WBC was one of those 70's shows that was only viewed by my siblings and I when there was nothing better on. There are many things to loathe about this show: Corny jokes, slow moving plot, tiresome characters and a very drab inner city school backdrop that looked like your typical living nightmare for any teacher. School sucks enough as it is, so why would anyone want to subject themselves to watching it on TV for entertainment? I understand that comedy is often rooted in pain and that is where we derive comedy in general. But Welcome Back, Kotter brings the expression "Painful to watch" in a whole new level. It was also very negative in how it treated people. We weren't watching anything realistic here, just a very contrived and sophomoric representation of reality. And the results are uninspiring.
I will say that it is memorable for a couple of reasons. First, it catapulted the career of John Travolta. Gabe Kaplan was a likable guy who seemed to skate through this depiction of a high school teacher who has good intentions while having a bug to be an amateur comedian. Some people harshly criticize the fifth Sweathog from the south during the final season. I actually thought he brought some fun originality to this progressively stale and weary Motley Crew.
But where I derive meaning from this lousy program was the message in the theme song. The idea of a man returning to his Alma Mater as a teacher is both depressing yet endearing. The hopeless feeling one gets when they abandoned their dreams only to be annoyed and aggravated by an unpleasant and immature group of punks is not really a great recipe for fun.
I will say that it is memorable for a couple of reasons. First, it catapulted the career of John Travolta. Gabe Kaplan was a likable guy who seemed to skate through this depiction of a high school teacher who has good intentions while having a bug to be an amateur comedian. Some people harshly criticize the fifth Sweathog from the south during the final season. I actually thought he brought some fun originality to this progressively stale and weary Motley Crew.
But where I derive meaning from this lousy program was the message in the theme song. The idea of a man returning to his Alma Mater as a teacher is both depressing yet endearing. The hopeless feeling one gets when they abandoned their dreams only to be annoyed and aggravated by an unpleasant and immature group of punks is not really a great recipe for fun.