History Series / WelcomeBackKotter

** The end joke was dropped for Season 4.

** John Travota's billing as special guest star during the last season.

* BigScrewedUpFamily: Juan Epstein.

* BornInAnElevator: Barbarino once helped deliver a baby in an elevator.

* CerebusSyndrome: A few Season 3 episodes have shades of this, as Vinnie struggled with getting Mr. Kotter to convince Mr. Woodman to allow him to take a make-up test so he wouldn't be held back in his sophomore year and falling for one of the competitors during a talent show, Washington getting hooked on painkillers, and Horshack getting brainwashed into joining a cult. By Season 4, the Sweathogs find that Mr. Kotter is taking a more serious approach to their pranks since his promotion to vice-principal, a mix-up involving a porno flick and a G-rated sex ed film which almost costs Julie her teaching job, the Sweathogs considering dropping out of Buchanan, and Barbarino moving into his own apartment and getting a part-time job as a hospital orderly while dealing with break-ups. Even Horshack has his share of dilemmas, including talking Mary Johnson out of jumping off a ledge, taking a stand against dissecting a frog, struggling with teenage alcoholism, and deciding to remain in Brooklyn and finish school alongside his classmates when his mother plans to move to a new town.

* CommutingOnABus: Mr. Kotter's appearances in the last season were very sporadic, as Kaplan had become discontent with the direction of the show. Mrs. Kotter becomes the new mentor of the Sweathogs.

* AndStarring: John Travota's billing during his last season on the show.
* AnnoyingLaugh: Arnold Horschack had the standard comedy relief "nerd asthma attack" style of annoying laugh.

* MultiEthnicName: Juan Epstein's full name ("Juan Luis Pedro Felipe de Juevas Epstein"), contains a long list of Hispanic names, yet ended in a Jewish surname.

* FakeGuestStar: Creator/JohnTravolta during the final 1978-1979 season, due to becoming a movie star with leading roles in ''Film/{{Carrie}}'', ''Film/SaturdayNightFever'', and ''Film/{{Grease}}'', still managed to reprise his role as Vinnie Barbarino on a part-time basis.

* IceCreamKoan: The mantra of the cult which Horshack temporarily joins while in pursuit of a girl [[BuxomIsBetter who can really fill out a sheet]].

Changes came in the show's fourth season: Gabe Kaplan cut back on his appearances because of creative differences with executive producer James Komack, whom Kaplan openly believed was not serving the show's best interests. (In-universe, Kotter was promoted to vice principal, and thus was seen considerably less frequently.) John Travolta, meanwhile, had secured his own place as a movie star, and departed from the series as a regular (though returning every so often as a "special guest star"). Barbarino's would-be replacement as the Sweathogs' resident heartthrob was transplanted New Orleanian Beau De La Barre (Stephen Shortridge), who never quite caught on. With the show having by now essentially lost its two biggest stars, it was canceled after the season's end.

Long before Creator/JerrySeinfeld wondered about airline peanuts, before Creator/TimAllen grunted his first "Arrr arrr arrr!", before Creator/RoseanneBarr became a Domestic Goddess, there was Gabriel "Gabe" Kaplan, one of the very first stand-up comedians to successfully [[SitComic turn his stage routine into a hit TV sitcom]]. ''Welcome Back, Kotter'', which ran on Creator/{{ABC}} from 1975–79, was based on Kaplan's [[WriteWhatYouKnow own high school experiences]] with remedial education, and his memories of a teacher who cared dearly for her students.

The premise: Gabe Kotter returns to [[BigApplesauce Brooklyn]]'s James Buchanan HighSchool as a teacher and is assigned the [[DustbinSchool remedial class of "Sweathogs"]] to which he himself 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 wind up in trouble on a regular basis: ladies' man Vinnie Barbarino (breakout star Creator/JohnTravolta), the always cool Freddie "Boom-Boom" Washington (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs), the tough [[OverlyLongName Juan Luis Pedro Phillipo de Huevos Epstein]] (Robert Hegyes), and the sheepish Arnold Dingfelder Horshack (Ron Palillo). Meanwhile, Kotter frequently finds himself butting heads with cantankerous vice principal Michael Woodman (John Sylvester White), who dismisses the Sweathogs as a lost cause, and tries his best to juggle his teaching with his home life with his patient wife Julie (Marcia Strassman).

* FormerTeenRebel: Kotter was a delinquent in high school - in fact, he started the Sweathogs in the first place, and now has to deal with the current generation.

* RunningGag: Epstein's never ending supply of excuse notes, almost always signed "Epstein's Mother".

The premise: Gabe Kotter returns to [[BigApplesauce Brooklyn]]'s James Buchanan HighSchool as a teacher and is assigned the [[DustbinSchool remedial class of "Sweathogs"]] to which he himself 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 (breakout star Creator/JohnTravolta), the always cool Freddie "Boom-Boom" Washington (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs), the tough [[OverlyLongName Juan Luis Pedro Phillipo de Huevos Epstein]] (Robert Hegyes), and the sheepish Arnold Dingfelder Horshack (Ron Palillo). Meanwhile, Kotter frequently finds himself butting heads with cantankerous vice principal Michael Woodman (John Sylvester White), who dismisses the Sweathogs as a lost cause, and tries his best to juggle his teaching with his home life with his patient wife Julie (Marcia Strassman).

