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I don't remember this American sitcom myself, but I am certain that those from the United States would obviously have a better memory of it being on their TV screens - I believe that it ran over there in around 1975-1979-ish and lasted for over 90 episodes - one of the British tabloids mentioned it in around 1978 before it was first shown in Britain. It starred a pre-Grease and Saturday Night Fever John Travolta. And it could be seen on ITV in Great Britain in around 1981-1983 where only around 20 to 30 episodes were seen depending on where you were - Granada was the first region to show it, and London was the last, shown on holiday "no school programmes" mornings, quite often giving an official transmission dates by Wikipedia. I actually thought that Channel 4 could have shown it as they did with lots of American sitcoms, ditto Diff'rent Strokes.
I suppose that Please Sir! was the closest British equivalent although there were nearly a decade apart, and Happy Days was a closer comparison with the 1950s nostalgia boom kicking in the mid to late 1970s. I believe that the theme tune had been sung by John Sabastian of the Lovin' Spoonful as a single called "Welcome Back" that became an American number one in 1976. I heard it played one Saturday afternoon on BBC Radio Nottingham back in the early 1990s - obviously, I didn't equate the song with the programme back then for obvious reasons. Travolta obviously playing a stereotypical role - the fact that he was the only recognisable actor in the cast is probably the main reason why it has been half-forgotten these days. Four series (seasons) were made apparently, and some TV stations refused to show it originally.
Little known (from a British perspective) Gabe Kaplan was in the, what I would call the "John Alderton/Sidney Poitier/Michael Percival" role, playing the role of Gabe Kotter, a teacher, who was also a namesake (short for Gabriel) with the actor a la a lot of Norman Wisdom and Sidney James characters. Kotter returns to a High School named after 19th century president (and Lincoln predecessor) James Buchanan in Brooklyn, hence the title, but this was made when Ford and Carter were in the White House. A lot of merchandise was produced, and some of it can still be seen on eBay these days.
I have been looking at old TV schedules circa 1981 and seeing how Kotter was scheduled: ATV in the Midlands shown it on pre-World of Sport Saturday mornings; Tyne Tees shown it at around midnight on Fridays; Westward and Channel at 7.00 pm when Emmerdale Farm was off air. What was interesting was that ITV companies used to purchase episodes of the show in blocks of 13, just like a lot of imported shows back then - TSW used to do the same with Prisoner: Cell Block H when it started there, and no sense of superstition either.
A lot of regions showed it in the 5.15 pm slot (sandwiched between the Watch It!, later to become Children's ITV and the ITN News at 5.45). Around the time of Charles and Diana's wedding, Grampian in the north of Scotland had shown episodes on Wednesdays in that slot from 1st July, missing out the 29th for Charles and Di's Big Day, and continuing on 5th August until the end of September, showing 13 episodes. Border showed it in the same slot on Tuesdays, allowing Cumbrians and Manx people to get to see an episode on the eve of the Royal Wedding, again just showing 13 episodes in a weekly "series", but I believe that they both shown more the following year. What with Saturday Night Fever shown on the evening of the wedding meant that Travolta was seen two days in a row in Carlisle, and in lieu of Kotter in Inverness.
Apart from the fact that another American series was shown in Great Britain, there was also this slight "distance" of showing something from four of five years previously where fashions were different, in the early 1980s - repeats of Rising Damp continued into 1981-1982 come into that framework.
I certainly remember American imports in the 5.15 pm slot such as Diff'rent Strokes and Happy Days, but Kotter seemed to be stopped showing in Britain by the summer of 1983 - I do believe that repeats continued to be shown elsewhere around the world for several years after that.
I wonder of any TV station would have the right to it these days?
I suppose that Please Sir! was the closest British equivalent although there were nearly a decade apart, and Happy Days was a closer comparison with the 1950s nostalgia boom kicking in the mid to late 1970s. I believe that the theme tune had been sung by John Sabastian of the Lovin' Spoonful as a single called "Welcome Back" that became an American number one in 1976. I heard it played one Saturday afternoon on BBC Radio Nottingham back in the early 1990s - obviously, I didn't equate the song with the programme back then for obvious reasons. Travolta obviously playing a stereotypical role - the fact that he was the only recognisable actor in the cast is probably the main reason why it has been half-forgotten these days. Four series (seasons) were made apparently, and some TV stations refused to show it originally.
Little known (from a British perspective) Gabe Kaplan was in the, what I would call the "John Alderton/Sidney Poitier/Michael Percival" role, playing the role of Gabe Kotter, a teacher, who was also a namesake (short for Gabriel) with the actor a la a lot of Norman Wisdom and Sidney James characters. Kotter returns to a High School named after 19th century president (and Lincoln predecessor) James Buchanan in Brooklyn, hence the title, but this was made when Ford and Carter were in the White House. A lot of merchandise was produced, and some of it can still be seen on eBay these days.
I have been looking at old TV schedules circa 1981 and seeing how Kotter was scheduled: ATV in the Midlands shown it on pre-World of Sport Saturday mornings; Tyne Tees shown it at around midnight on Fridays; Westward and Channel at 7.00 pm when Emmerdale Farm was off air. What was interesting was that ITV companies used to purchase episodes of the show in blocks of 13, just like a lot of imported shows back then - TSW used to do the same with Prisoner: Cell Block H when it started there, and no sense of superstition either.
A lot of regions showed it in the 5.15 pm slot (sandwiched between the Watch It!, later to become Children's ITV and the ITN News at 5.45). Around the time of Charles and Diana's wedding, Grampian in the north of Scotland had shown episodes on Wednesdays in that slot from 1st July, missing out the 29th for Charles and Di's Big Day, and continuing on 5th August until the end of September, showing 13 episodes. Border showed it in the same slot on Tuesdays, allowing Cumbrians and Manx people to get to see an episode on the eve of the Royal Wedding, again just showing 13 episodes in a weekly "series", but I believe that they both shown more the following year. What with Saturday Night Fever shown on the evening of the wedding meant that Travolta was seen two days in a row in Carlisle, and in lieu of Kotter in Inverness.
Apart from the fact that another American series was shown in Great Britain, there was also this slight "distance" of showing something from four of five years previously where fashions were different, in the early 1980s - repeats of Rising Damp continued into 1981-1982 come into that framework.
I certainly remember American imports in the 5.15 pm slot such as Diff'rent Strokes and Happy Days, but Kotter seemed to be stopped showing in Britain by the summer of 1983 - I do believe that repeats continued to be shown elsewhere around the world for several years after that.
I wonder of any TV station would have the right to it these days?
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