Retro Television Review: Welcome Back Kotter 4.23 “The Bread Winners”

Posted on April 12, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Saturdays, I will be reviewing Welcome Back Kotter, which ran on ABC from 1975 to 1979. The entire show can be purchased on Prime.

This week, we finally finish this show up.

Episode 4.23 “The Bread Winners”

(Dir by Norman Abbott, originally aired on June 8th, 1979)

Epstein is excited about getting a job working at an antique store. However, a chance meeting with the store’s owner leads to Freddie getting the job instead. Epstein gets upset and, after a tense confrontation at the Horshack residence, Epstein challenges Washington to a boxing match at the local gym. However, once at the gym, Epstein and Washington realize that they’re friends. They care about each other. They’re not going to let a little thing like a job come between them. The owner of the gym is so moved that he gives Epstein a job.

And so ends Welcome Back, Kotter. After 95 episodes, Kotter ends not with a bang but with a definite whimper. We don’t even see the Sweathogs defy the odds by finally graduating. It’s an underwhelming finale but apparently, it was made when there was still the possibility of a Kotter spin-off, which would have focused on Horshack and his marriage to Mary. This episode also sets up the possibility of a show featuring Washington working at the antique store or even Epstein working at the gym. (Henry Beckman plays the owner of the gym while Priscilla Morrill plays the owner of the antique store and both of them get a lot more dialogue and character-building moments than the guest stars typically got on Kotter.)

On the plus side, the show did manage to get nearly the entire cast to show up for the finale. Barbarino is absent, of course. But Gabe Kaplan makes one of his rare appearances, giving Washington some advice on how to make up with Epstein. Julie shows up at the beginning of the show but, noticeably, Marcia Strassman doesn’t share any scenes with Kaplan. John Sylvester White, as Woodman, gets to do his crazed laugh one last time. Beau gets a few lines of dialogue. We get a peek at Horshack’s homelife with Mary and even Epstein’s girlfriend, Kelly, shows up for a few scenes.

Again, this was an underwhelming finale but that makes sense when one considers that season 4 was an underwhelming season. Looking over this show, the first two seasons were the best. During those seasons, the show had a bit of an edge and the actors really seemed to be trying to ground their outlandish characters in at least a hint of reality. The third season saw the show turn into a living cartoon and Kotter never really recovered. By the fourth season, the actors cast as the Sweathogs were too old to still be playing high school students, Kaplan was refusing to appear on the show that was based on his stand-up act, and way too much time was wasted on Julie getting upset and glaring at people.

Well, we’re done with Welcome Back, Kotter. Next week, a new show will premiere in this time slot. It’s been a while since I started a new show so I’m looking forward to finding one that will be a slight change of pace. What will the show be? Check here next Saturday to find out!

Retro Television Review: Welcome Back, Kotter 4.22 “I’m Okay, But You’re Not”

Posted on April 5, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

We’re nearly done.

Episode 4.22 “I’m Okay, But You’re Not”

(Dir by Norman Abbott, originally aired on June 1st, 1979)

The next-to-last episode of Welcome Back, Kotter centers on Beau, the Southern transfer who was introduced as a replacement for Barbarino. This is only the second episode to focus on Beau and it aired right as the show was about to end. Judging from some of the comments made in the episode and the fact that no mentions that Horshack is now married, I’m going to guess that this episode was probably originally meant to air earlier in the season.

Anyway, the Sweathogs read their student evaluations when Julie, for some reason, leaves Arnold in charge of the office while she goes to another classroom to get a skirt that’s been hemmed for her by the Home Economics teacher. Why Julie couldn’t have just gotten the skirt after the students had left for the day isn’t really clear. The Sweathogs are not happy to discover that Woodman hates all of them except for Beau. Beau, looking to prove that he’s not Woodman’s favorite, steals Woodman’s pants (Woodman is asleep at his desk) and runs them up a flagpole. He also rings the fire alarm. Woodman is forced to put on Julie’s skirt before leaving his office.

