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

Posted on January 11, 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.

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?”

Retro Television Review: Welcome Back, Kotter 4.11 “Frog Day Afternoon”

Posted on December 14, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Horshack takes center stage. You’ve been warned.

Episode 4.11 “Frog Day Afternoon”

(Dir by Norman Abbott, originally aired on November 25th, 1978)

This week’s episode of Welcome Back, Kotter does not feature Mr. Kotter.

It does not feature Vinne Barbarino.

It doesn’t even feature Beau, the new Sweathog.

It does feature a lot of the show’s two most annoying characters, Arnold Horshack and Julie Kotter.

Horshack doesn’t want to dissect a frog because he’ll be required to kill the frog before cutting it open. Did they really used to require students to personally kill their own frog in biology class? That’s a little extreme. I always assumed that everyone just got frogs that were already dead.

Julie, of course, support Horshack’s right to not open up a frog and argues with Woodman about it. I’m not really sure what Julie actually does at the school. Sometimes, she appears to be a guidance counselor. Other times, she appears to be a receptionist. She’s been called Woodman’s “secretary” a few times but we don’t ever actually see her doing any sort of secretarial work. I guess that, when Gabe Kaplan announced he wouldn’t be appearing in the majority of the 4th season episodes, they had to put Julie in the school so that there would still be a Kotter in Welcome Back, Kotter. But Julie’s originally from Nebraska so it’s not like she’s the one being welcomed back to Brooklyn.

Anyway, Horshack argues that frogs don’t get a say in whether or not they want to die and he refuses to kill them. His teacher (Dena Dietrich) says that she’ll have to give Horshack an F. Washington says, “You better lay one of those F’s on me too.” Epstein also decides to take the F. The entire class is so moved by Horshack’s stand that they all ask for an F as well!

Normally, this would be very moving but since every student at the school appears to be in their 30s, it’s pretty obvious that none of them are that worried about their grades. When you’ve already been held back twelve times, it’s not like another F is going to make a difference.

This episode …. yech. I mean, to be honest, I had sympathy for Horshack’s position. I certainly wouldn’t want to kill a frog or any other animal and I agree that students who object should be given an alternative assignment. I mean, unless you’re planning on actually going into the medical field, I don’t really see what the point is in dissecting things in school. But Horshack has become such an annoying character that it didn’t matter that I agreed with him. I just wanted him to stop talking!

During the first season, Ron Pallilo actually did a pretty good job playing Horshack. Horshack was strange but he wasn’t a cartoon. But that changed somewhere around the middle of the second season and, with each episode since then, Horshack has progressively become more and more annoying. He’s not a proper replacement for Barbarino.

Anyway. bless the frogs. They’re nice creatures if you don’t bother them.

This is my final Welcome Back, Kotter review of 2024. These reviews will resume after the holidays, on January 4th.

Retro Television Review: Welcome Back, Kotter 4.10 “Washington’s Clone”

Posted on December 7, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Washington gets an admirer.

Episode 4.10 “Washington’s Clone”

(Dir by Norman Abbott, originally aired on November 11th, 1978)

Arthur (Ron Dennis) is a nerdy student who worships Freddie and desperately wants to be a Sweathog. When Freddie tells Arthur that he’s too smart and clean-cut to be a Sweathog, Arthur reacts by dressing like Washington and trying to act just like Washington. At first, the Sweathogs are amused and Washington is slightly flattered. But then Washington discovers that Arthur is stealing watches and selling them in the school courtyard. Washington tells Arthur that Sweathogs don’t commit crimes, which is certainly a change from the first season of the show.

After Julie tells Washington that Arthur’s grades are slipping and he’s throwing away his future, Washington goes to Barbarino for advice. The audience goes crazy for Babarino’s cameo but I have to admit that I cringed the whole time. I don’t like the idea of Barbarino working in the hospital. Every time Barbarino makes an appearance, he’s making life difficult for a patient. In this case, he spends so much time thinking about Washington’s problem that he doesn’t realize he’s spilling food all over a hungry man in a hospital bed. It was nerve-wracking to watch and not particularly funny.

