Teringer An Exercise In Nonsense

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Asad Almond A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

fspappa I can't believed I saw this one. Gabe Kaplan can't act and should have stuck to stand up. Immature, unfunny catchphrases and dialogue. It I wanted to see the Marx Brothers, I watched their classic movies and not have Kotter and the class doing impressions. John Travolta and the others made high school look stupid. Horseshack and his laugh were funny for a while but now, it hurts my ears when I hear it. This show was also sexist. The female characters weren't developed and were reduced to stereotypes. His wife would have a life outside the apartment and Helaine Lembeck was a very pretty woman and should have more to do. A TV classic? I don't think so. 40 years and it shows that it fails big time.

funky_cherry86 Besides All In The Family Welcome Back Kotter was without a doubt one of the funniest sitcoms to ever hit television screens during the 1970's and still remains a classic. I used to watch this a lot as a teenager and then it was removed from the afternoon line up on channel 54, this show helped to launch the career of many especially John Travolta who instantly became a super star.Gabe Kotter, (Kaplan) an understanding teacher returns to his old school James Buchanan High in Brooklyn to teach a remedial class and social studies to a new generation of troublemakers called the Sweathogs. They are a group of unteachable and underachieving young men led by Vinnie Barbarino (Travolta) a funny guy with tons of insults. Juan Epstein, (Hegyes)a Puerto Rican Jew, ultra cool Freddie Boom Boom Washington (Jacobs) and big nerd Arnold Horshack (Palillo). Kotter once a sweat hog himself tries to use his own experiences to get through to his students but they're often interrupted by Mr. Woodman (White) the cranky principal.By the second season Gabe and his wife Julie (Strassman) became the proud parents of twin daughters and she became a teacher at Buchanan High. At the start of season 3 Vinnie graduated from high school and a new guy Beau De Labarre (Shortridge) was introduced into the Sweathogs he too was a troublemaker.Season four was a little boring without the presence of Kaplan and Travolta however the main highlight was when Arnold fell in love and married his girlfriend Mary Johnson (Arranga)at the end of the series. My favorite characters were Horshack who had this laugh that sounded more like wheezing and Epstein who always had excuse notes to get out of anything. For fans of old classics pick up a copy of Welcome Back Kotter season 1 now out on DVD it's sure to bring laughs.

Syl As an aspiring school teacher in an urban public school, my local Warner Brothers station affiliate WPIX Channel 11 airs Welcome Back, Kotter followed by other seventies' sitcoms, The Jeffersons, The Odd Couple, and Taxi (all shows set in New York City) but what a night to watch television --Saturdays from 8-10PM. After watching several episodes of Welcome Back, Kotter, I am exploring the possibility of using this show as an educational tool in the secondary classroom. Welcome Back, Kotter is about those disadvantaged students like me to show that they can succeed with a teacher who believes in them. Besides they have an excellent cast led by Gabriel Kaplan (whatever happened to him?), Marcia Strassman who plays his loving wife Julie, and the students or sweat hogs known as John Travolta playing Barbarino, Ron Palillo playing the lovable Horshach, and others like Juan Epstein (a Puerto Rican Jew) and others. The sweat hogs were not the high achieving students and looked down upon by other students. I can't wait for this show to come on DVD.

sparkie-1 This was a great series. Most of Kotter's jokes were so corny, but ya just gotta laugh anyway. This was made back when they knew how to make a sitcom, something the whole family can enjoy (yes that means it's safe for parents too). The "Sweathogs" always crack me up. Myself, also put in remedial education during high school could relate to a lot of it also. Great writing and acting has made this show a classic.