(What about Gabe? Gabe is nowhere to be seen. Gabe became assistant principal and then stopped hanging out at the school.)

Beau confesses that he was behind the prank. Woodman says that it’s honorable for Beau to take the blame but he knows that Epstein, Washington, and Horshack are to blame. Woodman gives the three “bad” Sweathogs detention. There’s something inherently weird about watching three actors in their 30s complain about getting detention. So, Beau again says that he was solely responsible and then insults Woodman until Woodman snaps, gives Beau three weeks detention, and promises that he’ll be keeping on eye on everything Beau does.

Good luck with that, Woodman. The show’s nearly over!

Poor Stephen Shortridge. He wasn’t a bad actor but the character of Beau was never that clearly defined and, even worse, Shortridge was brought in to replace Travolta’s Barbarino. The show never figured out what to do with Beau and he ended up as something of a footnote in the show’s history.

This episode was just dumb. It’s the type of episode that the show did well when it first started, back when the Sweathogs were still plausible as being high school students and when Travolta and Gabe Kaplan were still willing to appear on the show. But, by the time the fourth season rolled around, the cast was too old to be playing high school pranks and neither Barbarino nor Gabe were around anymore.

Next week, the show finally ends!

Retro Television Review: Welcome Back Kotter, 4.21 “Ooh Ooh, I Do: Part Two”

Posted on March 22, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Wedding bells are ringing!

Episode 4.21 “Ooh Ooh, I Do: Part Two”

(Dir by Norman Abbott, originally aired on May 25th, 1979)

Horshack’s getting married!

For some reason, the Sweathogs throw him a bachelor party in Barbarino’s trashy apartment. Barbarino isn’t there. I assume he’s at work or maybe he finally moved back in with his family after realizing just how ugly and depressing his apartment was. Seriously, I will never understand why a show would try to get viewers invested in such an ugly location.

Anyway, the bachelor party is a bust. Epstein dresses up in drag and dances for Horshack. The Sweathogs love it. Horshack loves it. But then the Sweathogs make a joke about how Horshack and Mary Johnson are going to be so poor that Mary is going to have to get a job washing bricks to support them. Horshack realizes that they’re right. He’s getting married in high school and he has absolutely zero marketable skills. In fact, he’s such a weirdo that most people go out of their way to avoid him. How is he going to support Mary?

Horshask freaks out and runs away. After Mary shows them the note that Horshack left, in which he said that he was running away to become the type of man who could support her, the Sweathogs search all over Brooklyn for him. Epstein goes to a Marine recruiting station. Washington and Beau …. eh, I watched this show like 20 minutes ago and I’ve already forgotten what they did. That’s how well-written this episode was. Mary, however, knows that Horshack’s favorite movie is Wuthering Heights so she finds him at the local move theater.

They get married! The ceremony is small and pathetic. I don’t think a single member of Horshack’s family showed up. Gabe does show up and, when the Sweathogs realize that Horshack needs a ring to give Mary, Gabe gives up his own wedding ring. Julie approves. They’re probably going to get divorced as soon as the show ends.

Gabe, who is usually portrayed as being very concerned with the future of his students, is totally cool with Horshack getting married while still a high school student. At no point does he suggest that Horshack might be rushing into things or that a stunted manchild who can’t get a job might not be a good husband. This was one of Kaplan’s rare appearance during the final season of the show but he doesn’t act much like the Mr. Kotter that we got to know over the previous three seasons. It’s kind of like when Steve Carell came back for The Office finale and only said one line. It just doesn’t feel right.

Apparently, this episode was meant to a backdoor pilot for a series that would have focused on Horshack and Mary. I can’t imagine that working, though I would say that Mary and Horshack do look cute together at the end of the episode.

Speaking of endings, there are only two more episodes left! Will the Sweathogs finally graduate? We’ll find out!

