Diagonaldi Very well executed

Lucia Ayala It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Phillida Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

calvinnme Let's face it, "Welcome Back Kotter" was the real "That 70's Show" - the inner city urban version. I can't remember the last time I even saw this show in syndication on channels such as Nick at Nite that once specialized in dusting off old sitcoms unseen for years. The comic premise of the show is that Gabe Kotter, newly graduated from college and certified to teach, has returned to teach the same remedial class of high school misfits of which he was a member ten years earlier. Vice Principal Woodman, who was the object of Gabe's torments and jokes ten years earlier, is still employed at the high school and gives Gabe this job as the ultimate irony and revenge for what Gabe had put him through. Of course, this show is sugar-coated compared to the real problems and issues of a New York City public school in a poor neighborhood, but it had to be since this was a sitcom, not a drama. The show had a great cast playing great characters - there was Horshack, the class nerd with the nasal laugh; Barbarino, the cool maverick who was a little slow on the uptake; Epstein with the mixed Latino/Jewish heritage and the great excused absence notes signed by "Epstein's mother", and last but not least, Washington. There was a great common enemy in Mr. Woodman, who you couldn't help but feel a little sorry for. Finally, the show had a great location in Brooklyn and a memorable theme song by John Sebastian that you are much more likely to hear today than see the show from whence it came. For three wonderful seasons from 1975 to 1978 it was a comedy classic. But, alas, all things must come to an end.After John Travolta starred in the back-to-back hits of "Saturday Night Fever" and "Grease", he would hardly return anyone's phone calls, much less show up for work on a regular basis. Thus the fourth season not only jumped the shark, it pretty much made it over the Gulf of Mexico. What was really going on behind the scenes in 1978, if I remember correctly, was a bruising battle of the egos catalyzed by Travolta's new-found superstar status. To compensate for all the turmoil and in-fighting among the cast, Kotter is made vice-principal to explain all of Gabe Kaplan's absences, then the show added Stephen Shortridge as an entirely inadequate placeholder for Travolta. The final straw was when the show seemed to be endorsing the marriage of two high-schoolers - Horshack and Mary - and then Horshack began drinking heavily afterward.The irony is that the stardom status for everyone involved instantaneously evaporated after the show that their egos destroyed was canceled in 1979. The only one to ever recover their stardom was Travolta, and then it took ten years before he could even land a job playing straight man to a talking baby in "Look Who's Talking". I hate to sound bitter, but it's hard not to be considering what a great show it was during the first three seasons of its all too-brief four season run.

alpha-37 ...and it's driving me nuts.JG: I remember there was one episode where Epstein paints Kotter's wife naked on the side of the school. They didn't show any details, of course. I hope that's not a spoiler.JL: Kotter is the prodigal son of NYC. He has gone out in the world with ambition, and now returned to find that his real calling was right at home. I often reflected on this difficulty as a youngster, seeing the elevated trains and dirty streets during the closing credits. I would always struggle with the duality between ambition for new experiences, and sticking with what you are good at. How would a neurotic Kotter sound after a hard day with the sweathogs?

mozartpc27 Recently, TV Land ran their marathon of "Welcome Back, Kotter", so I watched a few episodes. What stuck out most about the show was how amazingly, astonishingly awful the acting was. The episodes still had John Travolta, so I know they came from the early years, which means they are supposed to be the "good" episodes. Now, the dialogue and plotting weren't bad, and some of the jokes they tried to make might have even been funny --- if anyone on the show had a sense of comic timing. There was a lot of dead time between every line of dialogue; it seemed as if the actors needed to take a second to remember their lines, or weren't sure it was their cue to speak. It was like a bad high school production. Of course, the terribly broken pacing kills the humor. After watching two episodes, I had had all I could take. It makes me wonder how the show ever became popular.

MIK7x3 "Welcome Back, Kotter" was one of the funniest serials I have ever seen. It starred Gabe Kaplan as Mr. Kotter, who taught a remedial class of "Sweathogs" which featured Arnold Horshack, Juan Epstein, Freddie "Boom-Boom" Washington, and Vinnie Barbarino as four of his students. Between the hilarious plots and the identifiable high school situations, the show was a hit. What student in a diverse environment can't identify with "Roses are red, violets are blue, my mom wants me to date a Puerto Rican Jew"? My favourite episode focused upon the Sweathogs cleaning for a pregnant Mrs. Kotter, only to destroy her apartment. Reruns have been off the air in Canada for quite some time, so I suggest that if networks want to improve ratings, that they welcome back Kotter!