Welcome Back, Kotter: The Gang Show

Welcome Back, Kotter: The Gang Show
ABC
March 17, 1979
Sitcom
DVD
C-

This Perret & Richmond episode may well be the least funny episode of the series, and not just the jokes that are supposed to be unfunny.  (The studio audience would disagree with me, since they're still reacting a lot, one guy even yelling out, "The watch.")  The only thing saving it from a D+ or lower is that Fleischer is good on the guitar and harmonica.  Note that it's been about a year and a half since the Three Do's and a Don't talent-show episode, which looks classic compared to this.

Della Reese returns as English teacher Mrs. Tremaine.  It's a pity she had to guest on such sub-par episodes, because it would've been fun to see her and Kaplan working together in, say, Season Two.  Strassman is again absent, as are of course Kaplan and Travolta.  Note that this is the last appearance of Carvelli & Murray, who did not prove to be shark-bait in themselves but on the other hand didn't exactly save the series either, harmonica aside.

Welcome Back, Kotter: The Sweat Smell of Success

Welcome Back, Kotter: The Sweat Smell of Success
ABC
March 3, 1979
Sitcom
DVD
C+

This Barret & Bloom has Juan unable to run a projector, although he managed fine on the "adult film" episode, and working on the school paper, with no mention of his previous stint.  It is nice to see Mary Johnson get a little more character development, as editor of the paper.  Gabe and Vinnie remain absent.  This is the 1200th program I've reviewed and we're not even out of the '70s.

Welcome Back, Kotter: Come Back, Little Arnold

Welcome Back, Kotter: Come Back, Little Arnold
ABC
February 24, 1979
Sitcom
DVD
C-

This is the sort of thing that gives the phrase "A Very Special Episode" such negative connotations.  Arnold starts drinking and has an extreme mood change, in a very short period of time.  The Hawkins & Sage script is over the top, but Palillo's performance makes things worse, especially his reading of "Don't go away mad.  Just go away."  (Some blame is due to the director, Abbott.)  Arnold accidentally punching his girlfriend Mary in the face would've been the low, but them kissing soon after (never mind her injured jaw) is worse.  The episode is almost saved by Della Reese's performance as Mrs. Jean Tremaine, the English teacher, her first of two appearances in the role, hence C- rather than D+ or worse.  Note that even the prom is held in the schoolyard.

Not only Kaplan and Travolta are absent but also Strassman.

Welcome Back, Kotter: X-Rated Education

Welcome Back, Kotter: X-Rated Education
ABC
October 28, 1978
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Even though this has Carvelli, Murray, and Beau, with no Kotter or Barbarino, this is pretty good.  Yes, it's predictable (you can hear the studio audience reacting to the "twist" a scene or two before it happens), but I do like how Julie and Juan handle the situation and how the emphasis is on their friendship, so that she's not just Mrs. Kotter but has a bond with the Sweathogs besides through her husband.  Plus, Horshack's reactions to the movie are cute.

Jenna McMahon, who wrote one Bob Newhart Show episode and appeared in a different one, here plays Mrs. Zugler.

Welcome Back, Kotter: The Sweatmobile

An increasingly rare sight.

Welcome Back, Kotter: The Sweatmobile
ABC
October 9, 1978
Sitcom
DVD
B-

I'd give a B to this Hawkins & Sage story if one, it didn't have the Carvelli & Murray frame around a perfectly fine narrative about the four basic Sweathogs buying a car from Vinnie's shady Uncle Lou, who promptly gets into a car accident, and two, if it had Kaplan, or at least a less pathetic device of Julie being the office secretary and Gabe off at an all-day conference upstate.  OK, I did think "Burger Czar where the burgers are" was clever, but not enough to be repeated a couple times.  As far as where we are in this season's scrambled chronology, we're somewhere after C & M transfer to Buchanan but before Beau does.

Welcome Back, Kotter: The Drop-Ins, Part 2

Welcome Back, Kotter: The Drop-Ins, Part 2
ABC
September 11, 1978
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This aired the same night as Part 1, and maybe they were once a one-hour special, but they're split into two now (including at IMDB).  Perret & Richmond wrote this part, too, and it is an improvement, partly because there are some actually funny moments, like when Epstein, Washington, and Horshack fill out hospital job applications.  (Freddie's middle name is Percy, after his grandfather.)  Vinnie turns out to be an orderly, and he and the others drop back into school after briefly dropping out.  Note that Mr. Kotter is still teaching a few classes, including still the Sweathogs' History class.

