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Welcome Back, Kotter is an Americansitcom starring Gabe Kaplan as a high-school teacher in charge of a racially and ethnically diverse remedial education class. Several students in the class have nicknamed themselves 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.[1]
Stand-up comedian 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 (John Sylvester White), 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 (Marcia Strassman).
The fictional James Buchanan High is based on the Brooklyn high school that Kaplan attended in real life, New Utrecht High School,[2] 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.
ゲイブ・コッターは、軽薄ながらも共感力のある教師で、かつて自分が通っていた高校に教師として戻ってくる。彼は「スウェットホッグス」と呼ばれる補習クラスの担当となる。コッターは、いわゆる「教えるのが不可能」とされるこれらの生徒たちの潜在能力、そして彼らが日々直面する困難や厳しい監視について、独自の洞察力を持っている。なぜなら、彼自身が初代スウェットホッグスの「創設メンバー」だったからだ。
コッターはシリーズを通してジュリーと結婚しており、最終的にロビンとレイチェルという双子の娘を授かる。ジュリーは「リーダーに従え（パート1）」のエピソードで、ゲイブがユダヤ人であることを認めている。
シーズン4では、ゲイブ・カプランがエグゼクティブプロデューサーと契約上の問題を抱えたため、コッターのキャラクターは数話にしか登場しなかった。シーズン4では、姿の見えない校長ジョン・ラザラスが引退し、コッターが副校長になる。彼は社会科の指導業務を一部担っていると言われているが、そのシーズンのほとんどのエピソードは彼の教室の外で撮影されており、教室内で撮影された場合でも、ウッドマン先生が授業を行っている。コッターの不在を最小限に抑えるため、シーンは学校の廊下、校庭、または校長の待合室で撮影された。シーズン4でシリーズは終了した。
ジュリー・コッターはゲイブ・コッターの妻であり、親友でもある。ジュリーの旧姓はハンセン。ユーモアのセンスはあるものの、ゲイブがもっと物事を真剣に考えてくれることをしばしば願っている。ゲイブが（学校内外で）生徒に費やす時間の多さに時折不満を抱き、生徒たちが定期的に自分たちのアパートを訪れることを許していることに困惑している。二部構成の物語「リーダーに従え」では、スウェットホッグスの度重なる干渉により、ジュリーは一時的にゲイブと別居し、離婚を真剣に検討するに至った。コッター夫人はもともとネブラスカ州出身で、人類学の学位を持っている。彼女は後にブキャナン高校の秘書となり、ゲイブが副校長に昇進した後は代用教員となる。彼女は、コッター家の食卓でよく出される「世界的に有名なツナキャセロール」について何度か言及するが、ゲイブとスウェットホッグスはそれを食べられないと考えている。
Michael Woodman is the curmudgeonly vice principal (and later 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.[3]
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[4] as a saint. He is a Star Trek fan.[3] Little is known about Vinnie's home life, other than that his parents frequently argue[5] and take turns beating him when in a mutual rage. He shares a bed with his younger[6] 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.
スウェットホッグスのクラスの道化師であるホーシャックは、風変わりではあるが世間知らずな性格に全く抵抗がない。ホーシャックは、独特の観察眼と、ハイエナのようなゼーゼー笑いで知られていた。[注1 ]学業面では、おそらくスウェットホッグスの中で最も頭が良い。補習クラスから進級したスウェットホッグスの中心人物は彼だけだが、場違いだと感じてすぐに戻ってくる。彼は演技が好きで、古い映画、特に1930年代のミュージカルを楽しんでいる。彼は最終的に同僚でスウェットホッグスの仲間であるメアリー・ジョンソンと結婚する。彼の姓は売春宿を意味する言葉のように聞こえるが、彼は「とても古く尊敬されている名前」で、「牛が死にかけている」という意味だと主張している。彼のミドルネーム（そして彼の母親の旧姓）はディングフェルダーである。