(Again, in all fairness, it’s hard for me to see any scene set in a hospital room without thinking about my Dad. So, your mileage may vary as far as Barbarino’s cameo is concerned. For me, it still hits too close to home.)

Eventually, Washington and the other Sweathogs dress up like members of a street gang (which, again, is what the Sweathogs were supposed to be during the first two seasons of the show) and they tell Arthur that he’s going to have to help them attack Mr. Woodman in order to become a Sweathog. (Uhmm …. this seems like a bad idea.) Arthur says he has no problem with that but, in the end, he defends Woodman when the Sweathogs pretend to attack him. Arthur goes back to being himself and somehow the Sweathogs are not expelled. Julie tells them that she “can’t believe I’m saying this,” but she’s mildly impressed with how they handled Arthur. Julie is even bitchier without Gabe around than when he was forcing her to listen to his jokes.

Indeed, Gabe does not appear in this episode and there’s no reference made to where he might be. You would think that, being vice-principal, he would be the one who would be talking to Arthur about his grades. Gabe Kaplan, of course, was not on the show because he was upset that the network and their refusal to allow the Sweathogs to graduate high school. In-universe, one can only guess that Gabe Kotter just doesn’t like to come out of his office.

For a fourth season episode, Washington’s Clone wasn’t bad. Ron Dennis’s performance as Arthur made me smile. The fact that he was dramatically shorter than Washington made his attempts to imitate Washington a lot more humorous than they would have been otherwise. Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs gave a good performance as Washington, even if his sudden concern about following the law went against everything that the show had previously established about the character. This episode was amusing (with the exception of Barbarino’s cameo) and Horshack didn’t say much. You can’t complain about that.

Retro Television Review: Welcome Back Kotter 4.9 “The Barbarino Blues”

Posted on November 23, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Well, they tease him a lot …. even though he’s not longer on the spot….

Episode 4.9 “The Barbarino Blues”

(Dir by November 3rd, 1978, directed by Norman Abbott)

Gabe Kaplan is not in this episode but John Travolta is. The audience goes wild when they see John Travolta stepped onto the soundstage. Maybe they were worried they were going to get stuck watching one of the episodes in which Barbarino doesn’t appear.

Well, no worries for them! This episode is all about Barbarino and the Sweathogs. Unfortunately, the majority of it takes place in Barbarino’s incredibly ugly and dirty-looking apartment. I don’t know why but every 70s sitcom appeared to take place in the filthiest locations possible. I saw an episode of All In The Family recently and I found myself cringing at the thought of all the bugs and weevils that were probably buried in Archie Bunker’s chair. Welcome Back Kotter takes thing even further by having Vinnie live in what appears to be the drug room in an abandoned building. Joe Buck and Ratso lived in a nicer place.

Anyway, Barbarino is depressed. He was going to break up with his girlfriend but she dumped him first. “I’m so depressed!” Travolta says, in his high-pitched Barbarino voice. The other Sweathogs try to help Barbarino conquer the blues. This means that a good deal of the episode is taken up with Beau giving advice to Barbarino. The whole thing is set up as a changing of the guard sort of thing. It’s as if the show is saying, “You think John Travolta’s cool? Well, check out Stephen Shortridge!”

It’s a dumb episode. At one point, the Sweathogs point out that Barbarino hasn’t come to school in three days and it was a bit jarring to be reminded that the middle-aged-looking men were all supposed to be high school students. Usually, whenever this show had a bad episode, John Travolta would serve as Welcome Back Kotter‘s saving grace. But, with this episode, Travolta appears to be as bored as just about everyone else. Travolta had movie stardom to focus on. By the time this episode aired, he had been nominated for an Oscar. It’s probably safe to say that being a Sweathog was the last thing on Travolta’s mind.

