Welcome Back, Kotter: Close Encounters of the Carvelli KindABC
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....
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