フレディ・ワシントンは、バスケットボールの腕前で「スウェットホッグ」の愛称で知られる人気者（ただし、「バスケットケース」のエピソードでは、コッター先生が1対1の試合でフレディにあと一歩のところまで迫る）。ワシントンは、自分のニックネームは「ベースを弾くふり」をし て「ブームブームブームブーム！」と歌う癖から来ていると主張している。彼のトレードマークの口癖は「やあ、あそこ」（低い声で満面の笑みを浮かべながら言う）で、コッター先生のことを「コッター先生」と呼ぶ。クラスメートの中ではしばしば理性の声だが、ワシントンはスウェットホッグの様々な悪ふざけやいたずらに喜んで参加する。また、元スウェットホッグのウォーリー「ザ・ワウ」ウェクスラー（ジョージ・カーリンが演じる）と共にラジオのディスクジョッキーとしても成功を収める。ある時、ワシントンはスウェットホッグのリーダーの座をバルバリーノに挑み、一時的に彼の代わりにリーダーの座に就くが、グループが彼の独裁的なスタイルにうんざりして退く。
ワシントンには姉が一人おり、バーモント州に住んでいた時に二度離婚している[ 7 ]。また、兄のリロイもいる。さらにダグラスという別の兄もおり、父親の名前はリンカーンで、リズム・アンド・ブルース歌手のカールトン・“キング”・コールマンが演じている[ 4 ]。コッターはワシントンと親睦を深めるために自身の過去の詳細を明かす。なぜなら、彼は元スウェットホッグスのメンバーであるだけでなく、ブキャナンのバスケットボールチームの元スター選手でもあったからだ。
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 (when speaking on the phone to his mother, who had failed to notice that he had been missing for three days, she apparently failed to recognize his name and he had to further identify himself as "Number Six"),[8] although in a later episode, he mentions that his mother only gave birth eight times,[5] implying two of them were twin births. Only four of his siblings are mentioned by name, his brothers Pedro, Irving, and Sanchez[8] (establishing that some of his siblings had Jewish names and others Puerto Rican names) and a younger sister, Carmen.[9] 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 (always signed "Epstein's Mother") were running gags.
ロージー・トッツィーは、スウェットホッグに「汗」をもたらしたと言われるファム・ファタールだが、その評判はスウェットホッグたちの口コミによってかなり誇張されている。彼女の奔放な性生活は、少なくとも部分的には、父親であるトッツィー牧師が課す厳しい規律への反動である。名誉を回復し、自分の主張を証明するために、彼女はスウェットホッグの一人に妊娠させられたという話をでっち上げる。このキャラクターは男性視聴者の間で人気があったが、スコットがシンジケート放送のノーマン・リアーのコメディ「メアリー・ハートマン、メアリー・ハートマン」に共演者として選ばれたため、第1シーズンの終わりにシリーズから姿を消した。彼女は第3シーズンの1978年のエピソード「ホットシー・トッツィーの帰還」でこの役を再び演じ、妊娠したために学校を中退し、幼い子供を養うためにストリッパーにならざるを得なかったことが明らかになった。
初期シーズンに繰り返し登場した、スウェットホッグス以外のキャラクターであるボーデンは、成績優秀な生徒で、学校新聞「ブキャナン・ビューグル」の編集者でもある。彼女はバルバリーノの家庭教師であり、かつては彼と交際していた時期もあった。学業成績は優秀だが、スウェットホッグスの誰とでも「ダズンズ」コンテストで互角に渡り合うことができる。
第4シーズン（最終シーズン）でレギュラーキャラクターとして登場したボーは、ハンサムでフレンドリーな金髪の口達者な南部出身の青年で、ニューオーリンズから転校してきた。彼は他のいくつかの学校を退学させられた後、コッターのクラスに入ることになる。プロデューサーたちは、1970年代半ばにハリウッドを席巻していた「イタリアン・スタリオン」ブームの直接的な模倣ではなく、番組の舞台であるニューヨークシティが共感しにくいと見なされていた南部での視聴率を向上させるような、魅力的な俳優を探していた。彼らは女性視聴者を維持しつつ、トラボルタのクローンは避けたいと考えていた。ボーは「スウェットホッグ」という言葉を初めて聞いたとき、「気持ち悪い」と反応した。後のエピソードで示されているように、彼は女性を惹きつける才能を持っているようだ。彼の定番のジョークの一つは、「真の男は妊娠したワニを踏まない」といった難解でナンセンスな格言を披露することである。
Welcome Back, Kotter's first season was controversial. In Boston, the local ABC affiliate (WCVB-TV) initially refused to air the show.[10] The city was going through a tumultuous school busing program that involved widespread protests and riots, and the local affiliate felt Kotter's fictional integrated classroom would exacerbate the situation. The show became an early ratings success, though, and the affiliate relented, picking it up from its fifth episode.
