Welcome Back, Kotter: Season 02 (1976) Reviews

The opening episode of Welcome Back Kotter's second season finds Buchanan High School teacher Gabe Kotter (Gabe Kaplan) considering the idea of giving up his "sweathog" class to accept a job with a Japanese inventor, played by Pat Morita. Other noteworthy guest stars appearing this year are John Astin as a ghoulish museum curator who convinces Kotter's students that they're being stalked by a mummy; Valerie Curtin as a student teacher who has her hands full with the sweathogs until Gabe comes to her rescue; veteran western star Scott Brady as an ill-tempered gym teacher who punches remedial student Vinnie Barbarino (John Travolta) right in front of a group of his female admirers; Harold J. Stone as Kotter's hyper-judgemental; George Carlin and Fred Grandy (what a combo!) in an episode wherein Kotter's student Epstein (Robert Hegyes) becomes a popular radio DJ; and Ellen Travolta, the sister of series costar John Travolta, in the first of several appearances as "Mrs. O'Hara", this time in a two-parter in which the nerdish Horshack (Ron Palillo) thinks about quitting school to support his family. In addition to the aforementioned "regular" sweathogs (plus Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs as Freddie "Boom-Boom" Washington), Charles Fleischer, future voice of cartoon star Roger Rabbit, makes his intial appearance this season as Carvelli, Barbarino's tough-guy rival from another school; by the end of Season Three, Carvelli will have transferred into Kotter's class at Buchanan High. Season Two ends with the news that Gabe's ever-lovin' wife Julie (Marcia Strassman) is pregnant with twins. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi