Welcome Back, Kotter: The Complete Series - DVD Review

[Michael Scott]

Welcome Back, Kotter: The Complete Series



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Movie
WOOOOOOOOOW! Is all I could think when I saw Warner Brother’s press release for Welcome Back, Kotter: The Complete Series come across my desk. I vaguely remembered the TV sitcome from late night re-runs back as a child, but had summarily forgotten about it for the better part of 25+ years. Looking back through history it appears that Warner Brothers released the first season back in 2007, only to ditch the rest of the 4 seasons due to weak (I’m assuming) sales. Then back in 2014 Shout! Studios (Shout! Factory back then) releases the entire series on DVD, only for it to go out of print once more. Now it looks like Warner Brothers is re-releasing the entire series this time, and ditching the “one season at a time” method, so yours truly gets to take a look at it for the first time since he was 8 or 9 years old.

Watching the series for the first time (binge watching 4 seasons in 9 days to be precise, thanks to my normal reviewing schedule being thrown off with my home being re-tiled) brings back memories. The first being how much fun Gabriel Kaplan was as Mr. Kotter, and the second being how tumultuous the constant rotation of the characters were. I mean, there has been a lot of TV shows over the years that have had change and tumult thrust upon them as characters come and go (sometimes to the benefit, and other times to the detriment of the show), but very rarely have I see a show with a revolving door of people like Welcome Back, Kotter. It originally started out with a very strong start, but went through “sitcom demise” in just 4 seasons that sometimes took other sitcoms of the modern era 7 or so season to achieve.

The idea was a revolutionary one at the time. It was the mid 70s and long before the 1990s where Stand up Comedians all had their own shows (Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond, King of Queens), they introduced comic Gabe Kaplan as the lead for a new sitcom based upon his act. Playing high school teach Gabe Kotter (basically a thinly veiled version of himself), Welcome Back, Kotter chronicled his life teaching a bunch of ner do well students in Brooklyn, New York. His first job is to teach the remedial class, filled with a group of punks and tough guys called “the sweathogs” that he actually formed back in how own youth. Now the intrepid teacher has to figure out a way to rangle the unrangleable and make up for his own misbegotten youth by teaching the new generation. Just with his own particular comedic flair.

Kaplan blurs the lines between comic and TV star, tossing jokes left and right as he tries to teach his students, or deal with his lovely (and patient) wife Julie (Marcia Strassman). We get splashes of his stand up act on screen, as well as his skill for imitating Groucho Marx, but what REALLY stands out in the series is that it stars a young YOUNG John Travolta just two years before he was shot into super stardom in Hollywood as a movie star. Travolta is on fire as Vinnie, the leader of the Sweathogs, and acts as the perfect foil for Kaplan. While Kaplan is making stand up style jokes and trying to teach his students, Travolta is right on cue with some amazing comedic timing basically playing his character from Grease, just with a little more humor.

Unfortunately the show started to devolved quickly in the 3rd season, as characters had already come and went several times over, but the major blow was due to Travolta leaving he cast. He had just gotten hit with the Hollywood success over night, and now he didn’t have time to make a long running sitcom. He still tried to guest star, but in the last season or two he’s basically relegated to popping his head in for a couple of episodes just to remind people of what the show lost. Not to mention that the writing of the show went way downhill as well. What started out as mostly Kaplan’s act with smart alec jokes and impersonations, went straight down to the lowest common denominator of simply throwing out catch phrases and one liners to remind the audience of when the show was good. It got so bad that after a while I started wondering if they were INTENTIONALLY parodying themselves, but no. The show runners really thought that they could skate by on member berries and one liners. Even Kaplan himself started to get bored with the show, and by the final year it felt like even he was calling it in.



Rating:

Not Rated




Video:

I never saw the original WB first season DVD set, nor the Shout! Release, so I can’t compare them to each other, but from what I’m seeing from the 12 DVD set (95 episodes, 3 discs per season) it looks pretty good. The show was shot on tape back in that day, so don’t expect miracles from the old set. It showcases that harsh “tape” look that was so prevalent back then, with some smearing, softness, and DEFINITE resolution issues that stem from the limited source resolution. The opening and closing credits actually look a good bit better though, as they were shot on 35mm film and clean up a bit easier. There’s some speckles and pops along the way, but overall the amber hues and pastel 1970s colors are pleasant enough. The discs themselves maintain a solid 6-7.5 mbps bitrate and I really can’t complain too much considering how the show was shot.








Audio:

The discs sound pretty good though, even though they are distinctly limited by being an on set 1.0 Mono mix with a laugh track added like most sitcoms of the era. Vocals are clean and clear for the most part, but they of course don’t have much range or sweep considering this is a just a mono track split across the mains. Vocals are clean and intelligible, and the laugh track good as well. I can’t detect any major issues in regards to harsh highs or other source issues stemming from the era. But at the same time this isn’t going to wow anyone due to the nature of the show and the era. Simply put, it does the job well as there isn’t a whole lot asked from it.









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Honestly, Welcome Back, Kotter was a lot funnier when I was a kid. I really like Comedians playing themselves in their own shows, and Welcome Back, Kotter really pioneered that 1990s trend by being one of the first to try out that comedy sub genre. But at the end of the day the show is more nostalgia than it is an instant classic. I enjoyed the first couple of seasons, but the third season started diving down hill quickly, and by the time a new writing cast was brought in for season 4, it was too late. The show itself was fun for a while, but as I said. More nostalgia than anything. Warner Brothers DVD release is pretty much barebones, with a background and menu options that feel like they were created using “DvD Creator from the early 2000s. It’s simple to the extreme, with no extras and episode titles from a numbered list being the only change up. Personally, as much as I love comedies shows from this era (Taxi is still one of my absolute favorites of all time), Welcome Back, Kotter is more known for catapulting John Travolta to stardom rather than the quality of the show itself. For the old time fans is my recommendation.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Zoe Saldana, Laysla De Oliviera, Dave Annable, Morgan Freeman, Nicole Kidman, Jill Wagner
Created by: Taylor Sheridan
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1 MPEG2
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: Not Rated
Runtime: 2130 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: January 23rd, 2024

Recommendation: Nostalgic Watch