Despite airing on ABC, some earlier episodes were shot at NBC Burbank.
Teachers in other cities had concerns about how Kotter would be portrayed, so producers allowed a union representative on the set to ensure the show protected the image of those in the profession. Kaplan opposed the idea, at one point asking a reporter if a junkman was on the set of Sanford and Son to protect the reputation of junkmen.
Censor concerns about depiction of juvenile delinquency faded after the Sweathogs' antics proved to be silly rather than criminal. Like Kaplan, Hegyes was a fan of the Marx Brothers. Hegyes claimed that he suggested that the Sweathogs be modeled after the Marx Brothers to reduce tension.[11]
Ratings slipped greatly in the third season. Kaplan later attributed the decline to the age of the actors playing the Sweathogs, all then in their mid- to late 20s, claiming that they were no longer believable as high school students. As the series entered its fourth and final season, Travolta, the youngest Sweathog, was 25, while Palillo, the oldest, would turn 30 before season's end.
Kaplan's idea to bring the show in line with the age of its cast was to have Kotter join the faculty of a community college attended by the Sweathogs,[12] but this storyline never materialized. To increase viewership, the Kotters had twin girls, but this did not prove to be enough to regain the show's earlier momentum. The show introduced a female Sweathog, Angie Grabowski, played by Melonie Haller.
Major changes took place in the fourth and final season. Shortly before the season began, the series was moved from its successful Thursday 8:00 pm time slot to Monday 8:00 pm to make way for the impending hit series Mork & Mindy. Much of the writing staff turned over after season three, and Travolta, who had already starred in box-office hits such as Carrie, Saturday Night Fever, and Grease, began to focus more time on his film career. He appeared in 10 episodes, earning $2,000 for each one, and he was billed as a "special guest star". Vinnie got a job as a hospital orderly and his own apartment, and the Murphy bed that came up and down at inopportune times became a running gag. Mr. Woodman was promoted to principal of the school (Principal Lazarus quit to take a "less stressful" job at a high-security prison), and Kotter was promoted to vice principal, purposely moving the show's focus away from Kotter's class. Major off-screen disputes led Kaplan to break his contract and reduce his appearances. To help fill the voids, Stephen Shortridge joined the cast as smooth-talking Southerner Beau De LaBarre, and Kotter's wife, Julie, became a school secretary and occasional fill-in teacher, despite having one-year-old twin daughters. Also in season four, Della Reese was introduced as English teacher and Buchanan High talent-show coordinator Mrs. Jean Tremaine.
Knowing the series was in a nosedive, producer James Komack attempted to spin off a newly married Arnold Horshack into a new sitcom .
The show enjoyed ratings success during its first two seasons, spawning a host of merchandising tie-ins, including lunchboxes,[13]dolls, trading cards, comic books, novels, and even a board game, advertised as "The 'Up Your Nose With a Rubber Hose' Game" in a commercial with a class full of Sweathog look-alikes featuring Steve Guttenberg as Barbarino and Thomas Carter as Boom Boom Washington. The Sweathogs — or at least an impressionist's version of them — even made a crossover appearance with characters from the Happy Days universe on one track (the disco-themed "Fonzarelli Slide") of a 1976 TV-promoted oldiescompilation album.
In 2010, the cast, including Gabe Kaplan, Marcia Strassman, John Travolta, Robert Hegyes, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, and Ellen Travolta, were honored at the TV Land Award ceremonies. Co-star Ron Palillo was not in attendance, nor were fellow co-stars John Sylvester White (who died in 1988) and Debralee Scott (who died in 2005).
The popular theme song, "Welcome Back", written and recorded by John Sebastian, former front-man for the Lovin' Spoonful, became a No. 1 hit in the spring of 1976. The show was originally going to be called Kotter, but that was changed because of the theme song lyrics. Sebastian has said he tried to find a more general theme for the song after being unable to find any reasonable rhymes for "Kotter".[14]
DC Comics published 10 issues of a Welcome Back, Kotter comic book starting in 1976.[15] After its cancellation in 1978, a Limited Collectors' Edition was issued, incorporating a four-page "On the Set" section and photographs from the show.[16]
A series of novels based on characters and dialog of the series was written by William Johnston and published by Tempo Books in the 1970s.
