 episodes of ''Welcome Back, Kotter'' were shown dubbed, but under its original title – first from September 1979 until May 1980 by the
ZDF
ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...
, then again from April to July 1985 by
Sat.1.
*In the United Kingdom, 26 episodes were shown from December 1981 until July 1983 on
ITV.
*In Australia, the show was broadcast on The Seven Network from June 1976 and rated very well for the first two seasons.
*In New Zealand, the show was screened on
Television New Zealand
, type = Crown entity
, industry = Broadcast television
, num_locations = New Zealand
, location = Auckland, New Zealand
, area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the Solo ...
's
TV ONE. As in Australia, the first two seasons rated highly.
*In Italy, the show was aired by the Italian TV second channel
Rai 2
Rai 2 is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's second television channel, and is known for broadcasting ''TG2'' news bulletins, tal ...
in the spring of 1980. Since at the time there were only two national TV networks, the rating was high. The show was dubbed, and the title was translated in Italian into ''
I Ragazzi del Sabato sera'' (''Saturday Night Guys''), clearly aiming to build on the success of ''
Saturday Night Fever'' by presenting the show as some sort of prequel.
*In
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
, the show was screened on
ANT1
Antenna, better known as ANT1, is a television network airing in Greece. The alternate spelling is wordplay in Greek; ''ena'' (ένα) is the Greek number ''1'' (one), thus ''ANT1'' is pronounced the same as ''Antenna'' (Αντέννα). It laun ...
in the summer of 1992, on a morning slot (07:30).
After the show
Kaplan welcomed back Hegyes and Jacobs on his short-lived 1981 sitcom ''
Lewis & Clark''. Their characters joked that Kaplan seemed familiar and, being a smart guy, "should become a teacher."
In 1997, Ron Palillo, Robert Hegyes, and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs reprised their respective roles in a dream sequence in the ''
Mr. Rhodes'' episode "The Welcome Back Show".
In 2012, both Ron Palillo and Robert Hegyes died.
Other members of the cast who have died include Marcia Strassman in 2014, John Sylvester White in 1988, and Debralee Scott in 2005. , Gabe Kaplan, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs and John Travolta are the only main actors still living.
Reruns
In March 2016, the show aired on
MeTV
MeTV, an acronym for Memorable Entertainment Television, is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Marketed as "The Definitive Destination for Classic TV", the network airs a variety of classic television program ...
Sunday mornings at 8:00 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. In September 2017,
Antenna TV
Antenna TV is an American digital television network owned by Nexstar Media Group. The network's programming consists of classic television series, primarily sitcoms, from the 1950s to the 1990s. Antenna TV's programming and advertising operati ...
began airing the show weekdays at 6:30 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. Eastern.
See also
* ''
Head of the Class
''Head of the Class'' is an American sitcom television series that ran from 1986 to 1991 on the ABC television network.
The series follows a group of gifted students in the Individualized Honors Program (IHP) at the fictional Millard Fillmor ...
'' (1986–1991)
References
External links
*
*
{{John Sebastian
1975 American television series debuts
1979 American television series endings
1970s American high school television series
1970s American sitcoms
1970s American workplace comedy television series
1976 comics debuts
Comics based on television series
DC Comics titles
American Broadcasting Company original programming
English-language television shows
Television series about Jews and Judaism
Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios
Television series by The Wolper Organization
Television shows set in Brooklyn
American teen sitcoms
Television series about educators