Speaking of the Sweathogs, I have defended Ron Pallilo’s performance as Horshack in the past. Yes, Horshack is annoying but Pallilo occasionally managed to capture the character’s sweet and innocent nature. But I have to admit that I’ve spent most of the fourth season hoping that someone will finally toss Horshack off the Brooklyn Bridge. Everyone turned into a caricature during the fourth season and, since Horshack was already a caricature, that just made his character even more annoying. There’s also the fact that Ron Pallilo was 30 years old during the fourth season and he looked older. Whenever he did Horshack’s signature laugh, the wrinkles on his face would suddenly appear and make him look like a map of the interstate highway system.

I guess my point is that this is another episode that left little doubt that it was time for everyone to move on. I mean, when even Kotter isn’t around to be welcomed back, it’s time to graduate and start a new life as a featured player Off-Broadway. To quote the Chambers Brothers: “TIME!”

Retro Television Review: Welcome Back, Kotter 4.8 “X-Rated Education”

Posted on November 16, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Gabe Kaplan is missing.

Episode 4.8 “X-Rated Education”

(Dir by Norman Abbott, originally aired on October 28th, 1978)

Epstein, because he’s apparently the only student who works in the audio-visual department, is setting up the projector in the classroom so that it can be used to show a sex education film. Carvelli and Wilbur enter the room and announce that they have a pornographic film that they want to watch. Horshack and Washington then show up and decide that they want to watch the movie as well, even though Horshack doesn’t seem to be quite sure what an adult film actually is.

(Horshack also now appears to now be about 50 years old. The Sweathogs are aging …. fast!)

Epstein says that they can use a different projector to watch the pornographic film. The Sweathogs and Carvelli head off to the storage closet while Julie takes the first projector to the office so that she can show the sex ed film to a bunch of parents who are not sure they want their children taking sex ed.

You can guess what happens, can’t you? The two films get mixed up. The Sweathogs end up watching the tame sex ed film. Horshack becomes obsessed with the butterfly that is featured in the film. The protesting parents watch the adult film and demand that both Julie and Woodman be fired. Can Julie talk Epstein into explaining what happened even though it’ll mean that Epstein will be running the risk of being expelled? Much like Horshack, Epstein appears to be 50 years old in this episode so maybe getting expelled would be good for him at this point.

This episode raises a simple question. Is it really an episode of Welcome Back, Kotter if Kotter isn’t around to be welcomed back? Gabe Kotter is not in this episode and his absence is neither mentioned nor explained. (Off-screen, Gabe Kaplan was not happy with the show’s direction and refused to appear in all but a handful of season four’s episodes.) It’s a shame because the plot of this episode does actually feel like a throw back to the type of first and second season episodes that Kaplan usually did quite well with. Instead of Kaplan’s understanding but firm Gabe Kotter, we get Julie telling Epstein to tell the truth and negotiating with the parents. Julie now works at the school but I’m not totally sure what her job is actually supposed to be. Sometimes, she appears to just be Woodman’s administrative assistant. Other times, she appears to be a guidance counselor. Sometimes, she’s a teacher. Julie usually gives good advice but she’s an outsider and it’s obvious that, unlike her husband, she would never consider herself to be a Sweathog. Whereas Gabe talks to the Sweathogs, Julie often seems to be talking down to them.

This episode also suffers due to the fact that Barbarino is not present, even though the idea of the Sweathogs watching a sex education film seems like a classic Barbarino plot. Robert Hegyes is the main Sweathog now. He was a good actor but he was also way too old, at this point, to be playing a high school student. Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs continues to be underused and Ron Pallilo performance as Horshack has grown more and more grating as the fourth season has progressed.

In the end, only John Sylvester White’s unhinged performance as Woodman remains a consistent source of laughs on this show. Woodman is not quite as antagonistic towards Julie as he is towards Gabe but his constant bitterness is still a lot of fun to watch. Maybe they should have renamed this show Welcome Back, Woodman.

