Welcome Back, Kotter: The Complete Series (DVD Review)
- Review Date: Aug 13, 2024
- Format: DVD
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Director
VariousRelease Date(s)
1975-1979 (June 11, 2024)Studio(s)
The Komack Company/Wolper Productions (Warner Home Video)- Film/Program Grade: B-
- Video Grade: B-
- Audio Grade: B
- Extras Grade: F
Review
Welcome Back, Kotter ran on the ABC Network from September, 1975 through May, 1979. Created by stand-up comedian Gabe Kaplan and Alan Sachs, the show takes place at the fictional James Buchanan High School in Brooklyn. Gabe Kotter (Kaplan) returns to teach at the school he graduated from ten years earlier. Hired for the remedial academics class, known as “sweathogs,” he finds himself faced with a disorderly, ethnically diverse class. Principal Woodman (John Sylvester White) has low expectations of both Kotter and the class of social misfits, but Kotter is determined to overcome all obstacles.
Each of the shows opens with a montage shown behind the credits that features glimpses of the Bensonhurst neighborhood where Kaplan grew up. These include the West End elevated subway line, the fruit and vegetable stores on 86th Street, and New Utrecht High School, Kaplan’s own alma mater. The opening sequence is underscored by the show’s theme song, Welcome Back, written and sung by John Sebastian.
The pilot episode, also called Welcome Back, focuses on Kotter’s first day at the school. Principal Woodman reminds Kotter that he was once in the remedial academics class and created a good deal of trouble. Now he’s come full circle, returning to teach a similar group of kids. Among his students are Epstein (Robert Hedges), Freddie “Boom Boom” Washington (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs), Arnold Horshack (Ron Palillo), and ringleader Vinnie Barbarino (John Travolta). The kids are completely out of control and make Kotter’s first day miserable. At home, he complains to his wife, Julie (Marcia Strassman), but they need his salary, so he vows to stick it out. Meanwhile, a contingent of sweathogs climbs into their apartment through the open windows “to see how Kotter lives.” Amazingly, Kotter isn’t overly upset at this invasion of privacy and Julie actually likes the kids.
An episode from Season 2, The Great Debate, pits the sweathogs against the school’s debate team, headed by Mr. Wells (James Woods). The topic: Humans Are Naturally Aggressive. The sweathogs win by driving the star debater from the opposing team into a rage, demonstrating people’s inherent propensity for aggression. In this episode, Kotter and his wife are alone and he tells her a long, involved joke in the opening segment and another in the closing segment.
The success of the show is based on the ensemble, each character distinctive. Other sweathogs usually filled out the classroom but were essentially extras. Later on, some additional regulars were added to the cast, including Vernee Watson (1975-1977), Catarina Cellino (1975-1976), and Stephen Shortridge (1978-1979), but they were tangential to the stories. It was the original sweathogs who dominated.
During the run of the show, Travolta had scored big successes with the movies Carrie, Saturday Night Fever, and Grease, so his schedule was reduced to occasional appearances, for which he was billed as “Special Guest Star.” In the Season 4 episode The Barbarino Blues, Vinnie, living in his own apartment, is nervous because the girl he’s been dating is getting serious, but she breaks up with him and shatters his self-confidence. The sweathogs encourage him to see other women, but he takes to drinking, hangs around in his pajamas, and lets himself go. To cheer him up, the sweathogs treat him to a chorus of High Hopes. In this episode, Kotter doesn’t appear and Julie Kotter is now employed at Buchanan High. The audience reaction is especially enthusiastic during this episode since its focus is on newly-minted movie star John Travolta.
Another Season 4 episode, A Little Fright Music, deals with Buchanan High’s school song. Principal Woodman composed it years earlier and insists that parents and students sing it on Parents Night, but the song is corny and Freddie writes new lyrics to the dusty tune. A big music star wants to record Freddie’s version, which Woodman is against until he realizes there’s a lot to be made in royalties if the song hits the charts. The big reveal: Woodman had plagiarized the melody. Woodman is portrayed as a clownish figure in this episode, an obvious attempt to rob the character of his dignity.
Other notable episodes include One Flu Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Season 1). A flu epidemic requires several advanced students to join Kotter’s class and they quickly outshine the sweathogs. Kotter boosts his students’ self-confidence by demonstrating that not all intelligence is derived from books. In Sadie Hawkins Day (Season 2), the girls ask the boys to the school dance. Everyone, including Horshack, has a date—except Barbarino. Hello Ms. Chips (Season 2) finds a student teacher assigned to Kotter’s class discovering that traditional teaching methods don’t work with the sweathogs. She adopts Kotter’s style but it, too, fails to work for her.
In the two-parter And Baby Makes Four (Season 3), the Kotters prepare for the birth of their baby and the sweathogs learn that Barbarino has been left back in the 10th grade. When Julie goes into labor, Kotter waits nervously to hear whether the baby is a girl or a boy and is stunned to learn that he’s the father of twin girls. Beau’s Jest (Season 4) was likely an attempt to fill the void left by John Travolta’s departure from the show. New Buchanan High student Beau DeLabarre from New Orleans uses his southern charm to hit on several girls, including Juan’s girlfriend. Juan retaliates, and then Beau sets him up with a girl who has a jealous husband.
As for the show’s lasting quality, Gabe Kaplan tosses out one-liners constantly, and even does a pretty good impression of Groucho Marx. Jokes that might have worked back in the mid-1970s seem terribly stale and forced now. The actors do their best, but they’re only as good as the material, which seldom rises above mediocre.
Inevitably, over the course of the sitcom’s run, there were changes. Travolta left the show. The Kotters had twins. Various cast member came and went quickly, none lasting more than two seasons. Kotter was promoted to vice principal. The sweathogs got part-time jobs, with Vinnie becoming an orderly at a nearby hospital.
During the show’s original run, ABC programmed it on five different nights, though there was some resistance in Boston to carrying the show as the city was going through a controversial busing program that led to protests and riots. Because of this, the Boston affiliate felt that Kotter’s fictional integrated classroom would worsen the situation. Teachers in some cities were concerned about how Kotter would be portrayed, so a union representative was allowed on set to ensure the show did not hurt the image of the profession. When the show became an early ratings success, however, and it was clear that the stories were not at all controversial, concerns abated.
Welcome Back, Kotter: The Complete Series is available as a 12-DVD set from Warner Bros. All 95 episodes of the four-season run of the show are included, 3 discs per season. A guide in the DVD case identifies each episode by season and title, but doesn’t provide any synopses. The show was shot on video before a live audience using the three-camera system, and later presented on television in 4x3. Lighting is flat for the most part and not much effort is made for atmospheric lighting.
There are no bonus materials included, despite having been previously released on DVD by Shout! Factory with the retrospective featurette Only a Few Degrees from a Sweathog, and a set of screen tests for the actors. Shout! also spread the show across 16 discs instead of 12. As this is the third DVD outing for this show, perhaps it’s time for it to make its way to Blu-ray.
- Dennis Seuling