Welcome Back, Kotter
Welcome Back, Kotter is an American sitcom starring Gabe Kaplan as a high-school teacher in charge of a racially and ethnically diverse remedial education class nicknamed the Sweathogs. Recorded in front of a live studio audience, the series aired on ABC from September 9, 1975, through June 8, 1979. It provided John Travolta with his breakthrough role.Premise
and actor Gabriel "Gabe" Kaplan stars as the main character, Gabe Kotter, a wise-cracking teacher who returns to his alma mater—James Buchanan High School in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York City—10 years after graduating, to teach a remedial class of loafers known as the Sweathogs. The rigid vice principal, Michael Woodman, who was formerly Kotter's social studies teacher, dismisses the Sweathogs as witless hoodlums. Woodman only expects Kotter to contain them until they drop out or are expelled or arrested. Kotter had been a remedial student and a founding member of the original class of Sweathogs. He befriends the current class and stimulates their potential. Kotter forms a rapport with his students. They begin visiting his Bensonhurst apartment, sometimes via the fire escape window, often to the chagrin of his wife Julie.
The fictional James Buchanan High is based on the Brooklyn high school that Kaplan attended in real life, New Utrecht High School, which is shown in the opening credits. Many of the show's characters were based on people Kaplan knew during his teen years as a remedial student, several of whom were described in one of Kaplan's stand-up comic routines "Holes and Mellow Rolls".
The character Vinnie Barbarino was inspired by Eddie Lecarri and Ray Barbarino, the character Freddie "Boom Boom" Washington was inspired by Freddie "Furdy" Peyton, the character Juan Epstein was partially inspired by Epstein "The Animal", and the character Arnold Horshack was inspired by someone of the same name.Characters
Gabe Kotter
Gabe Kotter is a flippant but empathetic teacher who returns to teach at the high school he attended as a student. He is assigned to a class of remedial students known as the Sweathogs. Kotter has a unique insight into the potential of these purportedly "unteachable" pupils, as well as the difficulties and scrutiny they encounter on a daily basis, as he was a "founder member" of the original Sweathogs.
Kotter is married to Julie throughout the series; they eventually have twin girls, Robin and Rachel. Julie, in the episode "Follow the Leader ", confirms that Gabe is Jewish.
During season four, Gabe Kaplan had contract issues with the executive producer, which resulted in Kotter's character appearing in only a handful of episodes. In season four, the invisible principal John Lazarus retires, and Kotter becomes the vice principal. Though he is said to maintain some social studies training duties, most of that season's shows are filmed outside his classroom, or if inside it, Mr. Woodman is teaching. To minimize Kotter's absence, scenes were shot in either the school's hallway, the schoolyard, or the principal's waiting area. Season four ended the series.Julie Kotter
Julie Kotter is Gabe Kotter's wife and closest friend. Though she has a sense of humor, she often wishes Gabe would take matters more seriously. She is occasionally upset with the amount of time he devotes to his students, and she is troubled that he allows them to visit their apartment regularly. In the two-part story "Follow the Leader", the Sweathogs' constant intrusions lead Julie to separate briefly from Gabe and even seriously consider divorce. Mrs. Kotter is originally from Nebraska and holds a college degree in anthropology. She eventually becomes a secretary at Buchanan High School, and later a substitute teacher after Gabe's promotion to vice principal. She makes several references to her "world-famous tuna casserole", a common meal at the Kotter dinner table, which Gabe and the Sweathogs deem inedible.Michael Woodman
Michael Woodman is the curmudgeonly vice principal of Buchanan High. He makes no secret of his dislike for the Sweathogs, whom he considers the bottom of the social stratum at his school. He refers to non-Sweathogs as "real" students. When Kotter was a student at Buchanan High, Woodman taught social studies, the same class Kotter returns to teach. The students regularly joke about Woodman's advanced age, and sometimes his diminutive height. Woodman opposes Kotter's unorthodox teaching methods. At one point, he even puts Kotter in front of the school's review board in an unsuccessful attempt to have him fired. As the series progresses, Woodman begins to tolerate Kotter and the Sweathogs marginally. In a season-one episode, Woodman is shown to be a gifted teacher, willing to wear historic costumes and role play in front of the class during his lessons.Vincent "Vinnie" Barbarino
