What Happened on the Final Episode of ‘Welcome Back, Kotter’?

Gerry Strauss March 11, 10:00 am

WELCOME BACK, KOTTER, Robert Hegyes, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Gabe Kaplan, John Travolta, Ron Palillo, 1975-1979 — Everett Collection

TV shows like Head of the Class and Boy Meets World may have provided us with plenty of hilarious and heartfelt classroom moments, but there’s only one school-set sitcom that dared to immortalize the ultimate burn, “up your nose with a rubber hose”: Welcome Back, Kotter. The show, which debuted in 1975, starred comedian Gabe Kaplan as Mr. Kotter, a Brooklyn-based high-school teacher placed in charge of rough and rowdy remedial class known as “the Sweathogs.” Lasting four seasons on ABC, the show gave us a diverse cast of characters, including the cocky Vinnie Barbarino (played by a new-on-the-scene John Travolta).

WELCOME BACK, KOTTER, Ron Palillo, John Travolta, Gabe Kaplan, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Robert Hegyes, 1975-1979

Everett Collection

With curmudgeonly Vice Principal Woodman (played by John Sylvester White) on his back, Kotter uses his teaching skills and wit to balance life at home with his wife Julie (played by Marcia Strassman) and an all-encompassing job keeping his sketchy yet good-hearted students on the straight and narrow path. Other “Sweathog” standouts included oddball Arnold Horshack (Ron Palillo), ultra-hip Freddie “Boom Boom” Washington (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs), and tough guy Juan Epstein (Robert Hegyes). With plenty of jokes focusing on their various upbringings and ethnicities, Welcome Back, Kotter was a popular look at the types of under-the-radar teenagers who normally didn’t get to be the heroes on our TV screens.

So what happened? Did they make it to graduation day?

Why was Welcome Back, Kotter canceled?

The writing was on the wall for Welcome Back, Kotter as early as the third season, when ratings began to dip dramatically. Kaplan pushed to shift the show’s setting to a local community college (where Mr. Kotter would teach and the Sweathogs would attend), citing the actors’ advancing ages as a reason audiences no longer found the high school show believable. Instead, the writers tried to shake things up by giving the Kotters twin girls and adding a female Sweathog, Angie Grabowski (played by Melonie Haller) to the mix, but none of it seemed to help.

The show’s fourth and final season was even more tumultuous, as the show was moved from its familiar Thursday night timeslot to Mondays to make room for Mork & Mindy. Many of the show’s original writers bailed, and John Travolta exited as a series regular to focus on his exploding film career; he instead appeared on 10 episodes of the final season as a “special guest star.” Even Kaplan himself reduced his appearances after a series of internal disputes, as Welcome Back, Kotter began its final limp to the finish line.

> ‘Welcome Back, Kotter’: 8 Things You Didn’t Know (Or Have Forgotten)

How did Welcome Back, Kotter end?

With Travolta largely gone from the show and an audience that seemed to shrink with every episode, Welcome Back, Kotter‘s entire final season felt like a weak farewell tour. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the series’ final episode followed suit.

Airing on June 8th, 1979, “The Breadwinners” offered no heartwarming goodbyes or any indications whatsoever that the show was wrapping up. Instead, this episode focuses on a silly rift that develops between Washington and Epstein over a part-time job at an antique shop — Epstein wants it, but Washington unknowingly lands it first.

While Mr. Kotter and the crew attempt to mediate this disagreement, things only escalate until Epstein and Washington decide to settle their issues in a boxing ring. At the gym, they try to intimidate each other with ill-advised feats of strength, only to both fail miserably. Seeing the ridiculousness of the situation, the two friends make amends and agree that Washington should keep his job (which, in perfect sitcom fashion, works out perfectly because Epstein is then offered a job at the boxing gym moments later).

We’ll never know exactly what happened to the Sweathogs after high school (or if they ever actually graduated), but one can certainly speculate that they showed up, had some fun for a few years, and moved on without much fanfare – just like Welcome Back, Kotter.