The BEST episodes of Welcome Back, Kotter season 3
Every episode of Welcome Back, Kotter season 3, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Welcome Back, Kotter season 3!
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 - And Baby Makes Four (1)
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/15/1977
Julie goes into labor.
#3 - 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.
#4 - 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.
#5 - 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.
#6 - The Visit
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/22/1977
Julie's parents come to see the babies.
#7 - Kotter for Vice Principal
Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 11/17/1977
Kotter has a dream about life when the Sweathogs are old.
#8 - And Baby Makes Four (2)
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/15/1977
Julie gives birth to twin girls.
#9 - Sweathog Christmas Special
Season 3 - Episode 15 - Aired 12/15/1977
At Christmas time, the gang reminisces over past episodes.
#10 - 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.
#12 - 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.
#13 - 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.
#14 - 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.
#15 - Epstein's Madonna
Season 3 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/8/1977
Juan paints a great masterpiece on the walls of the school.
#16 - 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.
#17 - 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.
#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 - Buddy, Can You Spare a Million?
Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 9/29/1977
Emotions mix when it seems that the Sweathogs may win the lottery.
#20 - 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.
#21 - A Novel Idea
Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 10/27/1977
The characters in Mr. Woodman's new novel seem to have an awful lot in common with the Sweathogs...
#22 - Swine and Punishment
Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired 11/24/1977
Freddie cheats on an English test.
#23 - 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.
#24 - Just Testing
Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/6/1977
Everybody helps Vinnie cram for a make-up test.
#25 - 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.