Vinnie Barbarino is a cocky Italian American, the "unofficial official" leader and resident heartthrob of the Sweathogs. He has a need to be the center of attention, as seen when he admits to making it rain in the school gymnasium. In the two-episode "Follow the Leader", Barbarino quits the Sweathogs and drops out of school in anger when Freddy Washington is chosen as the "leader" of the group, though he returns as leader at the conclusion of the episode. Barbarino's prowess with women is sometimes a source of envy and more often amusement, among his classmates. On occasion, he breaks out in a song about his last name sung to the tune of the Beach Boys song "Barbara Ann". He was the first of the Sweathogs to move out on his own, when he got a job as a hospital orderly. In the first episode of the series' fourth season, he has a girlfriend, Sally. Vinnie is Catholic and often describes his mother Margie as a saint. He is a Star Trek fan. Little is known about Vinnie's home life, other than that his parents frequently argue and take turns beating him when in a mutual rage. He shares a bed with his younger brother. The character is seen less frequently in season four, appearing in only 10 of the first 15 episodes of the season; he then exits the series entirely.Arnold Dingfelder Horshack
The class clown of the Sweathogs, Horshack is completely comfortable with his oddball, if naïve, personality. Horshack was known for his unique observations and his wheezing laugh, similar to that of a hyena.Academically, he possibly is the smartest Sweathog. He is the only central Sweathog character to be promoted out of a remedial academics class, but he soon returns after feeling out of place. He has an affection for acting and enjoys old movies, particularly 1930s musicals. He eventually marries Mary Johnson, a co-worker and fellow Sweathog. Although his surname sounds like a term for a brothel, he claims it is a "very old and respected name", meaning "the cattle are dying." His middle name is Dingfelder.Freddie Percy "Boom Boom" Washington
Freddie Washington is the hip student known as the athletic Sweathog for his skills on the basketball court. Washington claimed his nickname came from his habit of "pretending to play the bass" and singing "Boom-boom-boom-boom!". His trademark phrase is, "Hi, there", and he calls Mr. Kotter "Mister Kot-TAIR". Though often the voice of reason among his classmates, Washington nonetheless is a willing participant in the Sweathogs' various antics and pranks. He also finds success as a radio disc jockey along with another former Sweathog, Wally "The Wow" Wexler. At one point, Washington challenges Barbarino for leadership of the Sweathogs and even replaces him for a time until the group grows tired of his dictatorial style.
Washington has an older sister, who got divorced twice while living in Vermont and a brother, Leroy. He has another brother, Douglas, and his father's name is Lincoln, portrayed by rhythm and blues singer Carlton "King" Coleman. Kotter reveals details of his own past to bond with Washington, because, in addition to being a former Sweathog, he was also a former star of Buchanan's basketball team.Juan Luis Pedro Felipo de Huevos Epstein
Epstein is a fiercely proud Puerto Rican Jew. When asked if his mother was Puerto Rican, Juan replies that his mother's maiden name was Bibbermann and that his grandfather "saw Puerto Rico from the ship as he was making his way to America and decided to settle there instead of Miami", making him one of the earliest Puerto Rican Jews. Juan is thus Puerto Rican on his father's side and Jewish on both parents' sides.
He is one of the toughest students at Buchanan High, despite his short stature. He normally walks with a tough-man strut and was voted "Most Likely to Take a Life" by his peers. In season one of the series, Epstein is said to be the sixth of 10 children, although in a later episode, he mentions that his mother only gave birth eight times, implying two of them were twin births. Only four of his siblings are mentioned by name, his brothers Pedro, Irving, and Sanchez and a younger sister, Carmen. Epstein's toughness is downplayed in later episodes, and he became more of a wise guy. He was also known to have a "buddy" relationship with Principal Lazarus, as he often referred to him by his first name, Jack. On a few occasions, when Kotter performs his Groucho Marx impersonation, Epstein would jump in and impersonate Chico Marx or Harpo Marx. Epstein's diminutive height, large hair, and fake excuse notes were running gags.Recurring characters
Rosalie "Hotsie" Totsie
Rosie Totsie is the femme fatale purported to have put the "sweat" in Sweathog, though her reputation is largely exaggerated by the Sweathogs' word of mouth. Her promiscuity is at least in part a reaction to the strict discipline enforced by her father, the Reverend Totsie. To restore her good name, and to prove a point, she fabricates a story about one of the Sweathogs getting her pregnant. The character was a favorite among male viewers, but was phased out of the series at the end of the first season when Scott was picked to co-star in the syndicated Norman Lear comedy Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. She reprised the role in its third season in a 1978 episode, "The Return of Hotsie Totsie", which revealed that she dropped out of school because she became pregnant and had to become a stripper to support her infant child.