Retro Television Review: Welcome Back Kotter 4.20 “Oo-Oo I Do! Part One”

Posted on March 15, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Horshack makes a decision about his future.

Episode 4.20 “Oo-Oo I Do! Part One”

(Dir by Norman Abbott, originally aired on May 25th, 1979)

Horshack is shocked to suddenly realize that he has a girlfriend. To be honest, I think everyone’s a little shocked. Horshack doesn’t exactly come across like someone that anyone would want to have a romantic relationship with. He’s not particularly handsome, he’s got that terrible voice, he’s got those weird personal habits, and he’s like 50 years old and still in high school.

Still, when Horshack learns that he’s going to be transferred to another school because his mother married a blackjack dealer in Atlantic City, Horshack asks Mary Johnson to marry him. And Mary says yes.

NO, MARY! RUN, MARY, RUN!

So, let’s just consider this. One reason why Gabe Kaplan refused to appear in much of season four is because the show’s producers refused to consider his suggestions that the Sweathogs should graduate high school and move on to City College. But the producers were totally willing to have Horshack get married while in high school. Sure, that makes sense. Admittedly, people do get married in high school but few of them would marry Arnold Horshack. Plus, most high school marriages — at least in my experience — involve an unexpected pregnancy and it’s hard to view Horshack as being anything other than asexual. He’s just too weird a character for a episode dealing with real things, like love and marriage. I could buy Epstein getting married. I could buy Washington getting married. Beau …. sure, I could buy that. What would have been really cool would have been if one of Travolta’s episodes had featured him getting married. Even better would have been an episode where Gabe and Julie got divorced. Seriously, it would have made more sense than someone voluntarily saying, “I want to spend the rest of my life with the school weirdo.”

This is the first part of a two-part episode. If I’m not saying much about this episode it’s because this episode was 75% Horshack and Horshack annoys the heck out of me. When the show began, he was weird but he wasn’t quite as cartoonish as he became in the third and fourth seasons. This whole marriage two-parter was apparently a backdoor pilot for a show about Horshack adjusting to married life. Seriously, out of all the Sweathog, that’s the one they wanted to spin-off?

(What’s annoying is that occasionally –– like in this episode where Horshack was drinking — Ron Palillo would get a chance to show that he actually wasn’t a terrible actor but the show’s writers usually did him absolutely no favors.)

This episode really showed how far the show had fallen. Horshack is getting transferred to a new school and Gabe is nowhere to be seen. Horshack is getting married and again, Gabe is nowhere to be seen. It’s Welcome Back, Horshack now and the Sweathogs are truly doomed.

Retro Television Review: Welcome Back, Kotter 4.18 “The Sweat Smell of Success”

Posted on February 22, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Buchanan High is in chaos! Only one man can save the day but he’s not around anymore.

Episode 4.18 “The Sweat Smell of Success”

(Dir by Norman Abbott, originally aired on March 3rd, 1979)

Where is Mr. Kotter!?

I mean, don’t get me wrong. I know why Gabe Kaplan was hardly ever on the show during the fourth season. He was annoyed that the network refused to allow the Sweathogs to graduate from Buchanan High, despite the fact that the actors playing the Sweathogs were all in their late 20s and early 30s. He was not happy about working with Marcia Strassman. And he was shooting a movie for a good deal of the fourth season. Kaplan felt that he moved on from the series and as such, he allowed his character to become vice principal and kept his appearances on the show to a minimum,

But, in the narrative of the show, where is Mr. Kotter? Usually, someone will mention that he’s out of town or busy with school business. In this episode, he isn’t even mentioned. It’s kind of disturbing how he’s vanished and no one seems to care. The Sweathogs need his guidance and this episode, as dumb as it was, features a plot that feels like it would have been perfect for Mr. Kotter’s corny jokes and gentle mentoring. Even more importantly …. who is the song welcoming back? Kotter’s gone! He’s not around to be welcomed back!

