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Travel back to a time when sitcoms were recorded live on tape before a studio audience and dialogue was dominated by nonsensical catch phrases, like "Up your nose with a rubber hose!" and "Off my case, potato face!" The year was 1975. Saturday Night Fever had yet to make John Travolta a star, and stand-up comedian-turned-creator Gabe Kaplan had yet to become a late-night poker mainstay. Welcome to four years at Brooklyn's Buchanan High School.
Along with What's Happening, Welcome Back, Kotter was what the cool kids were watching--just as their kids would turn to Freaks and Geeks in the years to come. Unlike the teens of Happy Days, Buchanan's remedial students aren't polite preppies, but slang-slinging hooligans. Gabe Kotter (Kaplan) serves as home-room teacher to a "pack of howling baboons" led by Vinnie Barbarino (Travolta), Arnold Horshack (Ron Palillo), Freddie "Boom-Boom" Washington (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs), and self-described Puerto Rican Jew Juan Epstein (Robert Hegyes) Their adversary: Vice Principal Woodman (John Sylvester White), who lives to put a kibosh on their high jinks--just as he did when Kotter was a Sweathog in the 1960s.
Other regulars include Kotter's wife, Julie (Marcia Strassman, who hosts the featurette "Only a Few Degrees from a Sweathog"), and Rosalie "Hotzy" Totzy (Mary Hartman's Debra Lee Scott). At the time, Welcome Back, Kotter was more than just a show. It was a cultural phenomenon, spawning lunch boxes, schoolyard taunts, and the like. In retrospect, the jokes are cornier than ever, but the anything-goes spirit--crazy costumes and musical numbers--is hard to resist. At least that's true of the first three seasons. By the fourth, Travolta and Kaplan became scarce, and Kotter ran out of steam. Rest assured, though, that John Sebastian's clap-happy, chart-topping theme remains as catchy as ever. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.8 out of 5 stars (61 customer reviews)
25 of 28 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Welcome back, To that same old place that you laughed about., May 2 2007
By James Ferguson - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Welcome Back Kotter: The Complete First Season (DVD)
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.
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
UP your Nose with laughter, Jun 18 2007
By Bennet Pomerantz "Bennet Pomerantz, AUDIOWORLD" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Welcome Back Kotter: The Complete First Season (DVD)
If you want to laugh and keep laughing, this is the DVD box set for youWelcome 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
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Show, Unusually Good DVD Release!, Nov 16 2008
By Retro_Saiyan - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Welcome Back Kotter: The Complete First Season (DVD)
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.
Listmania!
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