Anyway, this was another fourth season episode that fell flat because the Sweathogs and Julie all seemed like they would rather be anywhere than appearing on Welcome Back, Kotter. Seriously …. let the Sweathogs graduate!

Retro Television Review: Welcome Back, Kotter 4.7 “Barbarino’s Boo-Boo”

Posted on November 9, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Welcome Back Kotter death march continues.

Things have really been going downhill since Howard Golden replaced Sebastian Leone.

Episode 4.7 “Barbarino’s Boo-Boo”

(Dir by Norman Abbott, originally aired on October 21st, 1978)

Mr. Woodman’s going into the hospital to have a bunion removed. Unfortunately, it’s the same hospital the employs Vinnie Barbarino. The head nurses gives Barbarino a lot of instructions. “I’m so confused!” Barbarino says. The audiences goes wild. Barbarino wheels Mr. Woodman into an elevator but then get distracted by a Spanish woman (played by Jeannie Linero, who also played Lucy Mancini in The Godfather) looking for the maternity ward. “Do you speak Italian?” Barbarino asks. The elevator doors close. Woodman is missing! For some reason, the other Sweathogs — including Beau — show up at the hospital and start wandering around, helping Barbarino look for Woodman. Eventually, Gabe and Julie show up. Gabe Kaplan and Marcia Strassman stand next to each other but refuse to look at each other. The hatred is palpable.

I watched this episode and I said to myself, “I paid two bucks for this?”

Seriously, I am really annoyed that Tubi took Welcome Back, Kotter off of its service. Admittedly, it’s not a big deal, having to pay two bucks for the few remaining episodes that are left to review. I can more than afford it. It’s not so much cost as much as it’s just the idea of spending any amount of money to watch something this bad. I had read that Welcome Back, Kotter really declined during the fourth season. Apparently, Gabe Kaplan was no longer getting along with the show’s producers. The Sweathogs were all being played by actors who were way too old to pass for high school students. (In this episode, even Travolta looked way too old to be playing a teenager.) Marcia Strassman was reportedly miserable and didn’t even want to be in the same room as Kaplan. The ratings were going downhill. The show’s biggest draw, John Travolta, only agreed to appear in a handful of episodes. It’s understandable the Season 4 would see a decline in quality but nothing could have prepared for me for just how bad this episode was.

John Travolta is usually the show’s saving grace but even in this episode, he seems bored and more than a little annoyed with having to take a break from Hollywood stardom to play Vinnie Barbarino. The studio audience goes crazy when Travolta enters a room and they love his “I’m so confused!” but Travolta himself seems like he’d rather be anywhere but there. The same is true of the other Sweathogs, all of whom clearly seem to be ready to move on to other projects. Out of the cast, only John Sylvester White really seems to be trying to give a good performance in this episode but Woodman disappears fairly early on. The other big problem is that the hospital setting just isn’t that funny. The Sweathogs wandering through the hospital and making life difficult for the patients is not funny. Beau accidentally breaking a man’s nose (and yes, that does happen) is not funny. Perhaps during the show’s first two seasons, when everyone was really into it, this episode could have been funny. But, with everyone just going through the motions, it’s just annoying.

Oh well, this show will be over soon. Only 16 more episodes to go!

Retro Television Review: Welcome Back, Kotter 4.6 “Beau’s Jest”

Posted on November 2, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, we learn how Beau became a Sweathog.

Episode 4.6 “Beau’s Jest”

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

There’s a new student at Buchanan High! His name is Beau DeLaBarre (Stephen Shortridge). He’s handsome. He’s blonde. He’s charming. He’s from New Orleans and speaks with a Southern accent. He’s got a great smile. He looks like he’s about 26 years old but that’s okay. Most of his classmates look like they’re in their 30s.