As for this week’s episodes, it appears that the show’s writers finally remembered that, at the start of the season, each of the Sweathogs was assigned a job around the school. Freddie and Horshack run the school store. Meanwhile, Epstein is in charge of the audio visual department. But he sucks at his job so Woodman reassigns him to the school paper. Horshack’s girlfriend, Mary Johnson, edits and writes the paper and is very earnest in her efforts to make the paper something worth reading. That’s quite a chance from the Mary who tried to kill herself just a few episodes ago.

Anyway, Epstein turns the paper into a tabloid. He suggests that Julie is having an affair with Woodman. (“She’s not my type!” Woodman declares, “Too tall!”) He writes about Freddie Washington wore diapers until he was six months old. Epstein describes Horshack as being a diva. Epstein says that Beau is a member of the Ku Klux Klan. He says….

WAIT! WHAT!?

Okay, one of these stories is far worse than the others. Washington did wear diapers when he was a baby and Horshack is a diva and Julie probably is cheating on Gabe. But Beau is a member of the Klan? Where did this come from? “I’m going to need a police escort to go home tonight,” Beau says while the audience laughs.

Seriously, don’t just toss around Klan accusations, folks. It’s just common sense.

Anyway, Epstein’s friends get mad at him so Epstein quits the paper after publishing an expose of himself on the front page. He returns to the audio visual department. He still sucks at his job and I guess Mary is back to having to write, edit, and publish the entire newspaper by herself. Is this a happy ending?

Well, at least Beau didn’t get killed.

Next week, it’s time for the school talent show! Wow, Mr. Kotter would have loved that. RIP.

Retro Television Review: Welcome Back, Kotter 4.16 “The Goodbye Guy”

Posted on February 1, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Epstein gets a story of his very own.

Episode 4.16 “The Goodbye Guy”

(Dir by Norman Abbott, originally aired on February 1oth, 1979)

Barbarino is gone. Gabe is gone. It’s Epstein’s turn to step up and become the center of the show.

Epstein is upset because he has wrestling tickets but the other Sweathogs all have dates for the evening, For some reason, Epstein decides to go the Kotter apartment even though Gabe is — *ahem* — out of town. Was Epstein planning on asking Julie to go see a wrestling match with him? We’ll never know because Julie is not at the apartment. She’s at the faculty dance with Mr. Woodman.

Mr. Woodman’s niece, Kelly (Georganne LaPiere), is at the apartment, babysitting the rarely-seen Kotter twins. (I was actually starting to think that Gabe might have abducted the twins and moved to Long Island with them, it’s been so long since we’ve seen or heard from any of them.) Kelly is a college student but she looks considerably younger than Epstein, who is supposedly just a high school senior. That said, it’s love at first sight between Kelly and Epstein. Mr. Woodman’s not happy about that and orders Kelly to stay away from the Sweathog. So, of course, Kelly moves in with Epstein.

It’s as culture clash, of course. Kelly is smart and sophisticated. Epstein has been in high school for ten years and says that his dream is to own a fleet of dump trucks. After Kelly laughs at his dream and Epstein makes a scene at a vegetarian restaurant, it looks like their love might be doomed!

Well, that happens when you move in with someone after knowing them for two hours….

“I’m going to miss you, Fido,” Epstein says after they have one final conversation in the high school courtyard. The audience says “Awwwww!” but I think Kelly made the right decision to walk way because Epstein is never going to graduate high school. The show’s producers obviously intended to keep the Sweathogs in that school forever. Add to that, how can you love a guy who nicknames you after a dog?

Speaking of nicknames, why does Epstein tolerate being called “Little Juan” by Horshack? When this show began, Epstein was the most dangerous and unstable of the Sweathogs. He was the one who was voted most likely to take a life. I remember at least a few episodes where he brought a knife to school. Epstein was always on the verge of exploding, which made his character an interesting one. If Kotter could reach Epstein, he could reach anyone. But now, Epstein is just as bland and well-behaved as everyone else in the show. It’s a shame.

