KOJAK YOUR ENTHUSIASM (17)
By:
May 26, 2022
One in a series of 25 enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, on the topic of our favorite TV shows of the Seventies (1974–1983).
WELCOME BACK, KOTTER | 1975–1979
Title credits roll over good old-fashioned documentary footage of 1970s Brooklyn, accompanied by the crooning iconic refrain — welcome back, welcome back, welcome back — to bygone days. The camera follows people walking around, a bird swoops through the trees, a subway glides by, a homey feeling. And then the artifice begins. The studio audience claps like a tidal wave, like a horde, laughing in time, in the same overwrought timbre. High school is the theater; the classroom is the stage. Here are a bunch of grownups whose only purpose in life seems to be clowning around. The premise is that this is a remedial classroom, therefore, unruly — commedia dell’arte for the ’70s.
The script is one corny or problematic joke after another, most of them insults. Intricate bits take the whole ensemble to make a punchline, others fly solo — bada bing. The charismatic, multiracial, working-class cast of wags: Epstein, Washington, Barbarino, and diminutive, ambiguous Horshack, who has the most onomatopoetic name. His face is horsey; his hair is like a shack. He’s their Harpo, the nebbishy Pulcinello. As a crew, they all have the gift of gab. They go by the classist moniker ‘Sweathogs.’ The titular teacher, Mr. Kotter, used to be one of them.
In one early episode, the Sweathogs have to debate the ‘smart kids’ — rule-followers who cart piles of books around. The question to be debated: is human aggression innate? The home team will argue yes. Their first debater is an Anglo preppie type. The Sweathogs haven’t prepared, but no matter. Their improvisatory cunning sees them through. They tease their opponent, call him ‘white bread’ and ‘potato face’ until he starts yelling. The gag is, by losing his temper, he’s proved the Sweathogs’ point. They win without breaking a sweat.
Sometimes the jumpy overeager laughs, the compulsive punning and joking, gives way to a happy absurdism — little numbers, everyone cutting loose. In those moments, when the Sweathogs clock out of the joke factory, we catch a glimpse of the irrepressible trickster id of the 1970s kid.
KOJAK YOUR ENTHUSIASM: INTRODUCTION by Josh Glenn | Lynn Peril on ONE DAY AT A TIME | Dan Reines on THE WHITE SHADOW | Carlo Rotella on BARNEY MILLER | Lucy Sante on POLICE WOMAN | Douglas Wolk on WHEW! | Susan Roe on THE LOVE BOAT | Peggy Nelson on THE BIONIC WOMAN | Michael Grasso on WKRP IN CINCINNATI | Josh Glenn on SHAZAM! | Vanessa Berry on IN SEARCH OF… | Mark Kingwell on BATTLESTAR GALACTICA | Tom Nealon on BUCK ROGERS | Heather Quinlan on LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE | Adam McGovern on FAWLTY TOWERS | Gordon Dahlquist on THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO | David Smay on LAVERNE & SHIRLEY | Miranda Mellis on WELCOME BACK, KOTTER | Rick Pinchera on THE MUPPET SHOW | Kio Stark on WONDER WOMAN | Marc Weidenbaum on ARK II | Carl Wilson on LOU GRANT | Greg Rowland on STAR TREK: THE ANIMATED SERIES | Dave Boerger on DOCTOR WHO | William Nericcio on CHICO AND THE MAN | Erin M. Routson on HAPPY DAYS. Plus: David Cantwell on THE WALTONS.
JACK KIRBY PANELS | CAPTAIN KIRK SCENES | OLD-SCHOOL HIP HOP | TYPEFACES | NEW WAVE | SQUADS | PUNK | NEO-NOIR MOVIES | COMICS | SCI-FI MOVIES | SIDEKICKS | CARTOONS | TV DEATHS | COUNTRY | PROTO-PUNK | METAL | & more enthusiasms!