It was 24 years ago this month that NBC cancelled the sitcom Welcome Back, Epstein (a spin-off of the classic sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter) after nearly a year on the air.
The premise of the show was that Juan Epstein (Robert Hegyes) returns to his alma mater James Buchanan High School in Brooklyn, New York to teach Social Studies to remedial students. One of his classes is dominated by the "Sweathogs", a group of loafers and unteachable teenagers that Epstein was once a member of when he was a student. This new generation of Sweathogs included Joey Santino (Mark-Paul Gosselaar); his nerdy sidekick Adrian Dingfelder (Dustin Diamond), a cousin of Arnold Horshack; Mickey O'Brien (Mark Wahlberg), a street tough who was kicked out of 9 different schools in his hometown of Boston; and Alfonso Washington (Will Smith), nephew of Freddie "Boom Boom" Washington. George Andrews (Dennis Haskins) was the school's Vice Principal and a transplant from Tennessee.
Since Welcome Back, Kotter went off the air in 1979, there were rumors that there would be spin-off shows featuring the cast from that show. But nothing came of it until 1988. Although WBE recycled the concept of former juvenile delinquent turns his life around and returns to the same high school to teach the same type of kids he grew up with, I looked forward to the show and watched every single episode. At least real teenagers, not 25 year olds, were cast in the show as high school students.
Unfortunately, the show suffered from low ratings and looking back, I believe that some of the characters were unlikable. And there were guest appearances from Tori Spelling, Erin Moran, Vin Diesel and even Ryan Seacrest.
The failure of WBE makes me wonder if the fates of the above-mentioned actors would have changed if the show was successful or never saw the light of day.
What do you think?
The premise of the show was that Juan Epstein (Robert Hegyes) returns to his alma mater James Buchanan High School in Brooklyn, New York to teach Social Studies to remedial students. One of his classes is dominated by the "Sweathogs", a group of loafers and unteachable teenagers that Epstein was once a member of when he was a student. This new generation of Sweathogs included Joey Santino (Mark-Paul Gosselaar); his nerdy sidekick Adrian Dingfelder (Dustin Diamond), a cousin of Arnold Horshack; Mickey O'Brien (Mark Wahlberg), a street tough who was kicked out of 9 different schools in his hometown of Boston; and Alfonso Washington (Will Smith), nephew of Freddie "Boom Boom" Washington. George Andrews (Dennis Haskins) was the school's Vice Principal and a transplant from Tennessee.
Since Welcome Back, Kotter went off the air in 1979, there were rumors that there would be spin-off shows featuring the cast from that show. But nothing came of it until 1988. Although WBE recycled the concept of former juvenile delinquent turns his life around and returns to the same high school to teach the same type of kids he grew up with, I looked forward to the show and watched every single episode. At least real teenagers, not 25 year olds, were cast in the show as high school students.
Unfortunately, the show suffered from low ratings and looking back, I believe that some of the characters were unlikable. And there were guest appearances from Tori Spelling, Erin Moran, Vin Diesel and even Ryan Seacrest.
The failure of WBE makes me wonder if the fates of the above-mentioned actors would have changed if the show was successful or never saw the light of day.
What do you think?