Customer Reviews

Welcome Back, Kotter: The Complete First Season

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It has been years since I last saw "Welcome Back, Kotter." It is a real treat to see it coming out on DVD. No one could have imagined the break out star John Travolta would become, trading in his tight t-shirt for a white leisure suit, as Gabe Kaplan fights to hold his own against an unruly class of "Sweathogs," who fall below the curve of Buchanan High School. This was the first high school comedy to capture a gritty urban feel. Room 222 had its moments but was sticky sweet by comparison. Gabe Kaplan drew on his life experiences, which had been the fodder of his stand-up routines, to capture a lively classroom of remedial kids led by Vinnie Barbarino. They manage to stay one step ahead of Vice Principal Woodman (John Sylvester White), but Kotter knows the tricks all too well, having been a sweathog himself in his youth. Robert Hegyes, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs (who enjoyed a brief celebrity of his own) and Ron Palillo round out the motley crew, representative of the racial diversity of the school. Marcia Strassman is wonderful as Kotter's wife, Julie, who has to listen to his daily accounts each evening, reminiscent of the bed conversations between Bob and Emily Newhart. The show had a good run of 4 seasons, which is appropriate given that it was a high school comedy. And, don't forget the wonderful theme song by John Sebastian.

I guess you could say I'm picky with DVD releases, but this one was quite good. The theme song is intact, the studio audience laughter is still there and the episodes are mostly complete, with the episodes usually running from 24-25 minutes. It's always annoying when a show is released on DVD but is badly edited, glad to see they left this show mostly intact. The price is also quite good, you get 22 episodes, compared with some DVDs which contain 15 at a higher price (I'm looking at you, Paramount). Picture quality is decent, certainly not the level seen in "I Love Lucy" or "MASH" but those shows were done on film, and considering this show was done on tape I'd say it's pretty good. As for the humor, well taste is subjective but I enjoyed this even if I didn't quite get the occasional topical joke, with much of it being quite watchable.

If you want to laugh and keep laughing, this is the DVD box set for you

Welcome Back Kotter was a cross between the Blackboard Jungle mixed with the Marx Brothers and Burns & Allen. The jokes were recycled Marx Brother msterial, but Gabe Kaplan (who created this show with Alan Sacks, based this on his stand up act) and crew made this stuff work.

And by crew, I mean actors John Travolta (pre Saturday Night Fever/Grease), Robert Hegyes, Lawrence Hilton Jacobs and Ron Palillo (as his students-the Sweathogs), Marcia Strassman (as Julie Kotter) and John Slyvester White (as Mr. Woodman). These actors keep this pace fun and well timed

A friend remarked I have not laughed that hard in years..and so will you. This perfect Family fare for all ages. It may be from 1975, but you could run it today and everyone would still enjoy it, GREAT STUFF

Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD

Let's face it, "Welcome Back Kotter" was the REAL "That 70's Show" - the inner city urban version. You may not remember, but originally the pilot is shown as the third episode of the season, so hopefully that confusing situation will be remedied on the DVD. I can't remember the last time I even saw this show in syndication on channels such as Nick at Nite that specialize in dusting off old sitcoms unseen for years. The comic premise of the show is that Gabe Kotter, newly graduated from college and certified to teach, has returned to teach the same remedial class of high school misfits of which he was a member ten years earlier. Vice Principal Woodman, who was the object of Gabe's torments and jokes ten years earlier, is still employed at the high school and gives Gabe this job as the ultimate irony and revenge for what Gabe had put him through. Of course, this show is sugar-coated compared to the real problems and issues of a New York City public school in a poor neighborhood, but it had to be since this was a sitcom, not a drama. The show had a great cast playing great characters - there was Horshack, the class nerd with the nasal laugh; Barbarino, the cool maverick who was a little slow on the uptake; Epstein with the mixed Latino/Jewish heritage and the great excused absence notes signed by "Epstein's mother", and last but not least, Washington. There was a great common enemy in Mr. Woodman, who you couldn't help but feel a little sorry for. Finally, the show had a great location in Brooklyn and a memorable theme song by John Sebastian that you are much more likely to hear today than see the show from whence it came. For three wonderful seasons from 1975 to 1978 it was a comedy classic. But, alas, all things must come to an end.