The premise: Gabe Kotter returns to [[BigApplesauce Brooklyn]]'s James Buchanan HighSchool as a teacher and is assigned the [[DustbinSchool remedial class of "Sweathogs"]] to which he himself 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: the ladies' man Vinnie Barbarino (breakout star Creator/JohnTravolta), the always cool Freddie "Boom-Boom" Washington (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs), the tough [[OverlyLongName Juan Luis Pedro Phillipo de Huevos Epstein]] (Robert Hegyes), and the sheepish Arnold Dingfelder Horshack (Ron Palillo). Meanwhile, Kotter frequently finds himself butting heads with cantankerous vice principal Michael Woodman (John Sylvester White), who dismisses the Sweathogs as a lost cause, and tries his best to juggle his teaching with his home life with his patient wife Julie (Marcia Strassman).

Changes came in the show's fourth season: Gabe Kaplan cut back on his appearances because of creative differences with executive producer James Komack, who Kaplan openly believed was not serving the show's best interests. (In-universe, Kotter was promoted to vice principal, and thus was seen considerably less frequently.) John Travolta, meanwhile, had found his own place as a movie star, and departed from the show as a regular (though returning every so often as a "special guest star"). Barbarino's would-be replacement as the Sweathogs' resident heartthrob was transplanted New Orleanian Beau De La Barre (Stephen Shortridge), who never quite caught on. With the show having by now essentially lost its two biggest stars, it was canceled after the season's end.

Changes came in the show's fourth season: Gabe Kaplan cut back on his appearances because of creative differences with executive producer James Komack, who Kaplan openly believed was not serving the show's best interests. (In-universe, Kotter was promoted to vice principal, and thus was seen considerably less frequently.) John Travolta, meanwhile, had found his own place as a movie star, and departed from the show as a regular (though returning every so often as a "special guest star"). Barbarino's would-be replacement as the Sweathogs' resident heartthrob was transplanted New Orleanian Beau De La Barre (Stephen Shortridge), who didn't quite caught on. With the series having by now essentially lost its two biggest stars, it was canceled after the season's end.

Changes came in the show's fourth season: Gabe Kaplan cut back on his appearances because of creative differences with executive producer James Komack, who Kaplan openly believed was not serving the show's best interests. In-universe, Kotter was promoted to vice principal, and thus was seen considerably less frequently. John Travolta, meanwhile, had found his own place as a movie star, and departed from the show as a regular (though returning every so often as a "special guest star"). Barbarino's would-be replacement as the Sweathogs' resident heartthrob was transplanted New Orleanian Beau De La Barre (Stephen Shortridge), who didn't quite catch on. With the series having by now essentially lost its two biggest stars, it was canceled after the season's end.

The premise: Gabe Kotter returns to [[BigApplesauce Brooklyn]]'s James Buchanan HighSchool as a teacher and is assigned the [[DustbinSchool remedial class of "Sweathogs"]] to which he himself 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 (breakout star Creator/JohnTravolta), the always cool Freddie "Boom-Boom" Washington (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs), the tough [[OverlyLongName Juan Luis Pedro Phillipo de Huevos Epstein]] (Robert Hegyes), and the sheepish Arnold Dingfelder Horshack (Ron Palillo). Kotter frequently finds himself butting heads with cantankerous vice principal Mr. Woodman (John Sylvester White), who dismisses the Sweathogs as a lost cause, and tries to juggle his teaching life and his home life with his wife Julie (Marcia Strassman).

Changes on the show: Gabe Kaplan was absent from much of the fourth season due to creative differences with executive producer James Komack, whom Kaplan openly felt was not serving the show's best interests. Kotter was made vice principal, and thus was seen considerably less frequently. 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.

Long before Creator/JerrySeinfeld wondered about airline peanuts, before Creator/TimAllen grunted his first "Arrr arrr arrr!", before Creator/RoseanneBarr became a Domestic Goddess, there was Gabriel "Gabe" Kaplan, one of the very first stand-up comedians to successfully [[SitComic turn his stage routine into a hit TV sitcom]]. ''Welcome Back, Kotter'', which ran on Creator/{{ABC}} from 1975–79, was based on Kaplan's [[WriteWhatYouKnow own high school experiences]] with remedial education and his memories of a teacher who cared dearly for her students.

* EndOfEpisodeSilliness: Formerly the TropeNamer called "Uncle Herbie". Every episode ended with Gabe telling Julie an anecdote about ome of his many uncles.

* BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord: After finding out that the fire alarms were no operational in the episode titled Angie, the Sweathogs threaten to go to the school board with this revelation unless Vice Principal Woodman withdraws their expulsion. When Woodman calls it blackmail, Horshack remarks that they prefer the term extortion.

* BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord: After finding out that the fire alarms were no operational in the episode titled Angie, the Sweathogs threaten to go to the school board with this revelation unless Vice Principal Woodman withdraws their expulsion. When Woodman this is blackmail, Horshack remarks that they prefer the term extortion.

* TransatlanticEquivalent: To the UK sitcom ''Series/PleaseSir!'', which predated this one. Some British viewers believe ''Welcome Back, Kotter'' is in fact an uncredited remake, but while the shows have similar premises, no one's ever been able to prove plagiarism.

* TransatlanticEquivalent: The UK sitcom ''Please Sir!'', which predated this one. Some British viewers believe ''Welcome Back, Kotter'' is in fact an uncredited remake, but while the shows have similar premises, no one's ever been able to prove plagiarism.

** "Follow The Leader", where Freddie becomes the leader of the Sweathogs, causing Vinnie to drop out.

* StudioAudience: " "Welcome Back, Kotter" was recorded live before a studio audience."

* CordonBleughChef: There is a running gag about Mrs. Kotter's "famous tuna casserole." It's not known to have ever put anybody in a hospital, but at one point, Mr. Kotter noted that "nobody puts prunes in a tuna casserole.