Oh well. At least Woodman was happy by the end of this episode.

We’re nearly done with this show! Only a few more episodes to go. Will Gabe ever return? We’ll find out.

Retro Television Review: Welcome Back Kotter 4.15 “Barbarino’s Baby”

Posted on January 25, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, a longtime Sweathog makes his final appearance.

Episode 4.15 “Barbarino’s Baby”

(Dir by Norman Abbott, originally aired on February 3rd, 1979)

This episode was John Travolta’s final appearance as Vinnie Barbarino. That means no more visits to his ugly apartment, no more confusion as to whether or not Barbarino is actually still enrolled in high school, and no more of John Travolta trying his best to give a good performance while the rest of the cast sleep walk through their roles. Seriously, you have to admire that Travolta was still trying to give a good performance even under the weird circumstances of the fourth season. The studio audience was going to cheer no matter what Travolta did. Travolta could have just shrugged off the entire show and character. I’m sure the temptation to do so was there. Instead, he did his best.

His final episode really isn’t worth the effort, though, Barbarino wants to get promoted from scrubbing the floors of the hospital to working in the emergency room. The head nurse says that there’s no way someone as dumb as Barbarino could be trusted in the ER. Barbarino asks Mr. Woodman to write a letter. Julie takes it upon herself to call the hospital and put in a good word for him. As for Gabe …. he’s not in this episode. Gabe does nothing!

Maybe Barbarino would get promoted if his idiot friends weren’t always hanging out at the hospital. Seriously, does that group have nothing better to do than hang out in the world’s ugliest medical facility? Couldn’t they go hang out on Christopher Street with Horshack or something? Remember when the Sweathogs were an actual gang who committed crimes? Epstein was once voted most likely to kill someone. Freddie used to get accused of stealing every other week. Beau showed up and they all got wimpy.

Anyway, Barbarino and the Sweathogs get on an elevator with a pregnant woman. The elevator stops between floors. The woman goes into labor. Time for Barbarino and the Sweathogs to deliver a baby …. *sigh*. Seriously, there is nothing more stress-inducing than the idea of a bunch of 30 year-old high school students delivering a baby. The important thing is that the head nurse is able to talk Barbarino through the delivery and Barbarino gets his promotion! Barbarino is going to the ER! That’s good news for Horshack because there’s no way he’s not going to end up getting his stomach pumped in the ER eventually.

And that’s John Travolta’s final episode of Welcome Back, Kotter. It’s a bit of a let down, considering how important the character of Vinnie Barbarino was to the success of the show. Imagine if The Office finale only allowed Michael Scott to appear for two minutes and only gave him one line of dialogue? THAT WOULD BE INSANE!

I can only wonder what the rest of this show is going to be like without Kotter and Barbarino. My fear is that it’s going to involve a lot of Horshack, We’ll find out. There’s only a few episodes left!

Retro Television Review: Welcome Back, Kotter 4.14 “Bride and Gloom”

Posted on January 18, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, it’s Welcome Back Barbarino!

Episode 4.14 “Bride and Gloom”

(Dir by Norman Abbott, originally aired on January 13th, 1979)

Epstein needs a favor from Barbarino. Remember the time I saved your life? Epstein asks. No, Barbarino replies. Well, no matter! Epstein is still intent on getting to Barbarino to pay him back marrying Epstein’s Guatemalan cousin, Angelina (Rachel Levario). Angelina needs her citizenship so Vinnie just needs to stay married to her from three days and then they’ll get a divorce and Vinnie can continue to date Nurse Sally (Linda McCullough). (“What you’re doing is so noble!” Sally tells Barbarino. I am not sure I would have the same reaction to my boyfriend announcing he was marrying someone else.)

