Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Forum administrators, Interface administrators, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
116,442
edits
Welcome Back, Kotter: Difference between revisions
added tropes, markup
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) m (fixed double vertical bar in link) |
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (added tropes, markup) |
||
Line 6:
Before Jerry [[Seinfeld]] wondered about airline peanuts, before Tim Allen said his first [[Home Improvement (TV series)|"Arrr arrr arrr!"]], before [[Roseanne]] became a Domestic Goddess, there was Gabriel Kaplan, the first stand-up comedian to successfully turn his comedy routines into a hit sitcom. ''Welcome Back, Kotter'' ran on [[ABC]] from 1975 to 1979.
Gabe Kotter, formerly a Sweathog, returns to James Buchanan High School as a teacher and is assigned the remedial class to which he once belonged. Mr. Kotter is an involved and caring teacher, which one would have to be in dealing with a certain four students in his class, who end up in trouble on a regular basis: ladies' man Vinnie Barbarino, the always cool Freddie "Boom-Boom" Washington, the tough Juan (Luis Pedro Phillipo de Huevos) Epstein, and the sheepish Arnold Dingfelder Horshack. ''[[Welcome Back, Kotter]]'' was based on Gabe Kaplan's own high school experiences with remedial education and a teacher who cared dearly for her students.
Changes on the show: Gabe Kaplan left the series in the third season, due to creative differences with executive producer James Komack. Kaplan openly felt that Komack was not serving the show's best interests. Kotter was made vice principal, and thus was seen considerably less. [[John Travolta]], of course, found his own place as a celebrity, leaving the show around the same time Gabe Kaplan did (returning every so often as a "special guest star"). The replacement for Barbarino was Beau, who didn't help things much. By now the show had essentially lost its two biggest stars.
Line 20:
* [[Big Screwed-Up Family]]: Juan Epstein.
{{quote|'''Epstein''': I don't have to stay here and be ignored! I have nine brothers and sisters. If I want to be ignored, I'll just go home.}}
* [[Catch Phrase]]: "Up your nose with a rubber hose" (everyone), "Hi, there" (Washington), "Heyyyy Misssster Kotttaire!" (Washington), "What?" "Where?" (Barbarino), "I'm so confused!" (Barbarino), "Ohhh ohh ohh ohh!" (Horshack), "Very impressive, Mr. Kotter!" (Horshack)
* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Everyone had their moments, but Horshack is ''the'' definitive example.
* [[Dean Bitterman]]: Mr. Woodman.
* [[The Dozens]]: Discussed in the very first episode, when Kotter compares their style and subject as they were when he was in high school with how they are "now".
* [[End-of-Episode Silliness]]: Formerly the [[Trope Namer]] when it was called "Uncle Herbie".
* [[Five-Man Band]]:
Line 41 ⟶ 42:
* [[The One Who Made It Out]]: Gabriel.
* [[The Pete Best]]: Rosalie "Hotsie" Totsie, the female Sweathog.
* [[Preacher's Kid]]: Rosalie "Hotsie" Totsie, daughter of Reverend Totsie.
* [[Real Life Writes the Plot]]: One two-part episode had Kotter trying to start a stand
* [[Real Song Theme Tune]]
* [[Running Gag]]: Epstein's never ending supply of excuse notes, almost always signed "Epstein's Mother".
** Julie's infamous tuna cassarole.
* [[Signature Laugh]]: Horshack's athsmatic laugh.
* [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]]: Beau De Lebarre as Vinnie's replacement.
* [[Translation Matchmaking]]: In Italy it's known as ''I Ragazzi del Sabato Sera'' (''Saturday Night Guys''), after ''[[Saturday Night Fever]]''.
* [[Twofer Token Minority]]: Puerto Rican Jew Juan Epstein.
Line 52 ⟶ 54:
* [[Very Special Episode]]: "What Goes Up," the Season 3 episode where Boom Boom got addicted to painkillers to heal a basketball injury. Boom Boom is in deep denial, and so is a shaken Horshack -– who naively believes Boom Boom's explanation that the pills are "vitamins." The others aren't so fooled and eventually get Boom Boom to realize what he's doing.
* [[Yiddish as a Second Language]]: Kotter—a classic New York Jew—occasionally threw out the odd Yiddish word, although far less often than one might expect. And Epstein completely averted this trope, embracing his Puerto Rican side almost to the exclusion of his Jewish heritage.
* [[Your Mom]]: Invoked and discussed by Kotter in the very first episode, when comparing how [[The Dozens]] worked "then" and "now". Averted in that Barbarino refused to hear even a hypothetical insult aimed at his mother.
{{quote|''The woman's a saint!''}}
{{reflist}}
| |||