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 - 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."
#2 - Kotter and Son
Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/20/1977
Gabe's overly-critical father comes for a visit and, unconvinced that his son has chosen a worthwhile career, goes with Gabe to school in order to watch him in action with his Sweathogs.
#3 - Sweatgate Scandal
Season 2 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/13/1977
Tired of the way the school newspaper is always putting them down, the Sweathogs join the staff in order to redeem themselves; and the crack investigative team of "Vinstein" (Vinnie and Juan) are hot on the trail of the culprit behind the recent break-in of Principal Lazarus's office.
#4 - The Election
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/7/1975
Barbarino is running for Student Body President but his campain turns into disaster.
#5 - Father Vinnie
Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 2/26/1976
Vinnie's grandmother's dying wish is for him to become a priest, and he takes the request seriously, until the strain of being holy becomes too much for him.
#6 - California Dreamin'
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/2/1975
The sweathogs go bananas over Bambi, a pretty blonde girl from California. We get some very funny scenes of the guys in various costumes: Epstein as a guru, Freddy in a colorful shirt, Horshack as a movie producer, and Vinnie as a surfer. When Mr. Kotter gets fed-up with them disrupting the class, it's revealed that Bambi was just pretending to be from California in order to get attention.
#7 - Kotter Makes Good
Season 1 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/19/1976
Gabe is forced to take final exams when it's revealed by Mr. Woodman that he wasn't really qualified to graduate when he did.
#8 - And Baby Makes Four (1)
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/15/1977
Julie goes into labor.
#9 - 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.
#10 - The Drop-Ins (1)
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/11/1978
Gabe announces that he is now the vice-principal and Mr. Woodman is the principal. The Sweathogs are pleased, until Gabe gets strict. After Vinnie visits the school to tell the gang he's dropped out, the other Sweathogs decide to follow in his footsteps.
#11 - What a Move!
Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 10/20/1977
Juan, with the help of his uncle, hooks the Kotters up with a new apartment.
#12 - Welcome Back
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/9/1975
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.
#13 - Arrividerci, Arnold
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/16/1975
Arnold is promoted to a regular class, but is less than happy about the forced transition.
#14 - I Wonder Who's Kissing Gabe Now?
Season 2 - Episode 23 - Aired 3/3/1977
The art teacher falls in love with Gabe.
#15 - 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.
#16 - Hark, the Sweatkings
Season 2 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/23/1976
At Christmas time, the Sweathogs are all too eager to tease resident bum Angie. But after Angie tells his life story to the class, they have a change of heart, and decide to help him get back up on his feet.
#17 - Sweathogs Back-to-School Special
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/10/1977
The Sweathogs and administrators at James Buchanan High reminisce about Gabe's past two years at the school. Past episodes are recalled through flashbacks.
#18 - The Visit
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/22/1977
Julie's parents come to see the babies.
#19 - Kotter for Vice Principal
Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 11/17/1977
Kotter has a dream about life when the Sweathogs are old.
#20 - The Great Debate
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/23/1975
The sweathogs out debate a smarter debate class.
#22 - The Goodbye Guy
Season 4 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/10/1979
Mr. Woodman's niece Kelly is babysitting for the Kotters when Juan drops by the apartment. The two abruptly fall in love and decide to move in together, but the romance begins to crumble when it seems that they can't respect one another's interests.
#24 - 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.
#25 - Sweathog Christmas Special
Season 3 - Episode 15 - Aired 12/15/1977
At Christmas time, the gang reminisces over past episodes.