Beau is a transfer student from New Orleans. He comes to Buchanan after being kicked out of a series of different schools. He’s a troublemaker! Why, he might even become a Sweathog! Unfortunately, he and Epstein take a dislike to each other. Beau goes out with a girl Epstein likes. Epstein staples Beau’s underwear and pants to the wall. Beau walks down the hall wearing just a towel and the audience goes crazy. (“Oh!” Horshack exclaims.) Beau sets Epstein up with a dental hygienist and then tells Epstein that she’s married and her husband is looking to kill Epstein. Why would a married woman be dating a remedial high school student? It probably helps that Epstein looks like he’s about 40.

Anyway, after a stern talking to from Julie (who is working in the front office and who now has a really unflattering haircut), Beau realizes he was in the wrong. He tells Epstein the truth. But the hygienist’s boyfriend (Richard Moll) shows up and demands to see “Juan Epstein.”

“I’m Juan Epstein!” Beau declares.

Beau gets punched but he also wins the friendship of the Sweathogs….

If this all seems strange, it’s because it’s already been established, in the episode where the Sweathogs checked out Vinny’s new apartment, that Beau is a member of the Sweathogs. That episode also established that both Gabe and Julie know Beau. Obviously, Beau’s Jest was originally meant to air at the start of the season but the folks at the network decided it would be smarter to start the season with John Travolta instead of Stephen Shortridge. I don’t blame them.

(Interestingly enough, the version of this episode on Prime includes a prologue where Beau and the Sweathogs are hanging out and Epstein says something like, “Remember when we first met?” and the rest of the episode plays out like a flashback. When this episode was on Tubi, that prologue was not included. So, who knows? Maybe the prologue was something that was included for syndication or maybe when the episode aired in reruns.)

This episode …. ugh. Barbarino is nowhere to be seen. Gabe only appears for a few seconds. There’s way too much of Julie acting like the “That’s Not Funny” meme. Stephen Shortridge was not a bad actor and he was pleasant on the eyes but his character does not belong on a show about New York juvenile delinquents. Apparently, the show wanted Barabrino’s replacement to be the opposite of Barbarino, in order to avoid people comparing the new guy to Travolta. That wasn’t a bad idea but the show went too far in the other direction.

One final note: Welcome Back, Kotter is no longer on Tubi. It’s available on Prime. I had to pay two dollars to watch this. I probably would have cut this episode a little more slack if I had watched it for free. But for two bucks, I expect to at least feel like I got my money’s worth.

Retro Television Review: Welcome Back, Kotter 4.5 “The Sweatmobile”

Posted on October 26, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, the Sweathogs share a story about the time that they all tried to buy a car together.

Episode 4.5 “The Sweatmobile”

(Dir by Norman Abbott, originally aired on October 9th, 1978)

Barbarino, Washington, Epstein, and Horshack sit outside of the classroom and look at the lunches that their mothers prepared for them. Epstein has a liver burrito. Barbarino has corn flakes and he’s happy about that because his mother is saint. Horshack has peanut butter and prunes and he’s not happy about that because he hates peanut butter.

(For those trying to keep track of the fourth season’s already confusing continuity, this episode features Barbarino as a student at the school, even though the previous two episodes insinuated that he was no longer attending classes. Even though Babarino now lives in an apartment by himself, his mother apparently still makes his lunch. As for the new Sweathog, Beau is neither mentioned nor seen in this episode, which leads me to suspect that this episode was originally meant to air even earlier in the season than it did.)

Carvelli and Murray walk up to the Sweathogs and Carvelli taunts them by revealing that he was able to drive to a fast food restaurant for his lunch. Seeing how desperate the Sweathogs are for real food, Carvelli offers to sell them his used car so that they too can actually get hamburgers. However, the Sweathogs tell him that they learned their lesson the last time they tried to buy a used car.

Flashback time!

The Sweathogs all pooled their money so that they could buy a used car from Vinnie’s uncle. Vinnie insisted that he would be the one who would drive the car, as he had the most experience in cars. Everyone warned the Sweathogs about the difficulty of multiple people owning and using one car. But the Sweathogs were determined to do it. They arranged to meet with Vinnie’s uncle at the hospital where Vinnie works as an orderly. However, once they arrived at the hospital, they watched as Vinnie’s uncle was wheeled in on a gurney after having wrecked the car that he was going to sell. Vinnie’s aunt mentioned that his uncle couldn’t wait to cheat whoever was dumb enough to buy a used car from him.