Julie and Woodman tell Barbarino that he’s too young to get married and it’s somewhat jarring to remember that Barbarino and the rest of the Sweathogs are still just supposed to be high school kids. (John Travolta was the youngest member of the cast but, by the time the fourth season rolled around, even he looked too old to be hanging out at Buchanan High.) Gabe is not around to provide any advice and I don’t think this episode even bothered to come up with an excuse to explain his absence.

Angelina does not speak a word of English so Epstein serves as the translator while she and Barbarino fight about the wedding. Angelina wants a nice wedding. Barbarino just wants to get it over with. They compromise by holding the ceremony in Barbarino’s ugly apartment. (If the show couldn’t even spend the money to convince Gabe Kaplan to appear in the show that he was starring on, there was no way they were going to splurge for an extra set.) The guests are the Sweathogs and Julie and, for some reason, Mr. Woodman. Babarino and Epstein both have huge families but none of them show up for the wedding. I guess hiring extras would have cost money. The show did hire an actor to play the priest so that was good of them.

Does Vinnie Barbarino get married? No. Angelina changes her mind and marries a musician instead. Barbarino can go back to dating Sally and I guess Gabe will just hear about it later at dinner.

“I’m so confused!” Barbarino says at one point and the audience goes wild. Even though Travolta spent this episode looking like he was pretty much over the whole thing, the studio audience was happy to see him. The show’s greatest strength, at this point, was Travolta but this episode also shows the limits of the show’s format. Barbarino had to be both a high school student and a green card groom. It felt odd and kind of unpleasant.

Finally, why is Barbarino’s apartment is always so filthy? I get that he’s supposed to be poor and living in New York but seriously, couldn’t they have swept the set occasionally? The sight of that apartment always depresses me.

This episode features the cast going through the motions and, as was often the case with season 4, it’s obvious that no one really wants to be there. I certainly didn’t want to be there! Next week features Barbarino’s final appearance on the show. Soon, Vinnie will be free.

Retro Television Review: Welcome Back Kotter 4.13 “A Winter Coat’s Tale”

Posted on January 11, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s Christmas time!

Episode 4.13 “A Winter Coat’s Tale”

(Dir by Norman Abbott, originally aired on December 16th, 1978)

This week’s episode opens with Vinnie Barbarino in his awful little apartment and the audience goes crazy. This episode, which aired a year after the release of Saturday Night Fever, makes full use of John Travolta and his charm. By the time the fourth season began, Travolta looked too old to still be in high school and, having become a movie star, he was only available for a limited number of episodes. This led to a weird compromise where sometimes Vinnie was apparently still a student at the school and then, in other episode, he was a drop-out who had gotten a job as an orderly at the hospital. To give credit where credit is due, John Travolta (along with John Sylvester White) appears to have been the only member of the cast who still making an effort during the fourth season. While the other Sweathogs all seemed to be bored and Marcia Strassman seemed to be annoyed and Gabe Kaplan wasn’t ever around most of the time, Travolta alone still seemed to to be the only cast member with any enthusiasm for delivering the show’s silly punchlines.

As for this episode, it’s a Christmas episode. Yay! I love holiday specials! This one is kind of a depressing Christmas episode because Gabe Kaplan is nowhere around. Seriously, how burned out do you have to be to not even make an appearance during a Christmas episode? I mean, the show was based on his stand-up act. He was the Kotter of the title. I’ve read that Kaplan was frustrated that the network refused to allow the Sweathogs to graduate high school. He understood that the actors were all getting too old for the high school storylines that they were being given. Kaplan’s idea was for the Sweathogs to graduate and enroll in community college. The network turned him down and, as a result, Kaplan only made a few appearance during the final season of the show he inspired.

Instead, in this episode, it’s Julie who is seen teaching in Gabe’s old classroom. I am really confused as to what Julie’s exact job was during season four. Previously, she’s been Woodman’s secretary. And occasionally, she’s acted like a guidance counselor. Now, suddenly she’s a teacher. The inconsistency of it is just annoying and again, it suggests that no one on the show really cared that much.