After John Travolta starred in the back-to-back hits of "Saturday Night Fever" and "Grease", he would hardly return anyone's phone calls, much less show up for work on a regular basis. Thus the fourth season not only jumped the shark, it pretty much made it over the Gulf of Mexico. What was really going on behind the scenes in 1978, if I remember correctly, was a bruising battle of the egos catalyzed by Travolta's new-found superstar status. To compensate for all the turmoil and in-fighting among the cast, Kotter is made vice-principal to explain all of Gabe Kaplan's absences, then the show added Stephen Shortridge as an entirely inadequate placeholder for Travolta. The final straw was when the show seemed to be endorsing the marriage of two high-schoolers - Horshack and Mary - and then Horshack began drinking heavily afterwards.

The irony is that the stardom status for everyone involved instantaneously evaporated after the show that their egos destroyed was cancelled in 1979. The only one to ever recover their stardom was Travolta, and then it took ten years before he could even land a job playing straight man to a talking baby ("Look Who's Talking"). I hate to sound bitter, but it's hard not to be considering what a great show it was during the first three seasons of its all too-brief four season run.

Of course, the issue of the RIAA and copyrighted music comes up once again. Shall we hear the classic "Welcome Back" theme song in the opening of each episode, or shall tinny sounding synthesizer music replace it? I hope they don't ruin this DVD like they did with the Bonanza set I bought in which every trace of David Rose's original theme and background music had been erased from the DVD. There's nothing quite like the sight of Little Joe riding into the sunset to the Sound of Muzak, and I can't imagine Welcome Back Kotter without John Sebastian's award winning song opening and closing each episode.

This show had it all, most importantly a great opening theme, and a wonderful cast. This show skyrocketed the career of one, John Travolta and had some great one-liners such as "Up your nose with a rubber hose", "What, Where" and "Hi There".

It's great to finally have this great series on DVD after many years of waiting. So sit back and enjoy some classic television.

Ah, simpler times. Watching the first season of Welcome Back, Kotter and hearing the strains of John Sebastian's theme music after all these years, takes one back to a time when John Travolta was just starting out (before Grease and Saturday Night Fever made him a superstar). The success of the show made him a star and you can see it in his performance - he steals practically every scene he's in. However, the show was co-created by Gabriel Kaplan and based largely on real people he knew growing up in Brooklyn and would riff on in his stand-up routines before being discovered.

Mr. Kotter and his wife, Julie (Strassman) live modestly (he's a struggling new teacher after all) in a one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn with a sofa bed which gives this sitcom a touch of realism that was popular in the 1970s (see All in the Family). Each episode is bookended by Gabe telling Julie a funny story about a member of his family that feels like a stand-up bit complete with a cheesy punch-line that takes us to the opening or closing credits. The attention to realism continues in the classroom with grimy walls adorned with graffiti - exactly as you would expect a tough, Brooklyn high school classroom would be. It is a sharp contrast to the silliness of the storylines and escapades of the Sweathogs.

The show has one of the catchiest theme songs in the history of T.V. It was composed and performed by John B. Sebastian (formerly of The Lovin' Spoonful). It is simple yet effective with riffs and lyrics that stick in your head in such a way that it is impossible not to find yourself humming it hours afterwards.

Welcome Back, Kotter would go on to influence future sitcoms like Head of the Class that ended up replacing the Sweathogs with brainiac kids and softened any edges to reflect the conservative 1980s. More recently, one only has to look at Ashton Kutcher's Kelso in That `70s Show to see him basically playing a Vinnie Barbarino for the New Millennium.

The first disc includes a retrospective featurette entitled, "Only a Few Degrees from a Sweathog" hosted by Marcia Strassman. There are new interviews with all of the Sweathogs minus Travolta (big surprise, there), Strassman and Kaplan (time has not been kind to him...ouch!). The Sweathogs actors talk about the quick success of the show, how they were cast and some of their experiences on it. However, this featurette lacks the depth and the dirt dished on the two-hour E! True Hollywood Story that aired several years ago. Hopefully, this will be included on a future release.