Mattel produced a series of 9-inch Welcome Back, Kotter action figures in 1977. Figures produced included Barbarino, Horshack, Epstein, Washington, and Mr. Kotter.[17]
Warner Home Video released a six-episode Television Favorites collection on February 28, 2006. Due to the success of this release, Warner released the complete first season on DVD in Region 1 on June 12, 2007.
On May 7, 2014, Shout! Factory announced it had acquired the rights to the series. Ultimately, it released Welcome Back, Kotter: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1 on August 26, 2014,[18] and has since released the second, third, and fourth seasons as individual sets.[19]
As of April 2023, the entire series is available to stream on Tubi.[20][21]
コッターは主要な賞を受賞することはなかったが、 1976年の第1シーズン後に優秀コメディシリーズ賞のエミー賞にノミネートされた[ 22 ] 。受賞はメアリー・タイラー・ムーア・ショーに譲った。このシリーズは技術部門でも3つのエミー賞にノミネートされている。1976年にはシリーズ部門のビデオテープ編集優秀賞（編集者のスーザン・ジェンキンスとマヌエル・マルティネス）、1978年にはコメディシリーズ部門の優秀美術監督賞（美術監督のロイ・クリストファーとジェームズ・シャナハン）、 1979年にはクリエイティブ技術部門の優秀個人業績賞（音響効果のディック・ウィルソン）である[ 22 ]。
数々の著名な俳優たちが、広く知られるようになる前やその最中に、コッターにゲスト出演した。ジェームズ・ウッズはシーズン1の第1話（「大討論」）に、学校の討論チーム（「ターキーズ」）を率いてスウェットホッグスと対戦する演劇教師アレックス・ウェルズ役でゲスト出演した。パット・モリタは1976年のエピソード「キャリア・デイ」にタカハシ先生役で出演。コメディアンのジョージ・カーリンとジョン・アスティンも出演した。その他のゲストスターには、スコット・ブレイディ、エレン・トラボルタ、リチャード・モール、デラ・リース、そして後に映画『グリース』でジョン・トラボルタと再び共演することになるダイナ・マノフなどがいる。
グルーチョ・マルクスは、あるエピソードに短いカメオ出演をする予定だった。彼は撮影現場に到着したが、体調が悪すぎて出演できないと判断された。マルクスとキャストの写真は撮影されたが、公開されなかった。[ 23 ] [ 24 ]しかし、その写真は数十年後にインターネット上に現れた。[ 25 ] [ 26 ]
At least three spin-offs of Kotter were seriously considered, but only one ever became a series. The short-lived Mr. T and Tina starred Pat Morita as Taro Takahashi (Mr. T for short), a brilliant Japanese inventor whom he portrayed in one episode of Kotter. The show was not received well by critics and lasted for five episodes on ABC. Talk arose of developing a spin-off built around the Horshack character and his family, Rich Man, Poor Man; Horshack!, but it never went beyond the backdoor pilot stage, shown as an episode of Kotter. In the mid-1990s, Hegyes announced on The Jenny Jones Show that plans were in the works to create a spin-off featuring the Sweathogs, all grown up, minus Travolta's Barbarino, but the project never got off the ground and little information about it was ever made public.
カプランは、1981年に短命に終わったシットコム『ルイス＆クラーク』で、ヘギーズとジェイコブスを再び迎え入れた。彼らの演じるキャラクターは、カプランに見覚えがあると冗談を言い、頭の良い人物なので「教師になるべきだ」と付け加えた。
1997年、ロン・パリロ、ロバート・ヘギーズ、ローレンス・ヒルトン＝ジェイコブスは、ミスター・ローズのエピソード「ウェルカム・バック・ショー」の夢のシーンで、それぞれ自分の役を再演した。
2012年にはロン・パリロとロバート・ヘギーズが亡くなった。[ 35 ]他に亡くなったキャストメンバーには、2014年に亡くなったマーシャ・ストラスマン、1988年に亡くなったジョン・シルベスター・ホワイト、2005年に亡くなったデブラリー・スコットなどがいる。2026年現在ゲイブ・カプラン、ローレンス・ヒルトン＝ジェイコブス、ジョン・トラボルタは、現在も存命の主要キャストのうちの3人である。
The first issue [was] written by Elliot S! Maggin with spot-on likenesses rendered by Jack Sparling.