This was an odd episode. It was nice to see the original Sweathogs together again but the whole flashback structure felt strange. Usually, a flashback means that the audience is about to see something that happened long ago. But, in this episode, it appears that we’re watching a flashback to something that happened maybe a day or two ago. In the flashback, Barbarino is working at the hospital, Gabe is vice principal (and away at a teacher’s conference due to the fact that Gabe Kaplan was sick of doing the show), and Julie was already Woodman’s administrative assistant. As well, Julie has her terrible new haircut in the flashbacks. This is all stuff that didn’t happen until the start of the fourth season. Again, it’s hard not to feel that this was an episode that was meant to air much earlier in this season but, for some reason, it was held back and a flashback framing device was awkwardly added.

Fortunately, the original Sweathogs, despite being clearly too old to be even remedial high school students, still have the chemistry that made this show a hit during its first season. Given everything that I’ve read about just how difficult things got behind-the-scenes on this show, it was nice to see them having fun and obviously enjoying themselves. Though the episode’s structure was weird, this episode still presents viewers with one last chance to see the chemistry and comradery that made Welcome Back, Kotter a hit in the first place.

Retro Television Review: Welcome Back, Kotter 4.4 “Once Upon A Ledge”

Posted on October 19, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Arnold Horshack gets to be a hero!

Episode 4.4 “Once Upon A Ledge”

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

Seriously, what is going on at Buchanan High?

Gabe is vice principal but he’s away at a teacher’s conference. Horshack and Washington are once again running the student store. Epstien is once again working for the audio visual department. Barbarino is nowhere to be seen. This new Sweathog, Beau, is apparently the most popular guy in school, even though this is only his second episode. Perhaps the strangest development is that Julie is now working as Mr. Woodman’s administrative assistant. When did this happen? I can’t even remember what Julie’s previous profession was but I don’t think it had anything to do with education in general or Buchanan High in specific.

Mary Johnson (Irene Arranga) is a shy student who feels that she doesn’t have any sort of identity in the school. She’s one of three Mary Johnsons at Buchanan High. She’s not Mary Johnson the Jock. She’s not Mary Johnson the Cheerleader. She’s Mary Johnson, the one with the perfect teeth. When she tells Woodman that she wants to transfer into the remedial classes so that she can be a Sweathog, Woodman tells her that her C-average makes her ineligible. She can’t even succeed at being a bad student.

Feeling lost, Mary climbs out on a ledge and threatens to jump. Woodman, Julie, and each of the Sweathogs tries to talk her in but it’s only Horshack who is able to get through to her. Horshack actually walks out onto the ledge himself so that he can talk to Mary about what’s it’s like to feel like an outsider. Horshack gets Mary to come in, though he nearly falls off the ledge himself.

While binging and reviewing this show, it’s occasionally been easy to criticize Ron Pallilo’s performance as Arnold Horshack, though I think the real culprits were the show’s writers, who tended to make Horshack into such a strange character that I don’t think anyone could play him without being annoying. But, to give credit where credit is due, Pallilo gives a really good performance in this episode. Indeed, in some ways, this episode feels like a throw back to season one, when the Sweathogs still had a bit of grit and angst to them.

This was a simple but effective episode, even if the absences of both Gabe Kaplan and John Travolta were definitely felt. (Nothing against Stephen Shortridge — who I’ve seen give good performances on The Love Boat and Fantasy island — but Beau was no substitute for Vinnie Barbarino.) Still, it was nice to see Pallilo get a chance to once again play Horshack as a human being as opposed to a walking punchline. And, for once, Woodman got to show his nice side, as he tried to help Mary feel better about her place in the school. This was a surprisingly well-done episode.