The BEST episodes of Welcome Back, Kotter
Every episode of Welcome Back, Kotter ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Welcome Back, Kotter!
Gabe Kotter, formerly a Sweathog, returns to James Buchanan High 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 -- lady's 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 redmedial education and a teacher who cared dearly for her students. Changes on the show. Gabe Kaplan left the series in the third season. He hadn't expected the show to run as long as it had. 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 "spec
#1 - Whodunit?
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/30/1975
Tired of her reputation as easy, Rosalie Totsy tells the Sweathogs that she's pregnant -- and that one of them is the father -- in an effort to make the boys admit that the tales they tell about their "fun dates" with her aren't true.
#2 - The Election
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/7/1975
Barbarino is running for Student Body President but his campain turns into disaster.
#3 - Welcome Back (Pilot)
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/23/1975
Gabe Kotter wakes up in the morning ready to start his first day as a teacher at James Buchanan high school. When he arrives, Mr. Woodman assigns Kotter to the remedial class, the class he was in years before. Gabe walks into the room and "teaches" class. He's introduced to four main students. Vinnie Barbarino, Juan Epstein, Freddie Washington and Arnold Horshack. The class turns into a disaster and Kotter quits. When Kotter gets home, he and his wife, Julie, get a visit from the Sweathogs. In the end, Kotter returns as teacher.
#4 - The Great Debate
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/9/1975
The sweathogs out debate a smarter debate class.
#5 - Basket Case
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/16/1975
Freddy is convinced he will become a basketball star, so he decides to draw pictures on Gabe's test instead of trying to pass it. Gabe refuses to pass him even though he is the school's basketball star. When Gabe offers Freddy a make-up exam, Freddy still refuses. Gabe then offers to play a one-on-one game against Freddy to convince Freddy he's not as good as he thinks. If Gabe wins Freddy agrees to take the test, and if Freddy wins Gabe agrees to pass Freddy. Freddy naturally wins, but Gabe's score of 16 to 21 makes Freddy realize that he'd better complete school rather than rely on becoming a big basketball star.
#6 - One of Our Sweathogs Is Missing
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 10/28/1975
After losing a fight with Todd Ludlow, Juan is made fun of by his fellow Sweathogs. His feelings and his pride hurt, he runs away -- to the Kotters' bathroom.
#8 - Class Encounter of the Carvelli Kind
Season 3 - Episode 27 - Aired 5/18/1978
When Carvelli and Murray come on as exchange students, Carvelli seemingly goes crazy with stories of aliens.
#9 - Epstein's Term Paper
Season 3 - Episode 19 - Aired 1/19/1978
Juan buys four term papers - one for each Sweathog - from Carvelli, only to end up with an essay that Gabe had turned in eleven years earlier. DETAILS: Instead of writing their own term papers for Gabe's class, the Sweathogs choose to buy old "guaranteed A papers" for $5 each from Carvelli. Epstein's paper is on Franklin D. Roosevelt ("a mighty knight who fights for what's right"), Horshack's is on Joseph Stalin, Freddy's is on the Dust Bowl, and Vinnie's is on the Irish Potato Famine ("Great French Fry Phantom"). When Gabe grades Epstein's paper, he recognizes it as the same paper he handed in 11 years ago, so he gives all of them F's. Epstein then demands Carvelli refund their $20 per his guarantee, but Carvelli weasels out of that. Gabe tells Epstein he knows that Carvelli is selling used term papers and to thwart future use of the papers, Gabe passes around a list of them to all teachers and schools. Gabe then gives the Sweathogs one more chance to do the paper because, as he admits, he may have turned in that paper on FDR 11 years ago -- but he never said he WROTE it.
#10 - There's No Business (1)
Season 3 - Episode 20 - Aired 1/26/1978
Gabe finds success as a stand-up comic, using material regarding the Sweathogs. But when the oppportunity for a full-time comedy gig arises, it could mean the end of his teaching career.
#11 - There's No Business (2)
Season 3 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/2/1978
Gabe must choose between the comedy life, or his life at Buchanan.
#12 - What Goes Up
Season 3 - Episode 22 - Aired 2/9/1978
Freddie becomes addicted to drugs after taking prescribed pain killers. Despite the other Sweathogs' best efforts, the only thing that can bring Freddie around is Arnold's faith in him...and in his "vitamin pills."
#13 - Good-Bye, Mr. Kripps
Season 3 - Episode 23 - Aired 2/16/1978
Mr. Kripps, the shop teacher, has a heart attack and dies while yelling at Vinnie, who blames himself for the man's death.
#14 - Horshack and the Madame X
Season 3 - Episode 24 - Aired 2/23/1978
Arnold, saddened by the rejection he keeps recieving from the opposite sex, gets advice and comfort from Julie before quickly falling in love with her.
#15 - The Kiss
Season 3 - Episode 25 - Aired 4/13/1978
After performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on a female student who has passed out in the classroom, Gabe is accused of molestation, and is in danger of losing his job.
#16 - The Return of Hotsy Totsy
Season 3 - Episode 26 - Aired 5/11/1978
Rosalie "Hotsy" Totsy has grown up ... a little too fast. The Sweathogs go to a local strip club on a dare, and learn that Hotsy has gotten a job performing there (yup, she bares all, unknowingly in front of her former classmates). Vinnie, Freddie and Epstein all ride Hotsy's case, but Arnold is sensitive to her plight. Seems that, during a coversation with her former teacher Gabe, Rosalie really lived up to her nickname one night and got pregnant. And getting a job at a strip joint is the only way for this single mother (the baby's father had left Hotsy) to support her child. Gabe and Arnold convince the others to give Hotsy Totsy moral support, and they also refer her to a social agency which can help her finish school and find a more meaningful job.
#17 - The Deprogramming of Arnold Horshack
Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/13/1977
Arnold is accepted into a religious cult. Mr. Kotter and the three other sweathogs try to get Arnold to snap out of it. Eventually, he does and goes back to his former self, complete with his trademark laugh.
#18 - Meet Your New Teacher: Batteries Not Included
Season 3 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/5/1978
The Sweathogs' new tutor is a computer. Despite initial raises in grades, Gabe becomes displeased with the machine, as it is turning him obsolete to the class.
#19 - Sweatwork
Season 3 - Episode 16 - Aired 12/22/1977
Arnold voices angst and pioneers for change on the school radio station, gathering fans in the process.
#20 - Sweathog Christmas Special
Season 3 - Episode 15 - Aired 12/15/1977
At Christmas time, the gang reminisces over past episodes.
#21 - Epstein's Madonna
Season 3 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/8/1977
Juan paints a great masterpiece on the walls of the school.
#22 - Swine and Punishment
Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired 11/24/1977
Freddie cheats on an English test.
#23 - Kotter for Vice Principal
Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 11/17/1977
Kotter has a dream about life when the Sweathogs are old.
#24 - Barbarino in Love (2)
Season 3 - Episode 11 - Aired 11/10/1977
Vinnie is torn between trying to win the talent competition, or letting his new girlfriend beat him.
#25 - Barbarino in Love (1)
Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/3/1977
During a talent competition, Vinnie falls for a girl who the Sweathogs are competing against, and starts spending more time with her then rehearsing with the Sweathogs.