Marian Collier, who was Sally Combs on Gidget, is Nurse Baker here.  Strassman is absent from this part.

Welcome Back, Kotter: The Drop-Ins, Part 1

Welcome Back, Kotter: The Drop-Ins, Part 1
ABC
September 11, 1978
Sitcom
DVD
C+

"...And Special Guest Star John Travolta" is one of the signs we are in a new season.  There are other changes, from Woodman replacing the retiring Principal Lazarus and Kotter getting the Vice Principal's job, to Julie's decidedly un-hippie new look.  Vinnie shows up almost literally at the last minute, claiming he's quit school and has a wonderful job in the hospital.  Oh, and Carvelli and Murray have transferred to Buchanan.  And someone at ABC got a new toy that summer, producing some visual effects in the opening credits and the scene transitions.  None of this in itself means shark-bait, but it doesn't bode too well either.

Note that WBK was moved from its Thursday slot to Mondays at 8 p.m., opposite among other things WKRP and Little House on the Prairie.  I think I did disloyally watch the opposition sometimes, although I mostly hung in with what till this point had been my favorite TV show.  Of course, Mork & Mindy showing up Thursdays on ABC would soon change that opinion.

This is the first of five episodes Bill Richmond and Gene Perret co-wrote.  Norman Abbott, who directed the "locket" episode of The Brady Bunch, would direct all of this last season for WBK.

Welcome Back, Kotter: Close Encounters of the Carvelli Kind

Welcome Back, Kotter: Close Encounters of the Carvelli Kind
ABC
May 18, 1978
Sitcom
DVD
C

This Bloom & Bloomberg story has a few strikes against it: it includes Carvelli & Murray but no Epstein (Hegyes directs though), it makes it quite clear that it's all Kotter's daydream (with cuts to Kaplan looking out the window between scenes), and it's chintzier on its space aliens than The Brady Bunch was four years earlier.  (We don't even get a cardboard spaceship!)  On top of that, some of the jokes fall flat.  It's not fourth-season terrible-- the twist with Julie is cute-- but it's definitely one of the weaker season finales I've seen.

Not counting the three episodes I'm missing, Season Three of Welcome Back, Kotter ranges from C to B, with a B- average.  Although the show isn't as fresh and lively as it was in the first couple seasons, it still has its moments, especially where character development and humor come through.  It is possible that I'm remembering Season Four as worse than it was, but we won't have long to wait to find out, since WBK has the earliest season debut of the seven regular series I'll examine for '78-'79....

Welcome Back, Kotter: A Sweathog Christmas Special

Welcome Back, Kotter: A Sweathog Christmas Special
ABC
December 15, 1977
Sitcom
DVD
C

The main thing this clip show establishes is that the writing was often better in the first season, as in the "sit-in" episode and the one where Epstein was ashamed of losing a fight to Todd.

I'm tagging Watson and Scott but not Lembeck because she's not in my edited copy.  Charles Fleischer is in two clips as Carvelli, with his sidekick Bob Harcum as Murray in one.  There's no sign of the twins, although Gabe again tells a joke to Santa.  Mel Stuart (of Willy Wonka) co-wrote (with Eric Cohen), produced, and directed the new segments of this episode.

Welcome Back, Kotter: Horshack vs. Carvelli

Future shark-bait or more tolerable
than Beau?  Only time will tell.

Welcome Back, Kotter:  Horshack vs. Carvelli
ABC
December 9, 1976
Sitcom
DVD
C+

Notable things about this episode:

• Twenty-seven-year-old Garry Shandling wrote the script (he'd previously written a bit for Sanford and Son);
• Uncredited co-writers Mark Evanier and Dennis Palumbo play Dino "Crazy" Delaney and Delaney's Probation Officer respectively;
• This is the episode that introduces Carvelli (played by Charles Fleischer, who'd later voice Roger Rabbit) and his annoying sidekick Murray (Bob Harcum);
• Kristine Greco again plays a female Sweathog, one of the Cheerleaders;
• Strassman is absent;
• Bonzo Moretti committed an act of cannibalism; 
• and most of the episode takes place in the schoolyard.