As for the episode’s plot, Vinnie bought himself a fake camel hair coat for Christmas. Unfortunately, during a fire drill, it got trampled. Vinnie tried to take it to a dry cleaner’s, just for it to be stolen by two muggers who Vinnie described as being “gorillas.” Later, the muggers returned the coat to Vinnie’s apartment and they turned out to be two kids. Vinnie, realizing that the kids had even less than him, gave them a coat for Christmas. Unfortunately, he accidentally gave them Woodman’s coat instead of his. Yes, Mr. Woodman and the Sweathogs were all visiting Vinnie’s apartment for Christmas. Poor Mr. Woodman. The episode confirmed that he had nobody in his life.

Usually, I like anything involving Christmas but this episode featured a bit too much Horshack (his Christmas poem made me want to throw away my laptop) and very little of the type of clever humor that made the first two seasons enjoyable. I think graduation would have been the best present this show could have given the Sweathogs.

Retro Television Review: Welcome Back Kotter 4.12 “A Little Fright Music”

Posted on January 4, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome back to Brooklyn.

Episode 4.12 “A Little Fright Music”

(Dir by Norman Abbott, originally aired on December 2nd, 1978)

Sick and tired of Mr. Woodman insisting on ending the monthly “Parents’ night” meeting by singing the old and outdated school song, Freddie takes it upon himself to rewrite the school song. He keeps the original melody but updates the lyrics to make it clear that Buchanan High is a “groovy alma mater.” When recording star J. Bubba-Hampton (Sip Culler) overhears Freddie singing the song, he decides he wants to buy it and release a disco version on his next album,

The only problem is that Woodman wrote the original song and, since Freddie kept the melody, Freddie has to get Woodman to sign off on selling the new version of the song. At first, Woodman refuses but then he realizes that he could make a lot of money off the deal. Woodman agrees and puts on a scarf and sunglasses. He’s a star now, after all.

For some reason, J. Bubba-Hampton agrees to bring the contracts over to the Kotter apartment so that Woodman and Freddie can sign. However, when Bubba-Hampton mentions that Woodman actually plagiarized the song from a 1930s tune written by Irvine Russell, Woodman is stunned. It turns out that Woodman had no idea that he did that. Woodman feels that it would be unethical to sell the song. Freddie agrees. J. Bubba-Hampton says, “I’ll just have to find another song for my album,” and leaves the apartment. Julie suggests that maybe the school could have two songs. Everyone ignores her. Gabe then says that maybe the school could have two songs and everyone agrees. The look of absolute hatred that Julie directed towards Gabe was one of the funniest things about this episode.

For a fourth season episode of this show, A Little Fright Music was not that bad. For one thing, it featured Mr. Kotter from beginning to end and, watching this episode, I realized that, even if he wasn’t exactly the greatest actor in the world, Gabe Kaplan’s presence really was one of the keys to the show’s earlier success. Kaplan was naturally funny whereas Marcia Strassman, who filled the role that Kaplan normally would have filled for many of the fourth season episodes, was not. This episode also gave John Sylvester White and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs a chance to take center stage. John Sylvester White’s unhinged Woodman has always been one of the best things about this show.

Horshack is not present in this episode and he’s not missed. Unfortunately, Barbarino is also not present. Seriously, this would have been a perfect episode for Barbarino. Julie is also present, which means we get another chance to watch Gabe Kaplan and Marcia Strassman struggle to pretend to like each other. Julie’s new short haircut always makes it appear as if Kotter has divorced his wife and is now sharing his apartment with a teenage boy.

Gabe gets to tell a joke at the end of this episode. His Uncle Seymour dug up Schubert to see if he could find the Lost Symphony. Shubert said, “Go away. Can’t you see I’m decomposing?”