The third disc includes the original screen tests for all the Sweathogs and Strassman. It's pretty obvious why these actors were cast as they all nail their respective characters by inhabiting them so well. Interestingly, Robert Hegyes tried out for Barbarino but he just doesn't do it the kind of justice that Travolta did.

I can't wait to get this and I know that I will watch it over and over. It is my all time favorite and I plan to purchase additional seasons as they become available!!

"Welcome Back, Kotter" is my favorite sitcom of all time. I was ten years old and in the fifth grade when it premiered, and every kid watched it. When we weren't driving our parents and teachers crazy singing commercials, yelling "Dyn-o-MITE!" or trying to figure out the Laverne and Shirley chant, we were coming up with different versions of "Up your nose with a rubber hose," writing fake notes, wheezing, saying "Hi there!" or talking in bad Brooklyn accents. I liked all the Sweathogs, but Horshack was my favorite - I thought he was cute. Thus it was with a mixture of excitement and worry that I bought the first season on DVD. Would this show hold up in the 2000s, or was it never really funny in the first place?

I was thrilled to find out that I still enjoyed the vast majority of the first season of "Kotter." When any of the Sweathogs are on the screen, it's a joy - they played off each other so well and obviously enjoyed working together. The telethon episode, when the guys do a song-and-dance version of "Me And My Shadow," led by a very young John Travolta as Barbarino, had me laughing so hard I was crying.

Also fun are the episodes in which Horshack (who's still cute) gets promoted out of the class and hates it, where Epstein cares for his pets, where the class has a sleep-over at the school and gets into a surprisingly philosophical discussion for low-achieving students, where Washington thinks he's going to be a basketball star, and where Mr. Woodman becomes a nice guy - temporarily. And you can't forget the Barbarino dance, which would show up later in a few other movies. When I was younger, I never caught all the old Hollywood allusions they make - someone is always imitating the Marx Brothers, James Cagney, George Burns, etc. The low points of the episodes include Gabe's uncle jokes, which open and close every show, and almost any scene between Gabe and Julie or Gabe and Mr. Woodman - but that's why we have scan buttons on our DVD players, so we can forward to the next Sweathog appearance.

The DVD includes two extras - a documentary about the show, in which almost all the actors discuss their memories of their time on the set, and the original screen tests for the actors. Here, we see Robert Hegyes auditioning for Barbarino and playing him as a scary tough guy (he didn't realize he had actually been cast as Epstein until he arrived for the first day of rehearsal), and Ron Palillo presenting a more shy and quiet version of Horshack. I wish there had been bloopers, out-takes, cast commentary tracks, or participation by John Travolta, but hopefully some of those would be included in the Season Two release.

Dear Mr. Kotter: Please excuse Becky for being so happy that "Welcome Back, Kotter" is still as funny as she remembered it as a little girl. Signed, Becky's mother's daughter.

I had just started high school when this show came out and it was very popular. I had seen a compilation of various shows on DVD and it was very good. I looked forward to Kotter being released in its entirety. I have not been disappointed. I still like it and so do my kids. Everyone knows the main characters and all their catch phrases. So simple, but so funny. The first season will also show Debralee Scott who, in 1976, began playing Mary Hartman's sister.

A blast from the past and good clean 70's fun.

Hullo. Howahya?

Brilliant work from the entire cast. Wondering what deals with devil Bobby (genius) Hegyes, Larry Jacobs and Marcia (I feel so horrible lusting after her, but I can't help it. She's still GORGEOUS) Strassman struck as I watched the retrospective feature AND THEY STILL LOOK THE SAME NOW AS THEY DID WHEN I WAS A TODDLER!

If you don't remember a time when Travolta was skinny and not buying into L. Ron Hubbard's Scientology rubbish, or when Gabe Kaplan wasn't doing poker matches, this is a good refresher. If you loved this series in its original run or in the reruns, what are you waiting for? The comedy still holds up.

Signed,
epsteinsmutha