Welcome Back Kotter!

[lester1/2jr]

[claws]

 

[Flick James]

With the Sweathogs

[Flick James]

Just think about how culturally diverse the Sweathogs were.

Vinnie Barbarino - catholic Italian-American
Arnold Horshack - Polish-American I'm guessing, and a goofy nerd
Freddie "Boom Boom" Washington - funky African-American
Juan Epstein - Puerto Rican Jew. They managed to fit two distinct ethnic groups into a single character. Gotta give the writers credit for that.

[Hammock Rider]

Nowadays Gabe plays a good deal of Poker. I've seen him on some of the televised poker events. He's pretty good.



Back then I had a thing for Mrs. Kotter. I always thought she was too good for him.

[ulthar]

Up Your Nose With a Rubber Hose, Mr. Kotteeeer!

[lester1/2jr]

I remember one time Epstein did a graffiti mural of Mrs Kotter nude. When asked why he said "she's the only girl I know who's flat"

[indianasmith]

I used to watch every episode, and then call my girlfriend to tell her the joke that they ended the episode with (for those who never watched the series, it ALWAYS ended with Gabe Kaplan telling his wife a joke!).  My girl (now my wife) always watched the show too, but I talked her into turning it off at the end so I could tell her the joke instead . . . not sure why I did that.

[HappyGilmore]

Great show.

Loved the one, where I believe Horshack tried some drugs.  The Sweathogs tried to tell him to stop and Barbarino's running around, showing him what it's like on drugs.  He's stumbling around, with a deep voice "Gimme drugs, gimme drugs."

Not as funny READING it, but seeing Travolta stumbling around was brilliant.

[RCMerchant]

Lawrence (Boom Boom Washington ) Hilton Jacobs appeared in the obscure KILLER DRAG QUEENS ON DOPE(2003)
A little useless information youll never use.
But to wit...I yusta love that show.

[Umaril The Unfeathered]

I always watched it when it was on, during it's original run. What a great show,
and who'd have thought that John Travolta was headed for super-stardom?  Not to mention Ron Palillo (Horshack) was killed by Jason in the third F-13 movie, if I remember right.

You don't have that sort of thing today...teachers would never bend that far for their students, or if they did, would do so at the risk of discipline by the schoolboard.

Gabe Kotter was a teacher the kids could come to, and usually did, when they needed him. I always used to like it when the Sweathogs would come thru his window outside the fire escape and pile into his house. As stressing as their realtionship was sometimes, they had that mutual love and respect that always won the day over any other feelings they may have had for each other.

5 stars! 

[10,000 Volt Ghost]

I remember when Jason killed Horschack. :(

Me and my friends were watching the poker tour around 2002 at 3am and we're drinking. I noticed Gabe Kaplan was the anouncer/commentator and tried to persuade my friends it was him.

[Umaril The Unfeathered]

I remember when Jason killed Horschack. :(

Me and my friends were watching the poker tour around 2002 at 3am and we're drinking. I noticed Gabe Kaplan was the anouncer/commentator and tried to persuade my friends it was him.

I've seen the picture of Mr. Kaplan that was a few posts up, and what a change from 1977.  Naturally, people change as the years go by, but he looks a bit worn out in that picture.

That picture of him back in the original day (in the inaugural post)  makes me a bit moist in the eyes, knowing 33 years have gone by in what seems to be a blink of the eye.  But moreso, I'm waxing nostalgic and those days were such good ones, not like today.

But we knew things would change anyway, it's just how it goes. But we have some great memories though, don't we?   

[Umaril The Unfeathered]

Just think about how culturally diverse the Sweathogs were.

Vinnie Barbarino - catholic Italian-American
Arnold Horshack - Polish-American I'm guessing, and a goofy nerd
Freddie "Boom Boom" Washington - funky African-American
Juan Epstein - Puerto Rican Jew. They managed to fit two distinct ethnic groups into a single character. Gotta give the writers credit for that.

Yeah, Juan Epstein was quite a character stretch. There again, in real life you had Sammy Davis Jr. who was part Jewish.

Some real-life combinations are stranger than the fictional ones, and I mean that jokingly and not in a racial format.   Juan Epstein, though.....

[The Burgomaster]

I own the Season 1 DVD set . . .